Vancouver SEO

Does Your SEO provider care about your business?

There are two types of SEO agencies. Sales agencies and results focused agencies. Sales agencies don’t care about results, their goal is to sign you up for a contract and then squeeze what they can out of you before you inevitably move on.

On the contrary we don’t lock clients in with contracts, we let our work talk for us. There is a reason we are one of 3 Vancouver SEO companies with more than 40 reviews and every single review is 5 stars.

That is years of providing great value to our clients. Do we mess up? Of course. Do campaigns always go as planned? Absolutely not. But we’re honest and we do right by our clients.

If you want to have a “different” experience than your typical SEO company, book a strategy call.

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Local SEO Package Pricing

At Salt Water Digital, We Believe:

In fulfilling our environmental responsibility to Earth’s oceans while delivering transparent, quantifiable results to our clients.

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A Vancouver SEO Company That Prides Itself On Client Retention.

SEO is a long term strategy and while we try to stress to clients the importance of patience there are few too many agencies that burn through that good will.

Our job as an agency is to set clear expectations and to demonstrate our expertise through incremental SEO progress. 

End to End SEO Campaigns. our SEO packages include:

We offer End to End SEO Campaigns. All our packages include:

Keyword Research
& Analysis

Local Map Pack
SEO

On-Page SEO

Technical SEO

Content Creation

Link Building

sEO packages for Businesses - Pricing

lite Local SEO Package

$ 750
/mo
  • An SEO package for easier service and location keywords. Typically this means you are a local business focusing in on several areas.
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local SEO Standard Package

$ 1000
/mo
  • Our most popular SEO package for moderately difficult service and location keywords. This may means more services, more locations or more competition.
Book A Consult

SEO premium Package

$ 1500+
/mo
  • If your business services a larger audience and isn't focused strictly on local SEO this is the package for you. This package typically incliudes more content and a larger link building campaign
Book A Consult

What Does Your SEO Packages Include?

Businesses need unique SEO proposals. While they all include similar elements including on-page SEO, technical SEO, link building and content every client is different. Some clients may start with a strong domain and therefor require fewer links. Others have opportunities where more content makes sense. And if your business is competing for a larger subset of keywords you may need stronger link building package and more content. Conversely some clients should run lighter SEO campaigns that primarily focus on their Google Business Page.

When you work with Salt Water Digital you’re partnering with a small SEO firm with real world experience. You won’t be paired with an account rep who has never run an SEO campaign before, handed off to a junior SEO with best wishes or worst of all outsourced overseas. You deal directly with our SEO manager who has 10 years of SEO experience. Many of those years were spent building his own sites and own projects (including this business) that were reliant on SEO to drive results. 

All of our SEO campaigns start with our 90 point checklist. Although every campaign is different, SEO is a repeatable scalable process when done correctly. 

What Types of Businesses Do You Work With?

Most of our clients are in the local SEO space. However, several of our most successful campaigns are businesses that target keywords nationwide. For example

  • A larger content marketing program for an expensive fertility consumer product. We’ve taken their traffic from ~1000 to >60,000 visitors per month on a shoe string budget.
  • A B2B clothing manufacturer. We’ve grown their traffic from 1,000 visitors per month to 3,000 visitors per month. It’s been enjoyable to be along for the ride as their business has really taken off.
While this may seem counter intuitive we routinely turn opportunities down. Our agency is focused on working with clients where we think great things are possible. 
 
These types of clients lead to longer relationships and better contracts. It’s a win win.
 

SEO Is Confusing. What Exactly Do You Do / Offer?

  • Competition analysis

    Before we start a campaign we look at how competitive the space is and how much search volume is available. This allows us to decide if SEO is the best marketing channel for your business and to set realistic expectations

  • Keyword Research

    Local SEO keyword research is an extension of competition analysis. At this stage we've decided SEO is a good fit for your business. Now we're trying to find little golden nuggets and angles less experienced SEO's might miss.

