Row rect Shape Decorative svg added to top
Row rect Shape Decorative svg added to bottom

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

What's the point of a website if no one can find you?

SEO — search engine optimization — is what connects your business to people actively looking for what you offer. If you're new to it or not sure how it works anymore, you're in the right place.

  • Did you rank on page one, and still see a drop in web traffic?
  • Are you paying for SEO that was designed for how search worked five years ago?
  • Why are your competitors showing up in snippets and AI results — and you're not?
  • Does ranking actually matter anymore?
  • Bottom line: Is your SEO strategy built for search as it exists today?

What is SEO?

SEO isn't a trick. It's the long game.

When someone searches "plumber near me" or "Kennewick accountant," SEO is what determines which businesses show up — and where. It's not luck. It's structure, content, and credibility signals working together.

SEO compounds over time.

Unlike ads that stop when you stop spending, every SEO improvement you make keeps working.

SEO builds trust.

People trust organic results more than ads — consistently, across every study on the subject.

SEO takes patience.

There's no shortcut. But the businesses that start early pull ahead and tend to stay there.

Google’s first page has more moving parts now: AI summaries, map packs, snippets, ads, and traditional results. That gives your business more ways to show up — but only if your content is clear, useful, and structured for how people search today.

Why Invest in Search Engine Optimization?

Search has changed. Being findable still matters.

People aren’t only clicking blue links anymore. They’re scanning Google results, reading AI summaries, checking map listings, comparing reviews, and asking tools like ChatGPT for recommendations. Strong SEO helps your business show up across that whole search journey — not just in traditional rankings.

%

of Google searches end without a click to any website — which is why showing up in the map pack, snippets, and AI summaries matters as much as your ranking

%

of all clicks on Google go to organic results — not paid ads. SEO is how you earn your share of that traffic without paying for every click

+

years helping Tri-Cities businesses build lasting search visibility — through every algorithm update and search trend change since 2012

What Makes Good SEO?

Good SEO isn't one thing. It's a combination of signals working together.

Here's what we look at and what each piece actually does for your visibility.

Technical SEO The foundation everything is built on.

Site speed, mobile usability, proper indexing, and clean structure determine whether Google can read your site at all — before ranking ever enters the picture.

Keyword Research Finding the terms that actually bring customers in.

The terms people use when they're ready to hire are different from the ones they use when they're browsing. We build around the former — and for local businesses, that often means phrases larger competitors overlook.

On-Page Content Structured so search and AI engines know what to do with it.

Headings, meta descriptions, image tags, internal links — these signals tell Google what each page is about. Get them right and you're also in the running for featured snippets and People Also Ask placement.

Google Business Profile Often the first thing a customer sees.

Most potential customers see your GBP before they ever reach your website. A fully optimized, actively maintained profile is one of the single highest-impact things a local business can do for search visibility.

Reviews A ranking signal, not just social proof.

Google uses review volume, recency, and rating as local ranking factors. Businesses at the top of local results almost always have a steady, consistent stream of new reviews — not just a lot of old ones.

Citations & Directories Your business info, consistent everywhere.

Your name, address, and phone number need to match everywhere online. Inconsistencies — even small ones — send mixed signals to search engines and can quietly suppress your local rankings.

Local SEO Agency

We've been doing this long enough to know what actually works — and what's just noise.

SEO has a lot of opinions attached to it. We've been at this since 2012 — through every major algorithm shift and technology change — and our approach is built on what consistently delivers for local businesses over the long term.

  • Real SEO assessment before recommendations

  • Website structure, schema, internal links, and content built with search in mind

  • Local SEO strategy based on your market, competitors, and service area

  • Clear explanations without jargon, scare tactics, or mystery reports

  • SEO work tied to search and AI visibility, leads, and long-term business growth

  • A marketing partner who looks at the full picture, not just rankings

+

Years serving Eastern Washington businesses — through every algorithm update, platform shift, and search trend change

+

5-star reviews from real local clients who hired us, worked with us, and came back

+

Websites built with a solid SEO foundation.

