How Does the Third Marble Local SEO & AI Process Rank Richmond, VA Businesses?
We use a lean, process-driven SEO strategy engineered to cut out waste and drive predictable results for Richmond businesses. Whether you are targeting buyers in The Fan, Short Pump, Midlothian, or Downtown RVA, we scale your visibility through four clear onboarding steps—Virtual Onboarding, Richmond Market Strategy, Audit & Research, and a "Plan of Attack" meeting—followed by continuous monthly optimizations and hyper-local content creation.
Why Must Central VA Businesses Adapt to AI & Algorithm Shifts?
Google modifies its search infrastructure thousands of times every year. Today, traditional keywords aren't enough; search engines and AI engines rely on
Entity Authority and Semantic Context.
To remain visible in the Richmond metropolitan area, your digital presence must prove to AI models that your business is a real, trusted local fixture. If your website isn't continually adjusted to reflect these regional connections, you risk disappearing from both standard Google Map Packs and the AI-generated summaries your customers use to find services.
How do we protect your Richmond Rankings Against Algorithm Volatility?
We don't just check off basic optimization boxes; we actively defend your digital market share. Our team continuously refines your site’s Local Schema Markup and builds out a custom Richmond Entity Map.
By digitally linking your brand to known regional entities—such as the James River, VCU, Science Museum of Virginia, or local highway corridors like I-64 and Midlothian Turnpike—we train AI models like Gemini and ChatGPT to recognize your business as the definitive local recommendation. When RVA locals ask AI for the top-rated services near them, your business is positioned as the primary cited source.
What's Included in Third Marble Marketing's Basic SEO and SEO/AI Focused Plans?
| Plan | Basic | Enhanced | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Fee | $499 | $1,299 | $3,499 |
| - | - | - | - |
| AI (GEO) Focus | Minimal | Medium | High |
| Your Online Competiton | Low/No < 30 Competitors | Medium 20-100 Competitors | High 50+ Competitors |
| Your Business Size | Small Business $1M | Small Business $1M-5 | Medium $2M+ |
| - | - | - | - |
| Page Optimizations | Up to 15/Month | Up to 30/Month | Up to 50/Month |
| Quarterly Backlinks | 6 Low DA | 3 Med, 18 Low DA | 3 High, 6 Med, 18 Low DA |
| Content Writing | Quarterly | Monthly | |
| Review Meetings | Quarterly | Quarterly | Monthly |
What are the
Specific Steps in Third Marble’s Local SEO and Map Pack Optimization Process for Richmond?
Our local optimization method relies on absolute transparency, dividing the strategy into a foundational setup phase (Months 1–3), a competitive expansion phase (Months 4–6), and an ongoing quarterly growth loop. This ensures consistent maintenance across on-site technical health, Google Business Profiles, and local Virginia directories.
What Happens in
Phase One - Month One?
Onsite Service
- Perform an initial SEO Audit for your website
- Collect login information for your website access and other resources
- Set up baseline reports for Keyword ranking
- Set up/confirm your Google Analytics, Search Console, and Tag Manager
- Install local optimization software on your website.
- Determine focus keywords
Google Business Profile (GBP)
- Report setup and initial audit of GBP
- Run baseline report
- GBP Check-Up
Citation Building
- Initial audit
- Submit your website and business information to the top 3-4 data aggregators
- Check top 5 citations and recommend edits
- Collect information for your citations and business listings
- Run baseline report and schedule regular reporting
- Confirm the name, address, and phone number (NAP) for citation building
What Happens in
Phase One - Month Two?
Onsite Service
- Optimize home page and first set of pages
- Determine focus keywords
- Begin implementing outbound links to high-quality, high-authority (yet non-competitive) web pages
*Number of pages optimized based on package purchased (10, 20, or 40)
GBP
- Set up and optimize your Google Business Profile (GBP) account
- Research and set the GBP Category strategy
- Determine the top 5 focus keywords for Google Maps
Citation Building
- Research and set up new business listings
What Happens in
Phase One - Month Three?
