Welcome 👋 Pathfinders Member 🧡
Build stable income, deliver for clients, be supported the whole way
Steal the framework I used to generate $400K for my agency in 3 years (from scratch). Learn to sell higher-ticket SEO deals ($1K+/m).
Get coaching from me and my team.
100+ designers & SEOs
I've learned so much about SEO and from Sam in here that I now actually feel confident to offer it to my clients as a paid service.
Jamie Cottam
Bear Roots Studio
Before joining, I felt overwhelmed by all the noise in the SEO industry. So many terms, tools, and conflicting advice. But Local SEO Academy gave me clarity!
Johnny McWilliams
Marketing Waves
Sometimes we just need that little extra boost of knowledge, of experience, of encouragement. And you can definitely find that through this group.
Liz Jimenez Agudelo
Marketing Strategist
I went from knowing almost nothing about local SEO to feeling completely confident in offering it as a service after going through the Local SEO Academy.
Alyssa Todd
Key Lime Web Design
Why Local SEO Academy?
Step-By-Step Local SEO Training
Learn a simple, repeatable SEO system that shows you exactly what to do for real clients.
Done-For-You Client Templates
Use proven audits, reports, and workflows so you can deliver results without guessing.
Weekly Coaching & Support
Get personalized feedback on your client projects so you always know your next move.
A Community To Grow and Thrive In
Join a group of designers leveling up together with shared wins, advice, and referrals.
ACADEMITE SUCCESS STORIES
Real Academites. Real results.
Podcast episodes that show where they started, and where they are now.
THE RESULT
$5K MRR in under one year
BEFORE THE ACADEMY
Project work only. Feast or famine. She kept a part-time insurance job for the security blanket and was too scared to go all in on her own business.
AFTER THE ACADEMY
SEO gave her recurring revenue. She left the insurance job, went full time, and hired a VA and a developer inside her first year. Her clients now get found on Google by names like Bloomingdale’s and Make-A-Wish.
Alexia Lynn
THE RESULT
3X MRR from one sales call
BEFORE THE ACADEMY
Eight businesses in. Marketing Waves was the first one in the black, but it ran on websites and small maintenance plans. He had never sold a single local SEO package.
AFTER THE ACADEMY
An existing client asked how local SEO was different from ads. Johnny got the answer, closed the deal, and sold SEO on two of their sites at $800 each. One conversation nearly tripled his recurring revenue.
Johnny McWilliams
THE RESULT
SEO helped her chill this summer
BEFORE THE ACADEMY
A Showit designer by trade, which meant no maintenance retainers and no recurring income at all. She sold one-off SEO boosts. Clients got results, then went flat once the work stopped. Every summer she took whatever project showed up.
AFTER THE ACADEMY
Monthly SEO instead of one-off boosts. Three clients on yearly contracts, about $2,000 a month, on 20 working hours a week. This summer she turned down discovery calls and booked zero web design projects so she could be with her kids 🧡
Juliana Piper
Here's The Real-Real:
Most SEO courses kinda SUCK.
Trust me, I know. Here’s what happened when I tried:
I’d learn all the SEO basics.
I'd learn all the terminology but still have no idea how to apply any of it to a real client project. It feels like studying for a test instead of building a skill that makes you money.
1
I never really got a process.
Even if I got a Notion dashboard, they’d never really explain what I did after getting started, or wayyy down the road.
2
I didn’t feel confident to charge more.
Even when I started to get some SEO results, I didn’t feel confident enough to charge more than $300/m.
3
I was looking for a course that would increase my confidence.
What I found did nothing but confuse me.
SEO Courses
That’s why I decided to create everything.
Google Business Profile Masterclass
This course shows you how to turn a Google Business Profile into a real growth engine for local clients. You’ll learn the exact steps to optimize, maintain, and leverage GBP so your clients rank higher and get more leads. It’s designed to make GBP simple, repeatable, and a service you can confidently sell every month.