Row circle Shape Decorative svg added to top

SEO Strategy & Consultation

Five minutes on the phone beats months of guessing.

Most business owners we talk to have questions — what they actually need, what's worth prioritizing, what a realistic path looks like. We'll walk through it with you.

Group sitting on outdoor couch, smiling together.

125+ 5-Star Reviews

When you do great work, people notice.

Great experience designing and launching my new website!

Cougar digital was awesome to work with. They made the website design experience very simple and were very helpful in accommodating my companies' specific needs!

We had such a good experience working with Cougar Digital Marketing for building our website. They did an awesome job and worked around our crazy schedule so well for meetings/photo shoots/etc. Would highly recommend for any website/marketing needs.

Ashley redid our website. She was professional, quick, and listened to all of our requests. Thank you!

Great company, great people. Vision matched expectations!

Cougar Digital Marketing ROCKS! I've worked with Travis and Josh from the very beginning. These folks know their stuff and do a fantastic job with website design & promotion, digital photography and so much more. Their services are very reasonably priced and they know how to GET RESULTS. Great BANG for your marketing BUCK. Look no further that Cougar Digital - these folks will take good care of you.

We recently had the pleasure of working with Cougar Digital Marketing for a photography/video project, and we couldn’t be more impressed. From start to finish, their team was professional, creative, and incredibly easy to work with. We highly recommend!

Ashley is very easy to communicate with and quick to respond when you have questions. Ashley is very attentive to your ideas. My website gets very high compliments.

Cougar Digital took my website to a whole new level! They are very professional and knowledgeable and did excellent work. They also filmed a few videos for me that turned out amazingly well! They were very responsive to what I wanted and envisioned and were extremely patient with me. I would highly recommend them to anyone!

We've had a great experience working with Cougar Digital. We purchased a package deal with a new logo, photography and web design for the Grace Brethren Church of Sunnyside. Nick and Josh were both great to work with. We've had a lot of positive feedback on the work they've done.

We had a short timetable and a limited budget. The end result was great. Working with the Cougar Digital team made the project very enjoyable.

Cougar did a wonderful job with our new site. Ashley and Travis were extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly. We will definitely be coming back for any needs in the future!

We absolutely loved working with Cougar Digital on the launch of our new website and throughout several incredible photo shoots. From start to finish, their team was creative, responsive, and truly understood our vision.

Great company, great people. Vision matched customer expectation!

Ordered new business cards and was extremely pleased with the speed and service! Definitely recommend for your next marketing push!

Josh was professional and personable. Produced great picture and he is a Coug to boot. It doesn’t get any better. Go Cougs

Josh and the Cougar Digital team did an amazing job with a drone video production that included narration. The quality of audio and video show a professional production level. I appreciate the attention to detail and quality of work by the Cougar Digital team.

We are SO grateful with Josh from Cougar Digital! We are a community workspace and Josh came in and took some fantastic pictures of our brand new space! We are very pleased with the work that he did!

Travis, Josh and everyone at Cougar Digital have been super to work with. They have become a partner in our business. Our web design and online media presence has greatly improved by implementing their recommendations. They go the extra mile.

Very easy to work with and extremely professional. Cougar Digital was able to take our vision and make it a reality as well as making it easy and seamless. I would highly recommend Cougar Digital to anyone!

Greatly appreciate the work that Josh and the Cougar Digital Marketing team did for our organization. We had a vague vision and they were able to make it better than we could have imagined. Appreciate their flexibility to work with us on a short turnaround and their suggestions for making the best video possible.

Josh and Cougar Digital did an amazing job on a video for an event. We were super proud to show it to donors and had a wonderful response by community members regarding the video. Well done Josh and Cougar Digital!

Cougar Digital should be your only call for web design. I would give them 6 stars if I could. #Silverline

I have been working with the team and Cougar Digital now for almost five years and I genuinely love working with them. They have become such valuable partners on the marketing side of our business. I can't recommend them strongly enough!! I would give them 10 stars if I could!!!