  • Keyword Tracking

    Typically there are five to ten leading keywords that let us know how a local SEO campaign is going. If those keywords are stuck, you can bet the campaign is stuck.

  • Link audit and analysis

    Another extension of competitor analysis. We use tools to determine how far ahead the competition is for any given keyword which allows us to price in the proper number of links. Every SEO campaign should include acquiring links.

  • Quality backlinks

    While all local SEO should include links, not all links are created equal. In fact, every link is like a snowflake, perfectly unique. Trying to figure out which of those links are worth acquiring is the hard part. Luckily we've got 10 years of experience ranking 100s of sites and 10s of thousands of keywords.

  • Citations

    Citations are simply online directories. Every local business should build them. They help fortify your NAP (Name, Address and Phone Number) and they are also links (although not very powerful ones) as well.

  • On-Page Optimization

    The basics which so many SEO agencies get wrong. These are the simple things that let Google know what the page is about. The URL, SEO title, header tags, meta descriptions and alt tags to name a few.

  • Service Page Content Analysis & Creation

    The first part is the analysis. What service pages should you add? If you're a painter that might be interior painting, exterior painting and deck staining. The second part is creating service pages that look good AND have enough content on them. Lucky, we've developed and designed hundreds of websites and landing pages so a service page or two is a breeze.

  • Location Page Content Analysis & Creation

    This is very similar to a service page, except instead of trying to rank for interior painter now we're trying tor an area we service. The homepage takes care of your primary service but if you work in a service area we'll want to capture the surrounding towns too.

  • Homepage Content Analysis & Creation

    The homepage is the most valuable page on a service businesses website. It's the page that is going to rank for most of the keywords in their town or city. So, we treat it as such.

  • Topical Authority Analysis

    Topical authority is a concept I borrowed from media sites. Cover a topic as thoroughly as you can - this adds credibility. We use this approach when creating blog content for client sites.

  • Content Roadmap

    We typically build out our roadmap 6 months in advance. This often means laying out what service pages and location pages need to be added or improved. But once we've covered all of those landing pages we'll move onto creating a blog content roadmap.

  • Blog content production

    Most local SEO companies write very low quality content. We have a filter that all of our content goes through. It has to be useful and it has be well written for both humans and search engines.

  • Blog content posting & optimization

    Once we've written useful, quality content it needs to be posted. This is another area the wheels often fall off. We take the time to post every blog post correctly which means ensuring the on-page elements are done correctly and it's free from errors.

  • Google Search Console

    Google Search Console is an analytics and website health tool. We set this up for every site we work on.

  • Google Analytics

    Google Analytics, or GA4 is Google's most recent version of their tracking platform. It's always surprising how many sites don't have any analytical data. This is just another data point we use to ensure a campaign is going as planned.

  • Google Conversion Tracking

    Conversion tracking is tricky. Most SEOs aren't very good at. Most paid advertisers are MUCH better at it. Lucky for us we have a world class pay per click team that helps us to setup conversion tracking in Google Analytics.

  • Google Business Page Audit

    Your Google Business Page, sometimes called GBP or GMB is as important as your website as it relates to your local SEO efforts. Reviews are critical. Having a GBP that is filled out, optimized and living is vital.

  • Google Business Page Optimization

    Once we've done an audit on your Google Business Page we make any tweaks or changes necessary to get the most of out it.

  • Page Speed Audit

    If your website is slow it's going to hurt your business. Page speed is overhyped but if your site takes >3s to load, that is an area of concern.

  • Page Speed Optimization*

    On sites we build and manage we optimize the page speed. Page speed is a function of how good your host is (ie: not Godaddy), how well your site was built and whether images have been optimized.

  • Core web vitals audit

    Core web vitals is your websites health. In Google Search Console, Google will provide you with your core web vitals. If there is an issue we dive in to see if it can be fixed.

  • Core web vitals optimization*

    Similar to page speed, if we built your site and manage it we'll take care of core web vitals. Typically our sites don't have any CLS issues so it's just a matter of ensuring the site is fast and images are optimized.