Complete walkthrough of every GBP optimization setting
Step-by-step process for posting, updates, and maintenance
A repeatable monthly workflow you can deliver as a service
The Local SEO Masterclass
This is the full A-to-Z training on local SEO, built for designers who want to deliver real results. You get practical, repeatable steps instead of theory or endless “best practices.” By the end, you’ll know exactly how to rank a local business and show the proof.
Complete understanding of the local SEO ranking factors
Technical SEO steps anyone can execute
On-page and content strategy that drives local visibility
Local SEO Delivery
This course shows you how to deliver local SEO in our proven 3 Phase system that remvoes the guesswork. You’ll know what to do first, what to ignore, and how to structure SEO delivery so clients see momentum fast. This turns SEO into a predictable, repeatable service you can confidently sell every month.
A plug-and-play framework for client delivery
Phased action plans for audits, keywords, content, and backlinks
A system that becomes your recurring monthly service model
Local SEO Sales Engine Course
This course helps you sell SEO without relying on technical talk or pressure-based tactics. You’ll learn how to explain SEO in a way clients instantly understand and value. It’s designed to help you confidently pitch, price, and close SEO as a service.
Pricing models that create stable recurring revenue
Messaging frameworks that make SEO feel obvious and valuable
A sales process you can repeat with every new client
Updated Apr 2026
Local SEO SOPs
This is your operations library: the EXACT process we used to hit our first six figures at our local SEO agency. Every checklist and workflow is here so you stop reinventing the wheel. It’s designed to make you faster, more organized, and more confident.
Step-by-step SOPs for every stage of SEO
Client onboarding and communication workflows
Reporting systems you can hand off or delegate
Local GEO Masterclass
Getting recommended by AI is mostly the local SEO you already sell, with a couple of extra boxes checked. Four lessons on what those boxes are, how to explain the work to a normal business owner, and how to price and sell it as a real service. Built live, in public, and updated as the ground moves.
How to run prompt research and build a 30-day AI visibility report card
Plain-language scripts for explaining this to clients who don’t care about AI
What to charge, from a $100 report card to a $500 a month add-on
Updating Now…
Testimonials
What students say about my courses
SEO Community
But courses are only the beginning. Here’s how The Academy works…
01
Actionable, Step-by-Step Courses
Simple lessons that turn into client-ready results.
Every course is practical. Every lesson is designed to be digestible and broken down in a manner any designer can handle.
You’ll learn on-page SEO, local SEO, ranking signals, keyword strategy, content strategy, and link-building for small businesses - all packaged in workflows you can copy and sell. No jargon. No overwhelm. Just clarity.
02
Weekly Live Sessions
Direct guidance from Sam and
other designers leveling up.
Feedback and learning from your peers is important.
It’s honest, specific, and rooted in actual SEO practice. You can ask questions, share client scenarios, and get real answers - not guesswork. Sam and his team is active, available, and invested in helping you understand how to apply this to your business.
03
Community Support
Ask questions, share wins,
and build confidence.
The community is focused and supportive — no busywork, no ego, no noise. Just web designers at your level learning the same things, facing the same challenges, and growing together through real conversations.
You won’t get lost. You’ll get supported.
04
Stop guessing. Start implementing.
Templates, scripts, and every
workshop included.
You get all of Sam’s proven templates - client emails, proposals, audits, reports - plus every current and future workshop he creates. Everything you need to sell, deliver, and scale SEO is already built for you, so you can implement fast without guessing or overthinking.
05
Stay Ahead in Local Search
Help clients show up in Google, AI Overviews, and ChatGPT.
Local Search is changing faster than most designers realize. The designers who adapt will own their markets. The ones who don’t will lose clients to anyone who understands AI SEO. The game hasn’t completely changed yet, but it’s better to hang with a gang that has their ears to the streets, and is trying to stay ahead.
