In the digital marketing world, SEO is no longer a siloed discipline – it’s foundational to almost every service you offer. Whether you’re focused on social media, reputation management, paid advertising, or web development, integrating search engine optimization (SEO) into your service stack can amplify results across the board.
For digital marketing agencies, offering SEO not only improves client outcomes but also deepens your value proposition and builds long-term revenue opportunities. If you haven’t yet built SEO into your core services or you want to make it more seamless, here’s how to do it with five actionable tips.
1. Bundle SEO With Existing Services
Don’t treat SEO as a standalone line item, embed it into what you already sell. If you offer review management, reputation building, or social content services, explain how SEO plays a role in improving visibility and authority. For example:
- Reputation management enhances local search rankings through consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) data and fresh reviews.
- Social posts can be optimized with search-friendly keywords to drive traffic to blog posts or landing pages.
- Listings management ensures clients are present and accurate across all platforms, helping local pack visibility.
👉 Pro tip: Tools like GatherUp make it easy to manage reviews, customer feedback, and local listings, ALL key elements of SEO success.
2. Perform SEO Audits as a Foot-in-the-Door Offer
SEO audits are a great gateway service. They uncover technical issues, content gaps, and local visibility problems while demonstrating your value right away. Think of it as your “Foot-in-the-Door” (FITD) offer—a concept agency coach Jason Swenk broke down brilliantly in his session at AmpUp 2025. His strategy? Lead with a high-value, low-barrier service that builds trust and sets the stage for long-term revenue.
Offer a free or low-cost audit that gives prospects a taste of your expertise while solving a real problem. Include:
- Site structure and crawlability issues
- Missing or duplicate metadata
- Review and reputation footprint
- Listings consistency (e.g., Yelp, Google, Bing)
- Local keyword ranking performance
This gives your team a clear path to demonstrate value and opens the door to larger engagements. It’s not just about pointing out problems—it’s about creating momentum.
And just like Jason shared at AmpUp: when you lead with results (not just promises), clients are far more likely to stick around—and scale up.
3. Train Your Account Managers on SEO Basics
You don’t need every team member to be an SEO wizard but your client-facing staff should understand core SEO principles. This ensures:
- Clients receive consistent messaging about how your services impact SEO.
- AMs can identify upsell opportunities (e.g., “I noticed your competitor is outranking you in map results…”).
- Your agency builds trust and credibility by tying campaigns to measurable outcomes like rankings or traffic.
Simple training modules on SEO metrics, keyword research, and local pack ranking factors can go a long way.
4. Leverage Reviews as Keyword-Rich Content
Customer reviews are powerful SEO assets, especially for local businesses. Reviews that mention your client’s product/service categories, geography, and benefits can help with:
- Ranking in Google’s local map pack
- Improving CTR (click-through rate) with rich review snippets
- Increasing on-page keyword relevance
Encourage review generation with structured campaigns, and use tools like GatherUp to automate review collection, monitor sentiment, and highlight the most SEO-friendly content across the web.
5. Build SEO Into Reporting and Retention Conversations
Retention is about results. By tracking and reporting SEO wins alongside other KPIs (leads, conversions, sentiment, etc.), you make your agency’s impact unmistakable.
Include:
- Ranking improvements for key terms
- Increased visibility in local SERPs
- Higher Google review counts or average star ratings
- Directory presence scores from tools like Moz Local or GatherUp’s Uberall integration
When clients see the compounding impact of SEO, they’re far more likely to increase investment or expand services with your agency.
Make SEO Work With Your Agency, Not As an Add-On
Integrating SEO into your digital marketing agency is less about adding services and more about evolving how you deliver value. By connecting SEO to your existing offerings and using platforms like GatherUp to streamline local SEO and reputation building, you create more meaningful, measurable results for your clients.
Ready to strengthen your SEO strategy? Learn how GatherUp can help your agency drive visibility, manage reputation, and fuel growth—all from one integrated hub. Book a demo today!