  • Monthly Reporting

    We provide simple, transparent work reports and ranking reports. We don't try to overwhelm our clients with long reports that they can't understand and won't bother to read. The goal is to deliver the relevant information.

  • Transparency

    We do our best not to oversell our services on sales call. We are not a churn and burn agency constantly replacing clients every month. We provide detailed work reports, traffic reports and ranking reports. If SEO isn't a great option for your business or if your current provider is doing a good job we WILL tell you.

*Sites managed by Salt Water Digital

This may seem like a long list because it is. Most SEO agencies provide a fraction of what we do, often spending more time on reporting and client communication than the actual work. In an industry that often lacks transparency, we take it very seriously. 

Each month we provide a reasonable 1 page report outlining the work done in a given month and keyword rankings. We do not waste your budget writing 12 page reports full of fluff.  And we don’t hide behind jargon or industry speak. We show you exactly what we’ve done each month and are happy to explain what each item is.  

Client SEO Testimonials and SEO Case Studies

Small Business SEO Case Studies

Still skeptical? Here are a few SEO client case studies:

SEO for HVAC Contractors Case Study

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Local Eye Doctor SEO Case Study

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Fertility SEO Case Study

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Self Storage SEO Case Study

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Salt Water Digital Local SEO Reviews from Small Business Owners In Vancouver and Across North America

Would highly recommend working with Dan and the guys at Salt Water Digital. Their depth of knowledge on Google Adwords, Youtube Ads, SEO and FB marketing is excellent. They have a terrific understanding of how all of the pieces of digital marketing fit together making them a fantastic choice for anyone looking to increase their reach through digital marketing.
Curt S.
Stephen at Salt Water Digital is a marketing GENIUS. Through the SEO work he has done for our business, we have been able to convert online traffic, to real live customers coming through our door. WORTH EVERY PENNY OF YOUR INVESTMENT!
Eliza T.
Eliza T.Artel Salon
These guys are the best! Have really helped my business grow through both Facebook and Google ad campaigns, as well as boosted my SEO significantly. Highly recommend. Thanks Stephen, Dan and Jen.
Erika W.
Erika W.Fresh in Your Fridge
The company I manage has been using Salt Water Digital's services for years now and I honestly think they're one of the main reasons we've grown as much as we have compared to our competition in Vancouver. Same day responses and great prices for great work.
Spencer O.
Spencer O.Cranky Knot Wellness Centre
I have been working with Dan and his team at Salt Water Digital for over 3 years now. They have helped me design and build my website along with getting me set up with proper SEO. I came to them with some ideas but not knowing where to start. They took me through a simple process of transforming my ideas into a well designed digital platform for my company. Salt Water Digital is great to work with. They communicate well, deliver on time and are talented digital marketers. I highly recommend sitting down with Dan and his team to see how they can help you grow your business.
Collin A.Accessible Wealth Strategies
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Frequently Asked Questions

We will recommend a package with the intention to rank within 6-9 months. Often our clients see results in just a few months. How quickly you get results depends on how competitive your industry is and how established your business is.

It really depends as SEO isn’t always something we recommend. Instead, book in for a free consult and we’ll be happy to discuss.

We recommend committing to at least 12 months. This will allow us to establish rankings and provide us time to cement your position. Often what we will do after 12 months is recommend a reduced package which focuses on maintaining existing rankings rather than chasing new ones.
Any SEO agency or contractor who guarantees rankings is being disingenuous. There is too many factors that are outside of an SEO’s  control to guarantee a certain position or ranking. With that said, we have never had a client not hit the first page for their targeted keyword. 
No. Our link builder reaches out to prospective blogs for guest posting opportunities.

Most of our SEO clients are based in the US. For Canadian clients we will provide pricing in CAD.

Bold claim right?

I’ve only met a handful of SEO marketers who I’d genuinely consider to be better at search engine optimization than our team. 

