Local SEO

NOTE: DO NOT contact me outside of upwork. Anyone who does so will not be considered. We are a marketing agency looking for an experienced local SEO specialist to handle ongoing Google Business Profile and local listings work for one of our clients. The client is a heavy equipment dealer with 8 branch locations across 6 states in the southeastern United States. They sell, service, and rent heavy equipment, and each branch has its own Google Business Profile. This is white-label work. You will not communicate with the client directly. You report to us, and all deliverables need to be unbranded so we can pass them along. We are starting with 2 locations and adding roughly one per month until all 8 are active. Looking for a long-term ongoing relationship, not a one-off project. IMPORTANT: We handle strategy, reviews, and client communication in-house. We are hiring for execution only. Please read the scope carefully before applying. WHAT YOU WILL DO EACH MONTH (PER LOCATION) Google Business Profile: - Write and publish 4 to 8 posts per month (offers, products, events, seasonal). Posts must be written per location, not copied across all 8. - Upload 5 to 10 photos per month. We supply the photos, you upload and geo-tag them. - Monitor and respond to Q&A. Add seeded questions when we request them. - Keep services and products lists accurate and complete. - Keep hours, attributes, and business info accurate. - Watch for Google auto-edits and third-party suggested edits, and revert anything incorrect. Listings: - Monitor core directory listings each month for name, address, and phone accuracy. - Find and suppress duplicate listings. - Correct inaccurate listings. - Add new listings where gaps exist. Rank Tracking: - We provide the BrightLocal account. You will be added as a user. All tracking runs in our account and the data stays with us. - Run geo-grid rank tracking monthly, minimum 7x7 grid. - Set each grid to cover a 50 mile radius around each branch. - Track 8 to 12 keywords per location. We provide the keyword list. - Export heat maps unbranded each month. - Keep tracking configured consistently so we can compare month over month. Reporting: - One monthly report per location, unbranded or white-label. - Raw data available as CSV or API export. - No vendor logos or branding anywhere in the deliverables. ONE-TIME ONBOARDING (PER LOCATION, AS EACH IS ADDED) - Full Google Business Profile audit against the top 3 local competitors. - Analyze categories and recommend primary and secondary categories. We approve before you make any changes. - Build out complete services and products lists. - Upload 25+ initial photos (we supply them). - Seed 10 to 15 Q&A entries. - Audit all existing citations and directory listings. - Clean up incorrect listings and remove duplicates. - Build core citations. Permanent, owned listings only. - Capture a baseline geo-grid before making any changes. NOT INCLUDED - DO NOT PRICE THESE IN We handle all of the following ourselves: - Review requests and review responses - Website content, location pages, and schema markup - Link building - Client communication and client calls - Strategy and roadmap - Call tracking REQUIREMENTS - THESE ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE 1. The client keeps ownership of every Google Business Profile. You get Manager access only. No exceptions. 2. No review gating, ever. (Do not apply if you use survey funnels that filter customers before sending them to Google.) 3. Permanent, owned citations only. Yext-style rented syndication is not acceptable as the foundation. 4. No automated, spun, or templated GBP post content. Posts get written per location. 5. No AI-generated Q&A published without our approval. 6. All work done by you or your in-house team. Disclose any subcontracting up front. 7. All rank tracking history and citation records must be exportable to us on request. 8. Category changes require our written approval before you make them. 9. All work is done in our tool accounts (BrightLocal, and any others we provide). You do not run client tracking or reporting from your own accounts. WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR APPLICATION Please answer all of these. Applications that skip them will not be reviewed. 1. Your price per location per month at 8 locations. Also give me your price at 2, 4, and 6 locations. 2. Your one-time onboarding cost per location. 3. Confirm you are comfortable working inside our BrightLocal account. If you normally use a different tool for geo-grid tracking, tell us which one and why. 4. Attach a sample white-label monthly report. 5. Attach a sample GBP post you have written for a B2B, industrial, or equipment client. 6. What is your turnaround time for profile edits and for reverting incorrect suggested edits? 7. Two references with multi-location B2B or industrial clients. 8. Your contract terms, notice period, and any minimum commitment. 9. Who is the named account manager and what time zone are they in? 10. What is your escalation process if a Google Business Profile gets suspended? Then answer these four questions: A. How do you approach primary category selection for a business that does sales, parts, service, and rentals all from the same location? B. What is your process if a Google Business Profile gets suspended? C. How do you handle a location where Google keeps auto-applying an incorrect category or incorrect hours? D. How would you keep GBP content different across 3 branches in the same state without creating duplicate content problems? E. What do you need from us each month for this to work well? HOW TO APPLY - PLEASE READ THIS PART We use AI tools ourselves and we do not care if you use one to help write your application. But we have built this section so that an AI-only application will not get through. Everything below needs you, personally. 1. Record a short video (Loom, or anything) - 60 to 90 seconds, unscripted, no slides. Just talk to the camera and tell us: - Your name and where you are based - One local SEO project you ran and what actually happened - The one thing you think most agencies get wrong about multi-location Google Business Profile work 2. Send a screenshot of a geo-grid report you personally produced. Blur out the client name if you need to. 3. Send a link to one live Google Business Profile you currently manage. 4. Answer this in 75 words or less. Not more. We handle all review requests and review responses ourselves, in-house. Knowing that, what do you think is the single biggest risk to getting results in the scope above, and what would you do about it? 5. There is one specification in this job post that is a bad idea. Tell us which one it is and why. We will ask you about your answers on a call. If you cannot explain them in your own words, we will end the call there.