06
Learn From Experts
Monthly Trainings on SEO, Social, Pricing, Niching, and More
We have a growing library of trainings from industry experts dropping knowledge on client acquisition, conquering social media, overcoming pricing mindset, niching down, short form video dominance, PPC and AI SEO breakdowns, and many more schedule for the coming months.
"To be able to connect with other people in the marketing field from different niches and swap out ideas, and run things past other people is great. So that alone has a ton of value."
Liz Jimenez Agudelo
Handshake Marketing
Testimonials
What members say about the academy
Pricing
Get a steal on your first month in the Academy!
COURSES + COMMUNITY
$99
(for your first month, $149/m after)
COURSES
GBP Expert Course
The Local SEO Masterclass
Delivering Local SEO to Clients
Local SEO Sales Course
Local SEO SOPs
COMMUNITY
Local SEO Academy Community
Weekly Calls & Coworking
Monthly Expert Trainings
DM Access to Sam and his team
Join 100+ designers making $$$ with SEO
Most Popular
Our web design studio is going to cross $200k in revenue... and Sam has taught me everything I know about SEO since day 1.
Andy Milligan
MMG Design
Meet your SEO coach, Sam Sarsten 👋🏻
A little about what we’re building
I help web designers build stable income by feeling confident about the system they use to deliver local SEO to clients.
I didn’t come from an agency background. I taught myself WordPress and SEO late at night after my 9–5, slowly taking on small projects and figuring things out the hard way. I quit my job with zero paid clients. A few years later, I’d grown Thencan into a multi–six-figure business and developed a Local SEO system that that my team uses to consistently rank small businesses across Bend and Central Oregon.
Today, between my trainings, content, and courses, my work has reached hundreds of thousands of designers across YouTube, social, and online communities. Inside the community, I bring the same approach: clear, honest guidance from someone who’s in the trenches doing the work every day.
More about me:
6x course creator
I’ve developed six courses that give web designers the exact processes I use to run a multi–six-figure SEO business.
Founder of two brands
Thencan Designs (agency) and Local SEO Academy (community) both exist to help small businesses and web designers.
Trusted community builder
I’ve been invited to teach Local SEO frameworks inside other leading communities.
$400K+ revenue
Starting from scratch — no agency background, just real client work and repeatable systems.
SEO Surge Summit Host
Host an annual SEO summit that helps web designers, small agencies, and freelancers build stable income by delivering better SEO.
Teacher & mentor
After teaching myself SEO and growing from scratch, I give other web designers the training and clarity I wish I had!
FAQ's
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between the two tiers?
What makes this program different than other SEO courses?
Should I wait for all the courses to drop?
Why is there a community?
What if I don’t like it?
Grow your SEO biz with an
expert in your corner
Learn from someone who actually does this work, not just talks about it
Delivery frameworks that make SEO feel obvious and valuable
A sales process you can repeat with every new client
Join 100+ designers making $$$ with SEO
Welcome 👋 Pathfinders Member 🧡
Build stable income, deliver for clients, be supported the whole way
Steal the framework I used to generate $400K for my agency in 3 years (from scratch). Learn to sell higher-ticket SEO deals ($1K+/m).
Get coaching from me and my team.
100+ designers & SEOs
I've learned so much about SEO and from Sam in here that I now actually feel confident to offer it to my clients as a paid service.
Jamie Cottam
Bear Roots Studio
Before joining, I felt overwhelmed by all the noise in the SEO industry. So many terms, tools, and conflicting advice. But Local SEO Academy gave me clarity!
Johnny McWilliams
Marketing Waves
Sometimes we just need that little extra boost of knowledge, of experience, of encouragement. And you can definitely find that through this group.
Liz Jimenez Agudelo
Marketing Strategist
I went from knowing almost nothing about local SEO to feeling completely confident in offering it as a service after going through the Local SEO Academy.
Alyssa Todd
Key Lime Web Design
Why Local SEO Academy?
Step-By-Step Local SEO Training
Learn a simple, repeatable SEO system that shows you exactly what to do for real clients.