None of them are in the business of servicing, local clients. And like those elite SEO’s we didn’t start our SEO career by selling services to other businesses. We learned SEO by building our own companies, projects and websites. If our SEO wasn’t working, we weren’t making money. That turned us into scrappy SEO’s.

We understand that if not we’re driving clicks for high intent keywords we aren’t doing our jobs. We understand the full scope of an SEO campaign and which levers to pull when rankings are stuck.

Our bread and butter is SEO for local service businesses (eg: HVAC) and SEO for local professional services (eg: eye doctors). However, if you have a unique SEO challenge we’re the company to hire.

There are a few inherent benefits to only providing only SEO services to one industry eg: HVAC contractors or eye doctors. You can build links that would be difficult for others to build between clients (although, it’s rare to see most SEO agencies do this). You have a slightly better understanding of how competitive any given market is.

The downside? When rankings get stuck they have a more limited tool belt. Having worked across dozens of industries for over 10 years (e-commerce, home service businesses, brick and mortar smbs, informational websites, B2B, SaaS etc.) we have seen it all. 

  1. Overselling. SEO should be a part of the marketing strategy. If an agency is promising to blow your doors down with new business, they’re probably a sales agency.

    What is a sales agency? They’re not really in the business of providing SEO services, they’re in the sales business. They know they probably won’t be able to provide value necessary to retain you as a client and so they oversell to get you in the door. They’ll use a 6 or 12 month contract to lock you in and explain away why the results stink.

    Those SEO agencies are built to replace clients. Churn, replace, churn, replace and repeat.

  2. Long term contracts. We always tell our clients if you cancel the service before six months you’ve effectively lit your money on fire. SEO takes time and anything under six months is likely not long enough to get solid results. That said, we never make our clients sign a contract.

    Not happy with the results? Give us 30 days notice and we’ll wrap up the campaign.

  3. Ask for a sample report. If they don’t provide any reporting that is a major concern. If they provide an eight page document that is also a concern. You want a local SEO service provider who is transparent (provides reports) but isn’t wasting your budget on unnecessary, lengthy reports. 

  4. Pricing. It’s very hard to do anything with less than $500/month. Certainly, below that number you aren’t building any quality links. But one shouldn’t confuse price for quality. There are plenty of sales agencies (see point 1) that charge $4 or $5k/month and do very little. In fact the Yellow Pages offers large SEO contracts and have a pretty poor reputation. 

  5. When SEO companies use the number of keywords tracked as a selling feature. You don’t work on individual keywords. Sure you can build pages to target a cluster of keywords or links with a specific anchor text but you work on an entire site. 

  6. Does the monthly work include links (and not just directories and press releases!) and content? If not it’s time to find a new provider.

Yes, all of our SEO packages will include a review and optimization of your Google Business Page. Depending on the business and the SEO package we may include posting content to your Google Business Page as well. 

A lot of local SEO agencies tend to over complicate the process. We prefer simple over complex.

There are only three broad categories of work that can be done to improve your websites odds of showing up on the first page for the search results.

1. On-Page SEO.

This includes all the content on your website.  The content on your homepage, service pages, location pages and blog content. 

2. Off-Page SEO

This includes anything done on other sites to send signals to Google that your site is credible and trustworthy. This includes your google business page,  link building, directories, PR (podcasts, articles on other websites, business features etc.), reviews, social profiles, videos on third party platforms.

3. Technical SEO

This includes anything done on your website that isn’t content including the host you choose, site structure, sitemaps, URLs, internal linking, site speed, core web vitals, redirects, SSL certificates etc.

That’s the complete list. And if you want to take it a step further. Once the technical SEO is shored up (local businesses aren’t enterprise sized websites) all it really comes down to is links, reviews, citations and content.

We work with businesses all across the US and Canada. We’ve even worked with a couple in Australia. 

Our office is located in Vancouver but most of our clients are American businesses.

We Help You Grow Your Business, No Catch.

We will NEVER pressure and this is NOT a sales call. When you book a consultation with us, we promise to be honest, transparent, and trustworthy. If we don’t think it’s a good fit, we will let you know.

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