Local SEO: get found by customers near you

Type dentist, pizza or emergency plumber into Google and you get a map with three businesses, followed by the normal list of websites. Google has decided that you want something nearby. That decision is called local intent.

Local SEO is everything you do to appear in those results. It applies to companies with a location customers visit, such as a salon or a shop, and to companies that travel to the customer, such as a painter or a locksmith.

It differs from regular SEO in one main way. In regular search, Google compares web pages. In local search, Google compares businesses. Your profile, your reviews and your address weigh as much as your website.

That is good news for a small company. A national chain can outspend you on content and links. In your own neighborhood, a well-kept profile and fifty honest reviews put you on equal footing.

A local search shows up to three kinds of results on one screen. Each one draws on different information, so each one needs its own attention.

The local pack receives a large share of the clicks and calls, because it shows stars, hours and a call button before anyone visits a website. Many customers decide right there.

Aim to appear twice: once in the pack with your profile and once in the organic list with your website. Two listings on one screen give you two chances at the click.

Google explains its local ranking in its Business Profile help pages. Three factors work together, and Google states plainly that you are unable to request or pay for a better local ranking.

Distance explains a common frustration. You rank first on your own street and fifth across town. That is normal. Google prefers the closer option when two businesses are otherwise equal.

Prominence is where effort pays. A business with more and better reviews, more mentions and a stronger website can outrank a closer competitor. Google's own tips are short: verify, keep details complete, reply to reviews and add photos.

A Google Business Profile is the free listing that appears in Maps and in the panel beside the search results. It used to be called Google My Business. You manage it by searching your own business name while logged in to Google.

First check whether a profile already exists. Search your name and address in Maps. If you find one, claim it. If you find two, ask Google to merge them, because duplicates split your reviews and confuse the system.

Then verify. Google wants proof that you represent the business. Often that now means a short video that shows the street, your sign and the inside of your premises, or your tools and vehicle. Some businesses receive a code by phone or email.

Record the video in one continuous take, in daylight, and show something only the owner can do, such as unlocking the door or opening the register. Edits to an unverified profile stay hidden, so do this before anything else.

Google matches searches to the information in your profile. Every empty field is a missed match. Work through the table once and you will be ahead of most competitors.

The primary category deserves ten minutes of research. Search your main keyword, open the top three profiles and note the category under their name. If all three use the same one, that is your answer.

A business that works at the customer's home should hide its address and set a service area. Showing a home address or a virtual office you rarely staff conflicts with Google's guidelines.

A profile is a living listing. Fresh photos and updates show customers that you are open and active. Plan fifteen minutes a week and rotate through the tasks below.

1. Add real photosUpload your storefront, your team, your work and your interior. Real pictures from your phone outperform stock images, because customers look for proof.
2. Post an updateShare an offer, an event or a finished project with one photo and a button. Posts show on your profile and give searchers a reason to click.
3. Check your detailsConfirm hours before every holiday. Google also lets users suggest edits, so review every suggested change in your profile.
4. Answer what people askCollect the questions customers ask most and answer them on your website and in your service descriptions.
5. Test your own contact routesCall your listed number and open your booking link on a phone, to confirm that both reach you.

Two features changed, and older guides still mention them. Chat inside Business Profile ended on July 31, 2024. The free websites made with Business Profile were switched off in March 2024.

The public Questions and Answers section is changing too. Google confirmed in December 2025 that it is being replaced by an AI-powered ask feature in Maps, which answers from your profile details and your reviews. Availability differs by country and category.

The lesson: put complete, accurate facts into your profile and your website. An AI answer about your parking, your prices or your opening times is only as good as the information you supplied.

Reviews serve two audiences. Customers read them to choose. Google reads them as a sign of prominence, and its help pages say that more reviews and positive ratings can improve your local ranking.

The words inside reviews count too. When customers describe the service they bought and the area they live in, your profile gains matching text for future searches. Local search specialists at BrightLocal report that the AI answers in Google Maps cite reviews as a source.

Google's review policy is strict on three points. Offering payment, discounts or gifts for a review is forbidden. Asking only happy customers, known as review gating, is forbidden. Reviews by staff or by yourself are forbidden. Google removes reviews that break these rules.

1. 1. Get your review linkIn your profile, choose the option to ask for reviews. Google gives you a short link and a QR code.
2. 2. Ask at the happy momentRight after the job is done, the meal is finished or the keys are handed over. Ask every customer, in the same way.
3. 3. Make it one tapSend the link by text message or email, or print the QR code on your receipt and your counter card.
4. 4. Suggest what to mentionInvite people to describe what you did for them. Leave the wording and the rating fully to them.
5. 5. Reply to every reviewThank people by name and mention the service. Answer criticism calmly, offer a solution and move the details to phone or email.
6. 6. Keep the stream steadyA few new reviews every month look more natural and stay more convincing than forty in one week.

A fake or abusive review can be reported through your profile. Google removes reviews that break its policy. An honest critical review stays, and a thoughtful reply often impresses readers more than a perfect score.

NAP stands for name, address and phone number. NAP consistency means those three details are written the same way on your website, your Google Business Profile and every other listing.

Why does it matter? Search engines combine information from many sources into one picture of your business. Matching details confirm that picture. Conflicting details, such as an old address on a directory, weaken it and send customers to the wrong door.

A mention of your NAP on another site is called a local citation. You need the major platforms and the directories of your trade. Hundreds of small directories add little. The table shows a sensible base set.