Onsite Service
- Add and verify your social media links
- Create a “schema” file for local information and install
- Implement the “Same As” schema for your social media pages
- Create schema file for reviews
- Create schema file for FAQs
- Submit your sitemaps (create a sitemap if needed)
- Create a strategy for internal links to focus page authority on pages with important keywords
- Implement internal links to support the strategy
What Happens After Phase One?
Once Phase One is completed, we recommend that you schedule a Richmond market review call with your Account Manager. Your Account Manager will review your local Central Virginia reporting and give you specific suggestions on things you can do to help us improve your results and outrank your local Richmond competitors.
What Happens in
Phase Two - Month Four?
Onsite Service
- Fully optimize the next set of pages
- Keyword research for the next set of pages
- Update keyword ranking reporting systems, review progress to date, and adjust overall strategy as needed
- Review PageSpeed and make suggestions or improvements if possible
*Number of pages optimized based on package purchased (10, 20, or 40)
GBP
Citation Building
- Research and set up new business listings
- Look for erroneous citations and flag them for repair or removal
What Happens in
Phase Two - Month Five?
Onsite Service
- Perform a complete audit of your website for technical SEO issues and errors
- Check for erroneous disallows
- Review your Google Search Console for SEO issues
- Begin to reduce SEO errors, starting with the most critical
What Happens in
Phase Two - Month Six?
Onsite Service
- Review your website and other external web pages for duplicate content
- Remove or rewrite your duplicate content as needed
- Competitor analysis and adjustments
- Set up Bing Webmaster Tools and submit the sitemap
GBP
Citation Building
- Research and set up new business listings
- A GBP Check includes an evaluation of the insights data, a competitive comparison, and one or two edits to signal to Google that your GBP account was recently active.
What Happens After Phase Two?
Once Phase Two is completed, we recommend you schedule a Richmond growth review call with your Account Manager. Your Account Manager will review your regional Central Virginia reporting and give you specific suggestions on things you can do to help us maximize your results and win more market share across Richmond.
What Happens in the
Recurring Quarter -
Month One?
Onsite Service
- Optimize a set of any unoptimized pages OR re-optimize a previous set of pages
*Number of pages optimized based on package purchased (10, 20, or 40)
What Happens in the
Recurring Quarter -
Month Two?
Onsite Service
- Optimize the remaining unoptimized set of pages, if any, OR 6 Backlinks
*Number of pages based on package purchased (10, 20, or 40)
What Happens in the
Recurring Quarter -
Month Three?
Onsite Service
- Competitor analysis and strategy adjustments as needed
What Happens During the Quarterly SEO Review Cycle?
We welcome you to schedule a quarterly review call with your Account Manager each time we finish a recurring quarter. Your Account Manager will review your performance reporting and give you localized suggestions on things you can do to help us improve your results and dominate the Richmond search landscape.
What Tasks Are Included in Monthly SEO Maintenance and Optimization?
Google Business Profile Check
- Check for added categories and services; remove edits
- Check for changes to contact information by Google Users, and remove edits
- Add UTM codes to URLs
Google Business Profile Posts
- Add an image with a keyword for the image file name
- Review Facebook and LinkedIn pages for content
- Add a post based on the website, Facebook, or LinkedIn activity
Google Business Profile Reviews
- Check location for recent reviews added
- Write a review with keywords and geo-targeted terms
Ongoing Site Optimization
- Update keyword ranking reporting systems, review progress to date, and adjust general strategy as needed
- Adjust website and page optimizations for any recent Google Algorithm updates
- Check the website for any recently added pages and optimize new pages/content.
- Check GSC - Report issues to the client, or fix them if possible.
- Check 10, 20, or 40 Focus Keyword pages
- Scan all pages and repair as needed
Competitor Research & Adjustments
- Review changes in competitor analysis
- Review competitor pages for target keyword page density and page ranking
- Review ranking reports for pages on page 2