Done-For-You Client Templates
Use proven audits, reports, and workflows so you can deliver results without guessing.
Weekly Coaching & Support
Get personalized feedback on your client projects so you always know your next move.
A Community To Grow and Thrive In
Join a group of designers leveling up together with shared wins, advice, and referrals.
ACADEMITE SUCCESS STORIES
Real Academites. Real results.
Podcast episodes that show where they started, and where they are now.
THE RESULT
$5K MRR in under one year
BEFORE THE ACADEMY
Project work only. Feast or famine. She kept a part-time insurance job for the security blanket and was too scared to go all in on her own business.
AFTER THE ACADEMY
SEO gave her recurring revenue. She left the insurance job, went full time, and hired a VA and a developer inside her first year. Her clients now get found on Google by names like Bloomingdale’s and Make-A-Wish.
Alexia Lynn
THE RESULT
3X MRR from one sales call
BEFORE THE ACADEMY
Eight businesses in. Marketing Waves was the first one in the black, but it ran on websites and small maintenance plans. He had never sold a single local SEO package.
AFTER THE ACADEMY
An existing client asked how local SEO was different from ads. Johnny got the answer, closed the deal, and sold SEO on two of their sites at $800 each. One conversation nearly tripled his recurring revenue.
Johnny McWilliams
THE RESULT
SEO helped her chill this summer
BEFORE THE ACADEMY
A Showit designer by trade, which meant no maintenance retainers and no recurring income at all. She sold one-off SEO boosts. Clients got results, then went flat once the work stopped. Every summer she took whatever project showed up.
AFTER THE ACADEMY
Monthly SEO instead of one-off boosts. Three clients on yearly contracts, about $2,000 a month, on 20 working hours a week. This summer she turned down discovery calls and booked zero web design projects so she could be with her kids 🧡
Juliana Piper
Here's The Real-Real:
Most SEO courses
kinda SUCK.
Trust me, I know. Here’s what happened when I tried:
I’d learn all the SEO basics.
I'd learn all the terminology but still have no idea how to apply any of it to a real client project. It feels like studying for a test instead of building a skill that makes you money.
1
I never really got a process.
Even if I got a Notion dashboard, they’d never really explain what I did after getting started, or wayyy down the road.
2
I didn’t feel confident to charge more.
Even when I started to get some SEO results, I didn’t feel confident enough to charge more than $300/m.
3
I was looking for a course that would increase my confidence.
What I found did nothing but confuse me.
SEO Courses
That’s why I decided to create everything.
Google Business Profile Masterclass
This course shows you how to turn a Google Business Profile into a real growth engine for local clients. You’ll learn the exact steps to optimize, maintain, and leverage GBP so your clients rank higher and get more leads. It’s designed to make GBP simple, repeatable, and a service you can confidently sell every month.
Complete walkthrough of every GBP optimization setting
Step-by-step process for posting, updates, and maintenance
A repeatable monthly workflow you can deliver as a service
The Local SEO Masterclass
This is the full A-to-Z training on local SEO, built for designers who want to deliver real results. You get practical, repeatable steps instead of theory or endless “best practices.” By the end, you’ll know exactly how to rank a local business and show the proof.
Complete understanding of the local SEO ranking factors
Technical SEO steps anyone can execute
On-page and content strategy that drives local visibility
Local SEO Delivery
This course shows you how to deliver local SEO in our proven 3 Phase system that remvoes the guesswork. You’ll know what to do first, what to ignore, and how to structure SEO delivery so clients see momentum fast. This turns SEO into a predictable, repeatable service you can confidently sell every month.
A plug-and-play framework for client delivery
Phased action plans for audits, keywords, content, and backlinks
A system that becomes your recurring monthly service model
Local SEO Sales Engine Course
This course helps you sell SEO without relying on technical talk or pressure-based tactics. You’ll learn how to explain SEO in a way clients instantly understand and value. It’s designed to help you confidently pitch, price, and close SEO as a service.
