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Well i think you need to help them understand the difference between the traditional realm of local people competing with them and possibly their storefront and with the new online search realm of people finding them via searches.

If they are a traditional business where people find them via their physical storefront and through other traditional means, then that will prove more valuable to them.

However, i'm assuming they hired you because business is down. If that's the case, you just need to make the case for using non-traditional methods including online search which will boost their sales. In which case, you really need to define what their keywords are before you find their search competition.

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I think everyone gets these if you are ranking well. When i was on the first page for my terms i'd get all kinds. Even worse, they'd fill out my contact form posing as clients then in the body they'd describe some service they were offering, very annoying.

I don't buy the - "it gives competitors what you are trying to rank for"  arguement. Hell, all you have to do is go to a page title or look around a bit on some text and it should be glaringly obviously what they are trying to rank for.

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I would love to find and SEO expert, a true expert, not a self proclaimed expert. And one that was willing to point me in the right direction to do the work myself and charge a consulting fee. Do these exist? I think they should implement that here on this site somewhere to find reviewed vendors for this type of work.

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