Local SEO Case Studies > Indoor Climbing Centre, Southwest London
Photos courtesy of The Font, Wandsworth, Southwest London.
The Font is a World-class indoor climbing wall in the heart of South West London. They combine bouldering, functional fitness, speciality coffee, craft beer and gourmet burgers.
We asked their co-founder, Joey, to share his experience of working with us. Here’s what he had to say…
What can you tell us about your local business?
The Font offers Pay As You Go and unlimited access bouldering, as well as climbing tuition for adults and juniors. We also offer yoga, fitness sessions and personal training in our on-site studio space.
We opened our first site in Earlsfield, Wandsworth in April 2021 and we will be opening our second near London Bridge later in 2022.
It’s essential that our business is visible on Google whenever anyone within 2-3 miles searches for climbing or bouldering-related activities.
What challenges were you facing before working with us?
Prior to working with LocalMark we weren't appearing at all for a number of important keyword searches on Google.
We had only fairly recently launched so were yet to build up the search engine authority necessary to rank highly.
As a result we needed to spend heavily on Google Ads but, as an expanding startup business with additional locations on our radar, we wanted to play a longer game by investing in local SEO and ultimately reduce our reliance on paid search.
What have you achieved since working with us on your local SEO?
Plenty.
Within just a few months of working with LocalMark, the number of website visitors from organic search has steadily increased. Most importantly our bookings, enquiries and walk-ins have also increased.
Organic Search is now the largest driver of visitors to our website (more than Paid Search, Social and Display combined), and accounts for a significant proportion of our new customer enquiries.
Each month we continue to improve our on-site and off-site local SEO with LocalMark’s expert guidance.
…and what results are you seeing?
In just 6 months LocalMark took our average Google Maps ranking from 16.7 to top 3.
We now rank either 1st or 2nd in the Local Pack on both Google and Google Mobile for essential service-related searches including ‘climbing wall’, ‘bouldering’, ‘rock climbing’ and ‘indoor climbing’.
Each month our Google Business Profile now sends hundreds of new customers to our website, and dozens of calls too.
Most importantly this means our business now appears alongside and often outranks many of our significantly-more-established competitors for these terms, providing even more opportunities to attract new customers.
Our online reviews are also steadily increasing , which is helping to increase exposure to our local target customers and encouraging them to get in touch for the first time.
Has anything exceeded your expectations since working with us?
In short, we're really happy with the results we’re seeing.
We had relatively low expectations of what could be delivered using local SEO but have been encouraged with the results that we’re seeing.
We knew we were underperforming for organic keyword searches, hence the need for heavy investment in paid search, but didn't realise we could achieve so much with local SEO.
Last but not least, in comparison with other marketing channels, we’ve found that local SEO has proved relatively easy to evaluate.
On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our local SEO service to other business owners?
10/10.
What's the main reason you would recommend our local SEO service to other local businesses?
As a busy business owner it’s important for me to be able to delegate work to a growing team. So the way in which LocalMark provides readily-actionable recommendations has been very helpful indeed.
In addition to the strategic insight they provide, LocalMark’s jargon-free SEO guidance goes into enough granular detail for the team to quickly and easily implement.
And whenever something more complex arises - or we don’t have the time - LocalMark are always willing to provide further support.
What would you tell any other local businesses considering working with us?
Don’t underestimate the amount of work needed to deliver solid local SEO results!
Employing a smart, junior in-house marketer has, with the support of LocalMark’s ‘Done With You’ local SEO service, worked really well, freeing me up to focus elsewhere on the business.
The added benefit is LocalMark can help bridge any SEO gaps. Most of their local SEO guidance is easily implemented, but whenever we don’t have either the capacity or the capability to execute, they are more than willing to help out.
If there’s one word you would use to describe your experience working with us, what would it be and why?
Objective.
LocalMark’s guidance throughout has been highly data driven, both in terms of their recommendations and in terms of their focus on delivering a solid ROI that translates to money in the till.
“LocalMark continues to surprise us with the positive impact of local SEO on our business. We now have greater visibility on the search engines, a steady increase in website visitors, and (most importantly) more enquiries and customers. They’re great to work with, especially when supporting our growing team, giving me one less important thing to worry about.”
Ready to talk local SEO?
We’re the trusted local SEO partner to dozens of local businesses across the UK. To explore how we can help you increase your businesses visibility on Google, and attract more local customers, arrange a free consultation with one of our local SEO experts today.