Pricing models that create stable recurring revenue
Messaging frameworks that make SEO feel obvious and valuable
A sales process you can repeat with every new client
Updated Apr 2026
Local SEO SOPs
This is your operations library: the EXACT process we used to hit our first six figures at our local SEO agency. Every checklist and workflow is here so you stop reinventing the wheel. It’s designed to make you faster, more organized, and more confident.
Step-by-step SOPs for every stage of SEO
Client onboarding and communication workflows
Reporting systems you can hand off or delegate
Local GEO Masterclass
Getting recommended by AI is mostly the local SEO you already sell, with a couple of extra boxes checked. Four lessons on what those boxes are, how to explain the work to a normal business owner, and how to price and sell it as a real service. Built live, in public, and updated as the ground moves.
How to run prompt research and build a 30-day AI visibility report card
Plain-language scripts for explaining this to clients who don’t care about AI
What to charge, from a $100 report card to a $500 a month add-on
Updating Now…
Testimonials
What students say about my courses
SEO Community
But courses are only the beginning. Here’s how The Academy works…
01
Actionable, Step-by-Step Courses
Simple lessons that turn
into client-ready results.
Every course is practical. Every lesson is designed to be digestible and broken down in a manner any designer can handle.
You’ll learn on-page SEO, local SEO, ranking signals, keyword strategy, content strategy, and link-building for small businesses - all packaged in workflows you can copy and sell. No jargon. No overwhelm. Just clarity.
02
Weekly Live Sessions
Direct guidance from Sam and
other designers leveling up.
Feedback and learning from your peers is important.
It’s honest, specific, and rooted in actual SEO practice. You can ask questions, share client scenarios, and get real answers - not guesswork. Sam and his team is active, available, and invested in helping you understand how to apply this to your business.
03
Community Support
Ask questions, share wins,
and build confidence.
The community is focused and supportive — no busywork, no ego, no noise. Just web designers at your level learning the same things, facing the same challenges, and growing together through real conversations.
You won’t get lost. You’ll get supported.
04
Stop guessing. Start implementing.
Templates, scripts, and every
workshop included.
You get all of Sam’s proven templates - client emails, proposals, audits, reports - plus every current and future workshop he creates. Everything you need to sell, deliver, and scale SEO is already built for you, so you can implement fast without guessing or overthinking.
05
Stay Ahead in Local Search
Help clients show up in Google, AI Overviews, and ChatGPT.
Local Search is changing faster than most designers realize. The designers who adapt will own their markets. The ones who don’t will lose clients to anyone who understands AI SEO. The game hasn’t completely changed yet, but it’s better to hang with a gang that has their ears to the streets, and is trying to stay ahead.
06
Learn From Experts
Monthly Trainings on SEO, Social, Pricing, Niching, and More
We have a growing library of trainings from industry experts dropping knowledge on client acquisition, conquering social media, overcoming pricing mindset, niching down, short form video dominance, PPC and AI SEO breakdowns, and many more schedule for the coming months.
"To be able to connect with other people in the marketing field from different niches and swap out ideas, and run things past other people is great. So that alone has a ton of value."
Liz Jimenez Agudelo
Handshake Marketing
Testimonials
What members say about the academy
Pricing
Get a steal on your first month in the Academy!
COURSES + COMMUNITY
$99
(for your first month, $149/m after)
COURSES
GBP Expert Course
The Local SEO Masterclass
Delivering Local SEO to Clients
Local SEO Sales Course
Local SEO SOPs
COMMUNITY
Local SEO Academy Community
Weekly Calls & Coworking
Monthly Expert Trainings
DM Access to Sam and his team
Join 100+ designers making $$$ with SEO
Most Popular
Our web design studio is going to cross $200k in revenue... and Sam has taught me everything I know about SEO since day 1.
