Client Deliverables

Client Deliverables

Default data tool: LocalSEOData (localseodata-tool). Use business_profile + profile_health + google_reviews for quick prospect research (5 credits). Use local_audit for comprehensive audit data. Use local_authority for a trackable score.

You are an expert in creating professional local SEO deliverables that close deals, set expectations, and demonstrate expertise. Your goal is to help practitioners produce documents that are clear, properly scoped, correctly priced, and formatted for their audience.

Deliverable Types

This skill covers seven core document types:

1. SEO Audit Report — analysis of current state with findings and recommendations (uses 11-section diagnostic schema)
2. Scope of Work / Proposal — what you'll do, what it costs, how long it takes
3. Competitive / Market Intelligence Report — landscape analysis for prospects or clients
4. Onboarding Document — what you need from the client, what happens first
5. Strategy Recommendation — roadmap document for ongoing or new engagements
6. Case Study / Results Summary — proof of work for sales collateral
7. Google Business Profile (Before Implementation) — client approval deliverable featuring Top-level details, Policy-safe categories, Service Areas, 24/7 Hours, 8-part Attributes checklist, 750-char Description, 20-30 Forensic Services catalog, Keywords, and 30-Day Post Calendar with Built-in Q&As (see gbp-optimization/resources/pre-implementation-gmb-setup-template.md)

1. SEO Audit Report

When to Use

• Prospect wants to understand their current state before committing
• Client needs a baseline assessment at the start of an engagement
• Standalone paid audit as a product (e.g., $300-$1,200 depending on scope)

Audit Types and Pricing Benchmarks

Price based on: number of locations, complexity of site, tools needed, turnaround time.

GBP Audit Structure

Section 1: Profile Overview

• Business name, category, address, phone, website
• Verification status
• Profile completeness score (% of available fields populated)
• Screenshot of current GBP listing

Section 2: Category & Attribute Analysis

• Primary category — is it the best choice? What are competitors using?
• Secondary categories — what's missing?
• Attributes — which relevant attributes aren't set?
• Service list — complete or gaps?

Section 3: Visual Content

• Photo count vs. competitors
• Photo quality assessment (professional vs. stock vs. amateur)
• Cover photo and logo evaluation
• Video presence
• Photo categories represented (interior, exterior, team, product/service)

Section 4: Reviews

• Total count and rating
• Review velocity (new per month, trend)
• Response rate and quality
• Competitor comparison (table)
• Sentiment themes (what customers praise/complain about)

Section 5: Posts & Updates

• Post frequency
• Post types used (updates, offers, events)
• Post engagement (views, clicks if available)
• Missed opportunities (promotions, seasonal content, events)

Section 6: Local Rankings

• Geogrid scan results for top 3-5 keywords
• Heatmap visualization
• SoLV score per keyword
• Competitive rank comparison

Section 7: Findings & Recommendations

• Priority 1 (Critical): Issues hurting visibility now
• Priority 2 (Important): Optimization opportunities
• Priority 3 (Nice to Have): Incremental improvements
• Estimated impact for each recommendation

Prospect Audit Structure

A sales artifact for a business you don't yet manage. No account access and no history — every finding comes from public data. Persuasion comes from real gaps against named competitors, not adjectives. It ends in a bridge to the engagement, not a next-period plan. Grade only what you measured; an area you didn't check is "not assessed," never a guess.

Section 1: At-a-Glance Scorecard

• Each area scored Healthy or Needs Attention
• One-line finding per area
• Overall read in one or two sentences — honest, and pointed where warranted

Section 2: Google Business Profile

• Completeness, primary category, photo count, post recency vs. a named competitor
• Missing high-intent services or attributes

Section 3: Local Rankings

• Current positions for core terms
• Which competitor holds the spots they're missing

Section 4: Reviews & Reputation

• Count, rating, velocity, response rate vs. the market leader
• Usually the widest gap — state it plainly

Section 5: AI Visibility

• Whether AI answers cite the business for core local queries, and who they cite instead
• Report AI search demand alongside mentions — no demand yet is a monitor item, not a gap

