Local SEO for businesses that serve a town, a city or a few of them

When someone searches for a clinic, a plumber or a restaurant nearby, Google shows a map with three businesses under it. Most of the calls go to those three. Local SEO is the work of getting you into that map, and keeping you there.

Ask for a local SEO review

How Google picks the three businesses in the map

Google says it looks at three things. They aren’t equally easy to change, so it helps to know where the effort goes.

Factor

What it means in practice

How much you can change it

Relevance

Does your profile and website clearly say you offer the thing being searched for?

A lot. Categories, services and page content are fully in your hands.

Distance

How close you’re to the person searching, or to the area named in the search.

Very little. You can’t move, but service-area pages and correct location data help.

Prominence

How well known you’re: reviews, mentions on other sites, links and how strong your website is.

Steadily, over months. Reviews and citations add up.

What we check on your Google Business Profile

  • Primary and secondary categories, which matter more than most people think
  • Business name, address and phone written the same way everywhere
  • Services and products listed with plain descriptions
  • Opening hours, holiday hours and appointment links
  • Photos that show the real place, team and work
  • Reviews: how many, how recent, and whether you reply
  • Questions and answers left by the public
  • Duplicate or old listings that split your reviews

What we fix on your website

  • A page for each service, written for the people who search for it
  • Location pages for each branch or area, with real local detail
  • Name, address and phone details that match the profile exactly
  • LocalBusiness schema so Google can read your details
  • Internal links from the homepage to the pages that bring in enquiries
  • Page speed and mobile layout, since most local searches happen on a phone

One location or twenty

A single location usually needs a well-built profile, a handful of strong service pages and a steady flow of reviews. Most of the gains show up in the first three to four months.

Several branches need one profile per branch, a location page for each, and a clear plan so the branches don’t compete with each other. We also check the business isn’t listed twice in the same place.

Service-area businesses that visit customers, such as trades or mobile clinics, can hide their address and set the areas they cover instead. The website then has to do more of the work.

A recent example. A private GP clinic came to us after a website migration had left it barely visible. After a technical clean-up and stronger service pages, clicks from Google went from 572 to 1,740, about three times as many, and the clinic now sits near the top for searches like private gp london. Read the full case study.

Questions about local SEO

Yes. Some businesses want a one-off local SEO consultation and a clear list of fixes they can make themselves. Others want us to do the work every month. Both are fine.

Fixes to the profile can show within a few weeks. Moving into the map for competitive searches usually takes three to six months, depending on how strong the other businesses in your area are.

No. Fake reviews break Google’s rules and can get a profile suspended. We set up a simple way to ask real customers for reviews and help you reply to them.

Often, yes. We work out what triggered the suspension, fix it, and prepare the reinstatement request with the evidence Google asks for.

Yes. We work with businesses all over the world and handle local SEO for each market you serve.

It overlaps a lot. Local SEO adds the Google Business Profile, reviews and location signals. If you need wider SEO as well, see our SEO services.

Not sure where you stand?

Tell us your business name and the area you serve. We’ll look at your profile and the three businesses currently in the map, and tell you what it would take to get in there.

Request a local SEO review