If your business serves a local area, local SEO is how you get found on Google Maps and in local search results. Here's everything you need to know.
When someone searches "plumber near me" or "best Italian restaurant in [city]," Google shows a map pack — three local businesses with a map, address, phone number, and reviews. Getting into that map pack can transform a local business. Here's how to do it.
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the single most important local SEO asset you have. It's free, and it's what powers the map pack. Claim your profile at business.google.com. Fill out everything: business name (exactly as it appears on your website), address, phone, hours, category, services, description, and photos. The more complete it is, the more likely Google is to show you.
NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone number. These three pieces of information must be identical everywhere they appear online: your website, Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook, BBB, local directories. Even small differences (St. vs Street, Suite vs Ste.) confuse Google and hurt your rankings. Do a Google search for your business name and audit every listing you find.
Google reviews are a major local ranking factor. More reviews, higher ratings, and recent reviews all help. The simplest way to get more: ask. After completing a job, send a text or email with a direct link to your Google review page. Aim for at least 10 reviews before worrying about anything else. Then respond to every review — positive and negative. It shows you're active and helps your rankings.
Your website needs to clearly signal where you operate. Include your city, neighborhood, and service areas naturally in your copy — especially on your homepage and contact page. If you serve multiple areas, create a dedicated page for each one: "Plumbing Services in [City]" or "Catering in [Neighborhood]." These pages rank for hyper-local searches and convert extremely well.
Add schema markup (LocalBusiness JSON-LD) to your homepage. It tells Google your business name, address, phone, hours, and service area in a format it can parse directly. SiteForge adds this automatically.
Citations are mentions of your business on other websites. Get listed on Yelp, the BBB, your local Chamber of Commerce, Angi, Houzz (if relevant), and any industry-specific directories. Each citation tells Google you're a real, established business. Local backlinks — links from local news sites, blogs, or business associations — are even more powerful.
Most businesses start seeing results from Google Business Profile within 2–4 weeks of optimizing it. Organic local search rankings typically improve over 3–6 months. The businesses that win local SEO aren't doing anything complicated — they're just doing the basics consistently: complete profile, fresh photos, regular reviews, and content that mentions their location.
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