Visibility in Google & AI search · March · Lake Zurich · Linth
Get found when someone in your region searches
When someone googles “carpenter Lachen” or “fiduciary Höfe”, either your business shows up — or your competitor does. Search engine optimization isn’t a corporate project. It’s the question of whether the customers who are searching anyway end up with you.
Why your business doesn’t show up on Google
In most SMEs I look at, the website was built years ago and never touched since. The copy describes the company — but nowhere does it name the services people actually search for. Google can only find what’s written down. If “garden maintenance”, “payroll accounting” or “kitchen renovation” isn’t spelled out, you don’t exist for that search.
Add the pattern I see almost everywhere: the Google Business Profile is unclaimed or stale, reviews go unanswered, and nobody in the company owns the job — SEO, like most marketing, is done by everyone on the side, which means by no one.
What SEO really means for an SME
No tricks, no tool battles. Four building blocks, in this order:
- SEO analysis: which search terms you rank for today, which ones your competitors own — and where the gap is between what you sell and what your website says.
- On-page optimization: page structure, titles and copy that name your services. The biggest lever, and entirely in your hands.
- Local visibility: a maintained Google Business Profile, answered reviews, clear service area — for a regional business, local search matters more than any generic keyword.
- Technical basics: load time, mobile rendering, clean indexing. Usually one-off cleanup, not a permanent project.
SEO is not a subscription.
Many SMEs have paid a monthly SEO retainer for years and get a report nobody reads. Sometimes that’s exactly the right service — but often the honest verdict is: do the foundation properly once, then maintain instead of subscribe. Which one applies is something an SEO analysis shows, not a sales pitch.
What about AI search?
More and more searches now end in an AI Overview or straight in ChatGPT. That doesn’t make SEO obsolete — it raises the stakes: AI answers draw on the same sources that rank on Google. If your pages are present there with clear, concrete content — services named, region named, questions answered — you get cited even when a machine writes the answer.
Who this is for
- Owner-led businesses whose website “should have been reworked ages ago” — see Small Business Support.
- Companies with their own marketing person who has no time left for search engine optimization — see Medium Business Support.
- If you already run Google Ads: paid and organic search belong under one steering hand — see Google Ads for SMEs.
And after that?
SEO never stands alone. The search terms from the analysis belong in your Google Ads campaigns, the content in your newsletter, the enquiries in a proper follow-up process. That’s exactly what I’m there for: one point of contact who connects the pieces and answers for the result — instead of three vendors who’ve never met. Where implementation needs specialists — copy, development, photography — I bring the right people from my network.
Frequently asked questions
How much does SEO cost in Switzerland?
Agencies usually charge a monthly retainer, from a few hundred to several thousand francs depending on scope. For a regional SME that’s often the wrong way to buy it: much of the impact sits in one-off groundwork — structure, copy, Google Business Profile — and in maintenance afterwards. With me, SEO is part of marketing leadership, not a separate subscription; what your business actually needs is what the free first call clarifies.
Is SEO still worth it in 2026?
Yes — especially regionally. Search is changing (AI Overviews, fewer clicks on position 5), but the intent behind it isn’t: whoever needs a tradesman, a practice or a fiduciary in the region searches — on Google, in Maps, or in an AI. The visible businesses are the ones that name their services clearly. The invisible ones are those where nobody owns the job.
How long does SEO take to work?
Technical fixes and the Google Business Profile show effect within weeks; new content and rankings typically take three to six months. That’s why SEO belongs in the foundation first — with short-term visibility, where needed, bought via Google Ads.
Do I need an SEO agency for this?
Not necessarily. You need someone who runs the analysis properly, sets priorities and leads the implementation — whether the individual tasks happen in-house, through me or through a specialist from my network is a cost question, not a matter of principle. What matters is that one person keeps the overview and tells you in plain language what moved.
Let’s talk for 20 minutes.
A short conversation first: I want to understand how you work, what you sell and to whom. Then I’ll tell you honestly whether and where I can help. No pitch, no sales pressure.
Rather look for yourself first? The free tools need no form.