SEO for private investigators
Almost nobody has hired a private investigator before, so the search is tentative and the questions are all the same: is this legal, what will it cost, will anybody know, and can you even help with this. A firm that answers those four on the page gets the call. A firm with a page of capabilities does not.
Peak Endurance, a sports clinic, Sep 2023 to May 2024, from 482,378 impressions. Their Search Console.
It is also a trade where the case type matters more than the profession. Infidelity, background checks, insurance fraud, child custody, corporate due diligence and process serving are six different searches, six different buyers and often six different budgets.
Searches we build for, with the place name your customers use:
- private investigator [city]
- background check service near me
- surveillance investigator cost
- process server [county]
What stops private investigators getting enquiries
Three problems we find on nearly every private investigator website we audit, and what we do about each.
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Capabilities listed, cases not explained
Surveillance and skip tracing are what you do. Finding out whether a partner is cheating, or proving a fraudulent claim, is what people search. A page per case type connects them.
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Legality unaddressed
The first worry is whether hiring you is legal and whether what you find can be used. Saying plainly what you can and cannot do lawfully in your jurisdiction removes the biggest obstacle to the call.
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Discretion not stated
People want to know the enquiry itself is private. Saying how enquiries are handled, and that the form does not reach anybody else, converts better than any list of credentials.
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Licensing invisible
This is a licensed trade in most places and buyers check. The licence number belongs on the page because it converts.
What you get each month
- A page for each case type you take: infidelity, background checks, fraud, custody, corporate, process serving
- A plain section on what is lawful in your jurisdiction and what evidence can be used
- Licence number, insurance and how enquiries are kept private, stated on every page
- Area pages for the places you are licensed to operate in, and only those
- Google Business Profile, set up for a service-area business rather than a storefront
- Monthly Search Console report by case type
How pricing works
What sets the size of the month is how many case types you take and how many jurisdictions you are licensed in. A single-investigator firm in one state is a smaller month than a multi-state agency. We scope the work on a call and send a written quote before anything starts. The SEO services page explains what a month covers and who does it.
Results from real clients
Every number below is from the client’s own Google Search Console, for the period shown. Impressions are how often the site appeared; clicks are people who arrived. What each visit is worth is your sales process, not ours, so these are the visits we can prove rather than a conversion figure we cannot.
- 52,993clicksUp and Running Physical TherapyPhysical therapy · 1 Mar 2023 to 14 Mar 2024
- Impressions
- 2,238,155
- CTR
- 2.4%
- Avg. position
- 13.49
+139,355% clicks against the previous period of the same length.
- 12,285clicksBackcountry Physical TherapyPhysical therapy · 6 Jul 2023 to 31 May 2024
- Impressions
- 601,822
- CTR
- 2.0%
- Avg. position
- 19.3
+2,059% clicks against the previous period of the same length.
Questions private investigators ask us
Will the site attract the wrong kind of enquiry?
Written properly it does the opposite. Saying plainly what is lawful and what you will not do filters out the enquiries you would refuse anyway, before they reach you.
Can we stay discreet and still rank?
Yes. Nothing about a client ever appears. What ranks is the explanation of the case type, which needs no case details at all.
Should we publish prices?
A structure, usually. Hourly against retainer, and what drives the hours, answers the question without committing you to a figure before you know the case.
Do reviews work in this trade?
They do and most firms never ask, because they assume clients want anonymity. Many are willing when asked properly and it is a real advantage.
Book a call with us
A 30-minute call in your working hours. Tell us what you sell and where, and we will tell you what we would do first and what it involves. Prefer email? Send your website through the form and the Passieon Team will reply within two working days.