Andy Milligan
MMG Design
Meet your SEO coach, Sam Sarsten 👋🏻
A little about what we’re building
I help web designers build stable income by feeling confident about the system they use to deliver local SEO to clients.
I didn’t come from an agency background. I taught myself WordPress and SEO late at night after my 9–5, slowly taking on small projects and figuring things out the hard way. I quit my job with zero paid clients. A few years later, I’d grown Thencan into a multi–six-figure business and developed a Local SEO system that that my team uses to consistently rank small businesses across Bend and Central Oregon.
Today, between my trainings, content, and courses, my work has reached hundreds of thousands of designers across YouTube, social, and online communities. Inside the community, I bring the same approach: clear, honest guidance from someone who’s in the trenches doing the work every day.
More about me:
6x course creator
I’ve developed six courses that give web designers the exact processes I use to run a multi–six-figure SEO business.
Founder of two brands
Thencan Designs (agency) and Local SEO Academy (community) both exist to help small businesses and web designers.
Trusted community builder
I’ve been invited to teach Local SEO frameworks inside other leading communities.
$400K+ revenue
Starting from scratch — no agency background, just real client work and repeatable systems.
SEO Surge Summit Host
Host an annual SEO summit that helps web designers, small agencies, and freelancers build stable income by delivering better SEO.
Teacher & mentor
After teaching myself SEO and growing from scratch, I give other web designers the training and clarity I wish I had!
FAQ's
Frequently asked questions
What makes this program different than other SEO courses?
Should I wait for all the courses to drop?
What's the difference between the two tiers?
Why is there a community?
What if I don’t like it?
Grow your SEO biz with an
expert in your corner
Learn from someone who actually does this work, not just talks about it
Delivery frameworks that make SEO feel obvious and valuable
A sales process you can repeat with every new client
Join 100+ designers making $$$ with SEO
Welcome 👋 Pathfinders Member 🧡
Build stable income, deliver for clients, be supported the whole way
Steal the framework I used to generate $400K for my agency in 3 years (from scratch). Learn to sell higher-ticket SEO deals ($1K+/m).
Get coaching from me and my team.
100+ designers & SEOs
Why Local SEO Academy?
Step-By-Step Local SEO Training
Learn a simple, repeatable SEO system that shows you exactly what to do for real clients.
Done-For-You Client Templates
Use proven audits, reports, and workflows so you can deliver results without guessing.
Weekly Coaching & Support
Get personalized feedback on your client projects so you always know your next move.
A Community To Grow and Thrive In
Join a group of designers leveling up together with shared wins, advice, and referrals.
ACADEMITE SUCCESS STORIES
Real Academites. Real results.
Podcast episodes that show where they started, and where they are now.
THE RESULT
$5K MRR in under one year
BEFORE THE ACADEMY
Project work only. Feast or famine. She kept a part-time insurance job for the security blanket and was too scared to go all in on her own business.
AFTER THE ACADEMY
SEO gave her recurring revenue. She left the insurance job, went full time, and hired a VA and a developer inside her first year. Her clients now get found on Google by names like Bloomingdale’s and Make-A-Wish.
Alexia Lynn
THE RESULT
3X MRR from one sales call
BEFORE THE ACADEMY
Eight businesses in. Marketing Waves was the first one in the black, but it ran on websites and small maintenance plans. He had never sold a single local SEO package.
AFTER THE ACADEMY
An existing client asked how local SEO was different from ads. Johnny got the answer, closed the deal, and sold SEO on two of their sites at $800 each. One conversation nearly tripled his recurring revenue.
Johnny McWilliams
THE RESULT
SEO helped her chill this summer
BEFORE THE ACADEMY
A Showit designer by trade, which meant no maintenance retainers and no recurring income at all. She sold one-off SEO boosts. Clients got results, then went flat once the work stopped. Every summer she took whatever project showed up.