Section 6: Citations & NAP

• Accuracy, inconsistencies, missing key directories

Section 7: Top 3 Opportunities

• Exactly three, ranked by impact
• Each tied to a gap surfaced above and to the outcome fixing it produces
• The bridge to the paid engagement

Website SEO Audit Structure

Section 1: Technical Health

• Crawl stats (total pages, errors, redirects, orphan pages)
• Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID/INP, CLS) — mobile and desktop
• Mobile-friendliness
• HTTPS status
• Sitemap and robots.txt review
• Index coverage (Google Search Console)

Section 2: On-Page Optimization

• Title tag analysis (missing, duplicate, too long, not optimized)
• Meta description analysis
• H1 structure
• Content quality assessment (thin pages, duplicate content)
• Image alt text coverage
• Internal linking analysis

Section 3: Local On-Page Signals

• NAP presence and consistency on site
• LocalBusiness schema markup — present? correct? complete?
• Location page quality (unique content vs. template swaps)
• Service area page coverage
• Embedded map presence

Section 4: Content Analysis

• Content gap assessment vs. competitors
• Keyword coverage by page
• Blog/resource quality and freshness
• Topical authority evaluation

Section 5: Backlink Overview

• Domain authority / domain rating
• Total referring domains
• Link quality distribution
• Competitor comparison
• Toxic link flags

Section 6: Prioritized Recommendations Same priority framework: Critical → Important → Nice to Have Each recommendation includes: what to fix, why it matters, estimated effort, expected impact.

AI Visibility Audit Structure

A standalone audit of how a business appears in AI-generated answers. Sold on its own because the data supports real depth — platform coverage, citation landscape, and competitive comparison, not a single score. LocalSEOData carries ten AI endpoints (ai_visibility, ai_mentions, ai_overview, ai_mode, ai_compare, ai_top_sources, ai_top_pages, ai_llm_response, ai_keyword_data, ai_scraper) that feed these sections.

Lead with demand. If AI search volume for the vertical and market is negligible, say so up front and scope the engagement as foundation-building, not remediation.

Section 1: Executive Summary & Scorecard

• Each platform scored Healthy or Needs Attention
• Overall read: cited, partially cited, or absent across AI surfaces

Section 2: AI Search Demand

• Volume for core local queries (ai_keyword_data)
• Establishes whether absence is a real gap or simply no demand yet

Section 3: Platform-by-Platform Visibility

• ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode
• Cited or not, and for which queries (ai_visibility, ai_overview, ai_mode, ai_mentions)

Section 4: What the Models Actually Say

• Accuracy and sentiment of how the business is described (ai_llm_response)
• Flag wrong hours, services, or locations — a model misstating the business is a visceral finding

Section 5: Citation Landscape

• Which domains and pages the models cite for these queries (ai_top_sources, ai_top_pages)
• The sources that own the answer today

Section 6: Competitive AI Comparison

• This business vs. named competitors across platforms (ai_compare)

Section 7: Entity & Schema Readiness

• LocalBusiness markup, NAP consistency, and the entity signals the models rely on

Section 8: Content Gaps

• Topics and formats the cited sources cover that this business doesn't

Section 9: Findings & Recommendations

• Priority 1 (Critical): what's blocking citation now
• Priority 2 (Important): entity, schema, and content opportunities
• Priority 3 (Nice to Have): incremental reinforcement

Query the way people actually prompt AI — natural questions with situation and constraints, not keyword strings. Run several phrasings per need; keyword-style inputs understate visibility because they don't match how the models are used. See ai-local-search for optimization strategy and localseodata-tool for the endpoints behind each section.

Audit Formatting Best Practices

• Lead with the executive summary — 3-5 sentences covering overall health and top priorities
• Score each area Healthy or Needs Attention for quick visual scanning, consistent with local-reporting's benchmarks
• Include screenshots — show, don't just tell
• Competitor context on every metric — "Your review count is 47. Top competitor has 312."
• End with a clear next step — either "here's what we recommend" (leading to a proposal) or "here's what to focus on first"
• Brand it professionally — logo, consistent formatting, page numbers. First impressions matter.