The team at Cougar Digital Marketing are great to work with! They were very professional throughout the entire process of creating a beautiful website for me. Every member of the team I worked with was attentive to all of my questions/needs and they delivered exactly what I was hoping for in a website. I am so glad I found them!

Cougar Digital and team is very responsive, knowledgeable, and capable and has done a great job in building and maintaining our business web site, and providing needed graphic design for our needs. Highly recommend them to anyone wanting expert work and assistance in these aspects of their business.

I really love the team approach with Travis and the group, they are very professional, organized, and skilled at what they do. I wish I had employed them for my website and advertising years ago. I regret spending so much money trying to do it on my own or with cheap services that took my money and did nothing. I feel like they are MY team, and I feel I'm not alone trying to achieve my business goals to get my services out to the public.

Josh Kandle has changed the way we gain new customers by drastically improving our SEO. If you are static in your internet leads Josh can fix that. In the past week the phone just keeps ringing. Good job Josh.

Cougar Digital took the time to get to know our firm and our marketing goals before shooting any video. This made the video production process smooth and efficient. A short time after the shoot, their rough draft clips turned out to be nearly perfect final drafts, requiring very little input from us. They have an impressive creative and production team who strikes the right balance between respecting the time of their customers and getting the customer exactly what they want.

I recently had an opportunity to choose a web designer to re-vamp and optimize Stepping Stones Alliance's website. Having worked with Cougar Digital before they were my choice for this project. I'm so glad they were able to work with us! The entire process from first meeting to re-launch of the site was stellar. They are quick to respond, listen to feedback, professional and clear in their communications, and spot-on with fulfilling the client desires. The entire team was great to work with along the way and I appreciated the high level of customer service at every point. Not only will I continue to work with them for all our organization's website needs, but I will recommend them to anyone looking for website and marketing projects.

I absolutely love working with Cougar Digital for every aspect of marketing our business utilizes. From digital content and graphic design work, to helping us create content (photos, videos and language) for various types of media and needs, Cougar does it all. The staff is awesome! Everyone is personable, prompt and professional. They are fun and I look forward to working with them on each project because I know the results will be incredible every time. Cougar's team members are open and flexible in helping us reach our goals and are authentic in their approach to meeting expectations and timeliness. Their consistent delivery of high level results within projected timeliness makes them my first choice for all marketing needs

Sonar Insights had the pleasure of partnering with Cougar Digital Marketing & Design, LLC on two separate occasions - a video campaign for the Benton Franklin Census 2020 and a video for a client. It was a big undertaking to take the script sand creatively execute on them. Josh Kandle and his team did a masterful job at realizing the vision for the projects with a fantastic end product. Could not be more pleased!

Josh did a great job on my headshot. He provided a timely appointment and spent the time to make sure he got the best shot. He was even willing to try several different locations. I would recommend him for anybody looking to update the professional photos.

Josh did a great job on our logo! He even let us sit with him at his personal computer so we could be involved with the finishing touches. Thanks Josh and Thanks Cougar Digital!!

Great work and very professional! Thank you!

We’ve been working with Cougar Digital Marketing for almost 6 years, and they have consistently gone above and beyond for Boiada Brazilian Grill. Josh is amazing at graphic design and always brings our ideas to life in fun, creative ways. Travis and Ashley have done an exceptional job with every aspect of our new website build — from strategy meetings and design to training and development. Cougar is professional, timely, fun to work with, and they create outstanding content. We couldn’t be happier with our new website — it’s beautiful and easy for our team to edit and update. Highly recommend Cougar to any business looking for a true marketing partner!

Couldnt be happier with Cougar Digital! They crushed our websites!

Josh and his crew go above and beyond. He offers very personalized service and is always willing to go the extra mile. He never hesitates to come in to my office and personally show my staff how they can maximize their services. I've wasted too much money over the past few years on worthless SEO. It's great to have someone local who is accountable and provides fantastic service!