AFTER THE ACADEMY
Monthly SEO instead of one-off boosts. Three clients on yearly contracts, about $2,000 a month, on 20 working hours a week. This summer she turned down discovery calls and booked zero web design projects so she could be with her kids 🧡
Juliana Piper
Here's The Real-Real:
Most SEO courses
kinda SUCK.
Trust me, I know. Here’s what happened when I tried:
I’d learn all the SEO basics.
I'd learn all the terminology but still have no idea how to apply any of it to a real client project. It feels like studying for a test instead of building a skill that makes you money.
1
I never really got a process.
Even if I got a Notion dashboard, they’d never really explain what I did after getting started, or wayyy down the road.
2
I didn’t feel confident to charge more.
Even when I started to get some SEO results, I didn’t feel confident enough to charge more than $300/m.
3
I was looking for a course that would increase my confidence.
What I found did nothing but confuse me.
SEO Courses
That’s why I decided to create everything.
Google Business Profile Masterclass
This course shows you how to turn a Google Business Profile into a real growth engine for local clients. You’ll learn the exact steps to optimize, maintain, and leverage GBP so your clients rank higher and get more leads. It’s designed to make GBP simple, repeatable, and a service you can confidently sell every month.
Complete walkthrough of every GBP optimization setting
Step-by-step process for posting, updates, and maintenance
A repeatable monthly workflow you can deliver as a service
The Local SEO Masterclass
This is the full A-to-Z training on local SEO, built for designers who want to deliver real results. You get practical, repeatable steps instead of theory or endless “best practices.” By the end, you’ll know exactly how to rank a local business and show the proof.
Complete understanding of the local SEO ranking factors
Technical SEO steps anyone can execute
On-page and content strategy that drives local visibility
Local SEO Delivery
This course shows you how to deliver local SEO in our proven 3 Phase system that remvoes the guesswork. You’ll know what to do first, what to ignore, and how to structure SEO delivery so clients see momentum fast. This turns SEO into a predictable, repeatable service you can confidently sell every month.
A plug-and-play framework for client delivery
Phased action plans for audits, keywords, content, and backlinks
A system that becomes your recurring monthly service model
Local SEO Sales Engine Course
This course helps you sell SEO without relying on technical talk or pressure-based tactics. You’ll learn how to explain SEO in a way clients instantly understand and value. It’s designed to help you confidently pitch, price, and close SEO as a service.
Pricing models that create stable recurring revenue
Messaging frameworks that make SEO feel obvious and valuable
A sales process you can repeat with every new client
Updated Apr 2026
Local SEO SOPs
This is your operations library: the EXACT process we used to hit our first six figures at our local SEO agency. Every checklist and workflow is here so you stop reinventing the wheel. It’s designed to make you faster, more organized, and more confident.
Step-by-step SOPs for every stage of SEO
Client onboarding and communication workflows
Reporting systems you can hand off or delegate
Local GEO Masterclass
Getting recommended by AI is mostly the local SEO you already sell, with a couple of extra boxes checked. Four lessons on what those boxes are, how to explain the work to a normal business owner, and how to price and sell it as a real service. Built live, in public, and updated as the ground moves.
How to run prompt research and build a 30-day AI visibility report card
Plain-language scripts for explaining this to clients who don’t care about AI
What to charge, from a $100 report card to a $500 a month add-on
Updating Now…
Testimonials
What students say about my courses
SEO Community
But courses are only the beginning. Here’s how The Academy works…
01
Actionable, Step-by-Step Courses
Simple lessons that turn into client-ready results.
Every course is practical. Every lesson is designed to be digestible and broken down in a manner any designer can handle.
You’ll learn on-page SEO, local SEO, ranking signals, keyword strategy, content strategy, and link-building for small businesses - all packaged in workflows you can copy and sell. No jargon. No overwhelm. Just clarity.
02
Weekly Live Sessions
Direct guidance from Sam and
other designers leveling up.
Feedback and learning from your peers is important.