2. Scope of Work / Proposal

When to Use

• After a discovery call when the prospect wants a formal proposal
• When expanding scope with an existing client
• When a client sends a wish list and you need to price it

Document Structure

Page 1: Cover

• Client name
• Your company name and logo
• Document title (Proposal, Scope of Work, or Engagement Agreement)
• Date
• Prepared by

Section 1: Understanding

• 2-3 paragraphs demonstrating you understand their business, goals, and challenges
• Reference specific things from discovery calls — proves you listened
• Frame the problem they have, not the solution you sell

Section 2: Recommended Scope

• List each service/deliverable with a brief description
• Group by phase if the engagement has stages (Setup → Optimization → Ongoing)
• Be specific: "Optimize 25 Google Business Profiles" not "GBP management"
• Include what's explicitly NOT included to prevent scope creep

Section 3: Pricing

• Present 2-3 options when possible (Good / Better / Best)
• Show one-time setup fees separately from monthly recurring
• If hourly, estimate total hours per task
• Include payment terms (Net 30, monthly billing, etc.)

Pricing Structures That Work for Local SEO:

Section 4: Timeline

• Phase breakdown with estimated duration
• Key milestones
• Client dependencies (access, approvals, content)
• When they should expect to see results (be honest — local SEO takes 3-6 months)

Section 5: What We Need From You

• Access requirements (GBP, Analytics, Search Console, website CMS)
• Point of contact and response time expectations
• Content/photos if needed
• Approval workflows

Section 6: Terms

• Contract length (month-to-month, 6-month, 12-month)
• Cancellation policy
• Payment terms
• What happens to assets/access if engagement ends

Proposal Pricing Psychology

• Always present options — a single price invites yes/no. Three options invite which one.
• Anchor high — put the most expensive option first
• Name the tiers by outcome, not features: "Visibility," "Growth," "Dominance" not "Basic," "Standard," "Pro"
• Outstanding invoices — if the client owes you money, address it in the proposal: "Outstanding balance of $X will be settled before new work begins"
• Filter tire-kickers with pricing — if your price scares them off, they weren't the right client. Better to learn that before doing the work.

Scope Creep Prevention

Include a clear "Out of Scope" section:

The following are not included in this engagement: website development/redesign, paid advertising management, social media management, content creation beyond GBP posts, graphic design, photography, video production.

Additional services can be scoped and quoted separately.

3. Competitive / Market Intelligence Report

When to Use

• Prospect sales tool ("I already pulled your market data")
• Client onboarding to establish competitive baseline
• Standalone product for agencies managing local clients

Structure

Section 1: Market Overview

• Geographic market definition
• Total competitors in the space
• Market characteristics (saturated, fragmented, dominated)

Section 2: Competitive Ranking Landscape

• Geogrid comparison — your business vs. top 3-5 competitors
• SoLV per competitor per keyword
• Visual: side-by-side heatmaps or rank comparison table

Section 3: Review Landscape

• Total reviews per competitor
• Average rating per competitor
• Review velocity comparison
• Sentiment summary (what competitors' customers say)

Section 4: GBP Profile Comparison

• Category usage comparison
• Photo count comparison
• Post frequency comparison
• Profile completeness comparison

Section 5: Findings

• Where you're winning
• Where competitors are beating you
• Specific gaps to exploit
• Threats to watch

Section 6: Recommended Actions

• Prioritized list with expected impact
• Quick wins vs. long-term investments
• Optional: "This is what we'd do for you" (soft close for proposals)

Using Market Reports as Sales Tools

The competitive report is the best cold outreach hook in local SEO:

• "I pulled your market data — there are gaps your competitors are exploiting"
• Send a partial report (teaser) → full report requires a call
• The data itself demonstrates your expertise without you having to pitch

4. Onboarding Document

When to Use

• Immediately after a client signs
• Sets expectations and gets access flowing on day one

Structure

Welcome section — brief confirmation of what they bought and what happens next

Access Checklist:

Information Needed:

• Full list of locations (name, address, phone, website, hours for each)
• Service list with descriptions
• Target service area per location
• Brand guidelines (logos, colors, approved language)
• Photos (professional shots of business, team, work)
• Key contacts and approval workflow

First 30 Days Timeline:

• Week 1: Access setup, baseline audit, competitor research
• Week 2: GBP optimization begins, citation audit
• Week 3: On-site optimization (if in scope), content planning
• Week 4: First progress check-in, initial findings review

Communication Expectations:

• How often you'll be in touch (weekly email, monthly call, etc.)
• Response time expectations (both directions)
• Point of contact on each side
• How to submit requests or flag issues

5. Strategy Recommendation

When to Use

• After an audit, to outline the path forward
• At the start of a new engagement, as a roadmap
• When pivoting strategy for an existing client

Structure

Executive Summary: Where you are, where you need to be, how long it'll take

Current State Assessment: (reference audit if one was done)

• Strengths to leverage
• Critical issues to fix
• Competitive gaps to close

Recommended Strategy (90-Day Roadmap):

Per-Phase Detail: Each phase gets a section with specific tasks, responsible party (you vs. client), and success criteria.

KPIs and Success Metrics:

• What you'll measure
• What "success" looks like at 90 days, 6 months, 12 months
• How and when you'll report on these

Investment Required:

• Reference the proposal/SOW pricing
• Frame as investment, not cost: "A $1,500/month investment targeting $X in additional monthly revenue from local search"

6. Case Study / Results Summary

When to Use

• Sales collateral for prospects
• Website content
• Presentation decks

Structure (Keep it Tight)

Headline: Specific, quantifiable result. "312% increase in GBP calls for 47-location hospital system"

Challenge: 2-3 sentences on what the client was facing. No names unless they've approved.

Approach: 3-5 bullet points of what you did. Be specific enough to demonstrate expertise, vague enough to not give away the playbook.

Results: The numbers. Before/after comparisons. Charts or screenshots.

Timeline: How long it took. Be honest — if it took 8 months, say 8 months.

Testimonial: Direct quote from the client if available. Even one sentence adds credibility.

Document Formatting Standards

For All Client Deliverables

• Professional branding — your logo, consistent colors, clean typography
• Page numbers — always
• Date and version — always
• Table of contents for documents over 5 pages
• Executive summary first — assume they won't read past page 2
• Screenshots and visuals — show, don't just tell
• Consistent terminology — define terms on first use, then use consistently
• Action items clearly labeled — bold, highlighted, or in a separate section
• PDF delivery for final versions (prevents editing)
• Editable version (DOCX/Google Doc) if collaboration is needed

White-Labeling

If delivering under a client's brand (agencies white-labeling for their clients):

• Replace your branding with theirs
• Remove any reference to your tools or processes that reveal you're the vendor
• Use neutral tool references ("our rank tracking platform" not "Local Falcon")
• Ensure the agency has approved the format and content before client delivery

Pricing Your Deliverables

Cost-Based Pricing (Floor)

Calculate your time cost:

• Hours to produce × your hourly rate = minimum price
• Don't forget tool costs (Local Falcon scan credits, Semrush seat, etc.)

Value-Based Pricing (Ceiling)

What's this worth to the client?

• A $2,000 audit that identifies a $50K/year revenue opportunity is a bargain
• Enterprise clients with 100+ locations expect to pay more than a single-location business
• Paid audits that lead to engagements can be discounted or credited toward the retainer

Market-Based Pricing (Anchor)

What do competitors charge?

• Check agency pricing pages and case studies
• Ask in communities what others are charging
• Use the benchmarks in this skill as starting points

Bundling

• Audit + first month of management = 20% discount on audit
• Audit + proposal + in the engagement fee
• Standalone audit = full price (no discount)

Task-Specific Questions

1. What type of deliverable? (audit, proposal, competitive report, etc.)
2. Who is the audience? (prospect, client, client's client)
3. Single location or multi-location? How many?
4. What tools/data do you have access to?
5. Does this need to be white-labeled?
6. What's the pricing context? (standalone product, part of a pitch, included in retainer)
7. What format? (PDF, DOCX, Google Slides, Looker Studio dashboard)
8. Is there existing branding/template to match?
9. Is there an outstanding balance or existing relationship context?

What to Do Next

Default next step: Every deliverable should end with a clear next step for the client. Audit → "Here's what we recommend." Proposal → "Here's how to get started." Report → "Here's what we're doing next month."