White label local SEO: what it covers and what to ask

White label local SEO is local search work that a partner does and your agency sells under its own name. What it covers turns on the seller, so ask each one for its own list in writing. For the Business Profile part, Google's help pages say what a business can do, and a reseller can take that work on.

What do white label local SEO services include?

White label local SEO services include what the seller's own list names, so start there. Boostability, which sells white label local SEO, lists keyword research for local searches, listings in local business directories such as Google Business Profile, on-site work, and link building.

That's one seller's list of its own work. It isn't a rule for every seller. Ask each partner you talk to for its list in writing, then go through it part by part:

• Keyword research for local searches. Who picks the towns and the services to go after? Do you see the keyword list before any work starts?
• Directory listings. Which directories are on the list? Whose login does each listing sit under: yours, your client's or the partner's?
• On-site work. Which pages will change? Who signs off on a change before it goes live?
• Link building. Where do the links come from? Do you get a list of them each month?

If the same partner will touch your client's pages, sort out those tasks at the same time. For the on-page work you can hand off, see white label on-page SEO.

Ask too what your client will see when the month ends. For a local client's monthly report, see local SEO reporting.

What should a local SEO reseller handle on a client's Business Profile?

A reseller can take on the upkeep that Google tells a business to do on its own profile: complete details, replies to reviews, and photos and videos. It can also keep an eye on the reviews that come in, since more reviews and positive ratings can help a local ranking, by Google's page. The Google help pages we read speak to the business itself, and they don't set out jobs for a reseller.

First, look at what decides local results. Google says three things mainly do: relevance, distance and popularity. Its page explains the third one under the word prominence.

Google's tips for local ranking name upkeep that a reseller can do, or can prompt your client to do:

1. Complete the profile's details. One tip is to keep the business info on the profile as complete as possible.
2. Answer reviews. A reply to a customer's review shows that the feedback is valued, Google says.
3. Add photos and videos. Google says these show customers what's on offer.
4. Watch the reviews. This step is ours. It rests on Google's line that "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking".

Before the work starts, settle who does each job:

• Who writes each review reply, and who approves it before it's posted?
• Who sends new photos, and how often?
• Who tells the reseller when the hours, the phone number or the address change?

Then ask the reseller to send the profile's own counts with each month's work. Google shows performance data only for verified Business Profiles, so check that first. It says the data takes in views, searches and actions. The counts draw on organic search results and on Google Ads alike, so say that when you show them to a client.

• Searches: the search terms that led people to the business.
• Views: a count of the people who looked at the profile on Search and Maps.
• Directions: a count of the people who asked for directions to the business.
• Calls: the times a customer clicked the profile's call button.
• Website clicks: the times people clicked the profile's website link.

Before you add profile work to a plan, read the whole plan. For what a reseller plan holds and costs, see SEO reseller services.

How do you pick the best white label local SEO services?

Pick by weighing each partner on the same five things: its skill, its reviews, its results, its service and its fees. Put the same questions to each one, so you can set the answers side by side. For the short version of how to pick a helper, see How do I create a white label SEO report?.

For local work, here's what to ask under each of the five:

• Skill. Ask to see local work the partner has done for another agency, with the client's name taken out.
• Reviews. Read what other agencies say about the partner on a site the partner doesn't run.
• Results. Ask what the partner promises about local rank. Google says, "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google". Hold the partner's answer up against that line.
• Service. Ask who answers your questions, and whether anyone at the partner ever contacts your client.
• Fees. Ask what the monthly fee covers, what costs extra, and what changes when a client adds a location.

Then add two asks that are easy to miss: who touches your client's data, and whether you'll get the contract in writing. For the law's own words on a helper who handles client data, see Which California rules apply when a helper works under my brand?.

For profile work, the data question gets specific. Ask whose login the partner will use, and who takes that access away when the work ends.

Once you've got a short list of partners, run a fuller check on each. For the checklist to run before you join, see how to judge an SEO reseller program.

This isn't legal or tax advice.