It’s honest, specific, and rooted in actual SEO practice. You can ask questions, share client scenarios, and get real answers - not guesswork. Sam and his team is active, available, and invested in helping you understand how to apply this to your business.
03
Community Support
Ask questions, share wins,
and build confidence.
The community is focused and supportive — no busywork, no ego, no noise. Just web designers at your level learning the same things, facing the same challenges, and growing together through real conversations.
You won’t get lost. You’ll get supported.
04
Stop guessing. Start implementing.
Templates, scripts, and every
workshop included.
You get all of Sam’s proven templates - client emails, proposals, audits, reports - plus every current and future workshop he creates. Everything you need to sell, deliver, and scale SEO is already built for you, so you can implement fast without guessing or overthinking.
05
Stay Ahead in Local Search
Help clients show up in Google, AI Overviews, and ChatGPT.
Local Search is changing faster than most designers realize. The designers who adapt will own their markets. The ones who don’t will lose clients to anyone who understands AI SEO. The game hasn’t completely changed yet, but it’s better to hang with a gang that has their ears to the streets, and is trying to stay ahead.
06
Learn From Experts
Monthly Trainings on SEO, Social, Pricing, Niching, and More
We have a growing library of trainings from industry experts dropping knowledge on client acquisition, conquering social media, overcoming pricing mindset, niching down, short form video dominance, PPC and AI SEO breakdowns, and many more schedule for the coming months.
"To be able to connect with other people in the marketing field from different niches and swap out ideas, and run things past other people is great. So that alone has a ton of value."
Liz Jimenez Agudelo
Handshake Marketing
Testimonials
What members say about the academy
Pricing
Get a steal on your first month in the Academy!
COURSES + COMMUNITY
$99
(for your first month, $149/m after)
COURSES
GBP Expert Course
The Local SEO Masterclass
Delivering Local SEO to Clients
Local SEO Sales Course
Local SEO SOPs
COMMUNITY
Local SEO Academy Community
Weekly Calls & Coworking
Monthly Expert Trainings
DM Access to Sam and his team
Join 100+ designers making $$$ with SEO
Most Popular
Our web design studio is going to cross $200k in revenue... and Sam has taught me everything I know about SEO since day 1.
Andy Milligan
MMG Design
Meet your SEO coach, Sam Sarsten 👋🏻
A little about what we’re building
I help web designers build stable income by feeling confident about the system they use to deliver local SEO to clients.
I didn’t come from an agency background. I taught myself WordPress and SEO late at night after my 9–5, slowly taking on small projects and figuring things out the hard way. I quit my job with zero paid clients. A few years later, I’d grown Thencan into a multi–six-figure business and developed a Local SEO system that that my team uses to consistently rank small businesses across Bend and Central Oregon.
Today, between my trainings, content, and courses, my work has reached hundreds of thousands of designers across YouTube, social, and online communities. Inside the community, I bring the same approach: clear, honest guidance from someone who’s in the trenches doing the work every day.
More about me:
6x course creator
I’ve developed six courses that give web designers the exact processes I use to run a multi–six-figure SEO business.
Founder of two brands
Thencan Designs (agency) and Local SEO Academy (community) both exist to help small businesses and web designers.
Trusted community builder
I’ve been invited to teach Local SEO frameworks inside other leading communities.
$400K+ revenue
Starting from scratch — no agency background, just real client work and repeatable systems.
SEO Surge Summit Host
Host an annual SEO summit that helps web designers, small agencies, and freelancers build stable income by delivering better SEO.
Teacher & mentor
After teaching myself SEO and growing from scratch, I give other web designers the training and clarity I wish I had!
FAQ's
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between the two tiers?
What makes this program different than other SEO courses?
Should I wait for all the courses to drop?
Why is there a community?
What if I don’t like it?
Grow your SEO biz with an
expert in your corner
Learn from someone who actually does this work, not just talks about it
Delivery frameworks that make SEO feel obvious and valuable
A sales process you can repeat with every new client
Join 100+ designers making $$$ with SEO