Thank you Cougar Digital. Over the past couple of years we have worked with Cougar Digital for rebranding, website updates, new logo, updating our business card and promotional material. They also produced an amazing testimonial video - so much fun working with Josh and his team to create this. I can’t begin to express how happy we are with the work Cougar Digitial has completed for us over the years. They are professional, punctual, very creative and so easy to work with. Looking forward to our partnership for years to come. I would highly recommend Cougar Digitial. Our team at New Leaf Creations is thankful for all of your amazing work and looking forward to working with Cougar Digital in the future.

We recently Had Travis and his team build a custom website for our Boat Dealership. Nixons Marine.. Josh, Nick and Travis were awesome. We got tired of the common dealer site and they hit it out of park with our website. What a great project!! Thanks So Much for making it easy..

The Cougar Digital team is fantastic. We recently revamped our website. I worked closely with Faith and she was super friendly and helpful every time we talked whether it was email, phone, or in person. The whole team works together to make sure everything is perfect and taken of. They really took our needs into consideration. Thanks!

Had a great experience with Cougar Digital. We lost our photographer last minute and called Cougar Digital and they stepped up and really did a bang up job for us. Plus their WSU Alum and that added good fun to the shoot. Super appreciate these guys and recommend them to anyone. #AGENT509

Working with Cougar Digital on our logo design was fantastic! Their creativity, professionalism, and attention to detail brought our vision to life, delivering a result that exceeded our expectations. Highly recommend their team!

Cougar Digital has been great to work with! With their support we have seen significant improvement with our marketplace campaigns.

Cougar Digital has been so incredible to work with! They are always able to turn our words and ideas into a beautiful finished product quickly. The staff is responsive and professional and we love working with Josh. He is a true artist and always delivers a stunning product. Thank you Cougar!

I was very happy with my exsperience there! Great team & Customer service.

Had a great experience working with Josh! Super easy to work with and really knows his stuff - especially when it comes to lighting and editing for interior shots. The photos turned out amazing, with just the right vibe we were going for. We ended up adding a few extra shot requests last minute, and Josh had no problem fitting them in. He also helped with staging, which made a big difference, and the drone footage was a great bonus. His pricing was very reasonable for the quality we got. Great value for money. We’ll definitely be hiring him again for future shoots!

I asked Cougar Digital to create a logo for my organization and make my handmade and very rinky-dink brochure and booklet look professional. They came through with flying colors. They gave me several options for a logo, listened carefully to my feedback and then sent me exactly what I wanted when I myself didn't know what it was I exactly wanted. Their team helped me narrow down the important information, put it in an order that made sense and then make it look fantastic. Everyone who has seen the finished product has been so impressed. Through the entire process, I found them to be easy to work with, easy to communicate with, speedy and responsive to emails and phone calls and patient when we came up against a deadline crunch (through no fault of their own). I would give Cougar Digital my highest recommendation.

Working with Josh at Cougar Digital Marketing & Design was an excellent experience! The process was incredibly collaborative, allowing us to bring our vision for the Pasco School District Career Guide to life. Josh listened to our ideas, provided valuable insights, and worked tirelessly to ensure the final product exceeded our expectations. We are thrilled with the outcome and can't wait to share our new Career Guide with our students and families. Highly recommend Cougar Digital for any design and marketing needs!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) FAQS

Questions we hear a lot about search visibility.

If you’re thinking it, there’s a good chance someone else asked it too. 

What is SEO and how does it work?
How long does SEO take to work?
What's the difference between SEO and paid advertising?
Do I need SEO if I'm already running Google Ads?
How do AI Overviews affect my SEO?

Digital Marketing for Busy Professionals

Learn more. Grow faster.

Quick, useful reads to help you think bigger and market smarter.

Free Digital Marketing Consultation

Let's talk about AI, SEO, and your business.

Does it make sense to focus your marketing dollars on search visibility? Let's talk about your goals and see if it makes sense.