Learn more about SearchLab

A boutique Local SEO and PPC agency like none other

SearchLab is an agency built by passionate and curious marketing professionals. We love our work, the clients we get the opportunity to work with, and our network of industry friends and partners.

SearchLab’s mission is to cultivate long-term mutually beneficial relationships. That’s the way we approach relationships with our clients, employees, vendors, partners, and friends.

We love to teach people about search marketing and paid media. We frequently share videos, post on our company blog, and provide workshops about SEO, Paid Media and Analytics.

If you’d like to collaborate with SearchLab, or if you’re just curious to learn more, let’s connect.

How this whole thing got started…

SearchLab started as a moonlighting gig. Our founder, Mark Bealin, was looking for ways to make a little extra money to support his growing family. It wasn’t long before the “nights and weekends” job became more than he could handle alone.

By March 2017, SearchLab was off and running – working out of a tiny shoebox of an office in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago.

In the first year, the business grew quickly. Really quickly.

SearchLab developed a reputation locally throughout Chicagoland. Our Local SEO and paid search services were in high demand and our success generated attention.

By September 2017, SearchLab moved into our current Chicago headquarters on the north side of Chicago. Before long, SearchLab began receiving awards and recognition from industry sites like BrightLocal, Clutch, Manifest and Built in Chicago.

In 2019, SEO expert Greg Gifford joined SearchLab as Vice President of Search. You can see Greg speak at industry conferences all over the world. Greg’s deep industry knowledge and connections within the SEO community are a huge benefit to SearchLab’s team members and clients.

In 2020, paid media expert Mark Irvine joined SearchLab as Director of Paid Media. Mark’s depth of experience has earned him the attention and recognition of the world-side search industry. PPCHero has recognized him as one of the top PPC Influencers every year since 2015. In 2019, Mark was recognized as the most influential PPC Expert by both PPCHero and Microsoft.

In 2021, SearchLab won two prestigious awards at the U.S. Search Awards. SearchLab won for Best Local SEO Campaign for our work with Tom Kadlec Kia. We also won the award for Best Low Budget PPC Campaign for our work with Dr. Gallo, M.D.

Today, SearchLab offers Local SEO and Paid Media services to small and medium-sized businesses all over the country. We are laser-focused on helping local businesses – in fact, that’s all we do. We’re proud to have built an agency that offers large agency capabilities but with the enhanced attention of a boutique agency.