Do a yearly audit. Search your phone number, then your old addresses and former names, and correct every listing that is out of date. After a move, update Google first and the rest within the same week.

Your website is the evidence behind your profile. Google reads it to confirm what you do and where. The organic results under the map come straight from your pages.

Start with the basics on every page: your name, address and phone number in the footer, a click-to-call number at the top on mobile, and your town in the title of the homepage.

1. One page per serviceGive each service its own page that explains the work, the process, the price range and common questions. A list of ten services on one page ranks for none of them well.
2. One page per locationIf you have several branches, give each one a page with its own address, hours, team, photos and reviews.
3. Service area pages with substanceA page about a neighboring town earns its place with local projects, local photos and local details. Copies with only the town name swapped add nothing.
4. A strong contact pageAddress, map, parking, public transport, hours and a short form. Make it the page you link from your profile if you have one location.
5. Local proofShow reviews, project photos with the district named, memberships and local press.
6. LocalBusiness markupAdd structured data with your name, address, phone and hours. Chapter 7 explains how.

Speed and mobile design carry extra weight here. Local searches happen on phones, often on the move. A page that loads fast and shows the phone number at once wins the call.

Prominence grows when other local sites talk about you. A link from the local newspaper, the football club or the business association tells Google that you are a real part of the community.

You earn these through normal local life. Sponsor a team, host a workshop, join the merchants' association, offer your expertise to the local reporter, take part in the town fair. Then ask for a mention on their website.

Partnerships work well too. A wedding photographer, a florist and a venue can recommend each other on a page of trusted partners. Keep it to businesses you would truly send your customers to.

Chapter 8 on backlinks covers the methods in depth. For local purposes, ten links from your own region usually outweigh fifty from unrelated sites elsewhere.

A service-area business visits customers and has zero walk-in premises. Think of plumbers, cleaners and mobile groomers. You hide your address in the profile and list the towns, postal codes or regions you serve, up to twenty.

Your ranking still centers on the address you used for verification, even when hidden. Expect your best visibility around that base. To reach farther, build strong pages for the other towns and collect reviews from customers there.

A company with several branches creates one profile per staffed location, each with its own phone number, hours and landing page. Use the same business name for all, and let the address tell them apart.

Practitioners such as doctors, lawyers and real estate agents may hold a personal profile next to the profile of the practice. Link each one to the matching page on your website.

Google can suspend a profile that breaks its guidelines. A suspended profile disappears from Maps until you appeal with proof. The usual causes are easy to avoid.

1. Keywords in the business nameSmith Plumbing becomes Smith Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Boston. It works for a while and then triggers a suspension.
2. An address that is staffed only on paperVirtual offices and mailboxes are ineligible as business locations.
3. Several profiles for one businessOne location and one business means one profile, whatever the number of services.
4. Many edits at onceChanging name, address, phone and category on the same day can trigger a review. Spread large changes out.
5. Bought or rewarded reviewsGoogle removes them in batches and may add a warning to your profile.
6. Ignoring ownershipKeep the profile under a company account that you control, and add staff as managers.

Competitors who cheat can be reported. Use the suggest an edit option on their profile for a fake name or address, and Google's business redressal complaint form for clear fraud.

Checking your Google Maps ranking from your own office gives a flattering picture, because you stand at the best possible spot. A customer two miles away sees a different order.

Local rank trackers solve this with a grid. They check your position from dozens of points across your area and color a map. You see at a glance where you are strong and where a competitor leads.

Your profile has its own performance report. It shows how many people viewed the profile, which search terms they used, and how many called, asked for directions, clicked to your website or booked.

Add a tracking tag to the website link in your profile, a so-called UTM tag. Google Analytics then separates profile visitors from other organic visitors. Chapter 10 on tools and reporting shows how.

You can set up the full base in one month, in about two hours a week. Use this local SEO guide as a schedule and tick off the checklist at the bottom of the page.

1. Week 1: claim and verifyFind or create your profile, remove duplicates, pass verification and set name, address, phone and hours.
2. Week 2: complete the profileResearch your primary category, add services, description, attributes, booking link and at least ten real photos.
3. Week 3: fix your website and citationsPut matching NAP details in the footer, build or improve service pages, add LocalBusiness markup and correct your main listings.
4. Week 4: start the review routineCreate your review link and QR code, ask every customer and reply to every review.
5. Every week afterOne photo or post, one check of your details and a look at new reviews.
6. Every quarterReview your performance report, your grid positions and two competitors.

Local visibility keeps paying once the routine runs. A website with a page per service, online booking and automatic review follow-up supports that routine, and those parts are standard in every site Delta Six builds.

• Search your business in Google Maps and claim the existing profile or create one.
• Remove or merge duplicate profiles.
• Complete the verification, usually with a short continuous video.
• Enter your real business name, free of added keywords.
• Research and set the best primary category and add the additional ones that apply.
• Set your address or, for a business that travels, your service areas.
• Fill in hours, special hours, phone, website, services, description and attributes.
• Add a direct booking link to your profile.
• Upload at least ten real photos and plan one new photo or post a week.
• Write name, address and phone identically in your website footer and on your contact page.
• Claim Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and the main directory of your trade.
• Create a page for every service and every location on your website.
• Create your review link and QR code and ask every customer right after the job.
• Reply to every review within a few days.
• Check your profile performance and local positions once a month.