Local SEO helps businesses with a physical location or service area appear when nearby customers search. Think “plumber near me”, “coffee shop Shoreditch” or “accountant in Leeds”. These searches show a map with three businesses, known as the local pack, above the usual organic results. It is a specialised branch of SEO with its own ranking factors.
How does Google rank local results?
Google names three main local ranking factors:
- Relevance: how well your listing matches the search.
- Distance: how close you are to the searcher or the location in the query.
- Prominence: how well known you are, based on reviews, links, mentions and organic rankings.
You cannot change distance, so local SEO focuses on relevance and prominence.
Your Google Business Profile
The single most important local asset is your Google Business Profile. Choose the most specific primary category, add secondary categories, fill in every field, upload real photos and post updates. Businesses with complete profiles are far more likely to be shown and clicked.
Citations and NAP consistency
A citation is any online mention of your business name, address and phone number. Directories like Yell, Thomson Local, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and industry sites all count. Our entry on NAP citations explains why the details must match exactly everywhere.
Reviews
Review count, rating, recency and the words customers use all affect local rankings and clicks. Read our guide to online reviews and SEO for a review request process that stays within Google’s rules.
Local pages on your website
Your website still matters. Make sure your homepage or location page includes your town or city in the title tag, your full address, an embedded map and LocalBusiness schema markup.
If you serve several towns, create a page for each only when you can say something unique: local projects, testimonials, staff, opening hours or directions. Swapping the town name in a template creates doorway pages, which Google treats as spam.
Local links
Links from local news sites, councils, schools, charities and business associations are strong signals of local prominence. Our link building guide includes ideas for earning them.
Local SEO checklist
- Claim and verify your Google Business Profile.
- Pick the most accurate primary category.
- Add services, products, hours, photos and a description.
- Make NAP details identical across the web.
- Build citations on the top 20 directories for your country and industry.
- Ask every happy customer for a review and reply to all reviews.
- Create useful location pages with LocalBusiness schema.
- Earn links from local organisations.
- Track map pack rankings across your service area with a grid tool.
Common local SEO mistakes
- Using a virtual office or PO box as your address, which breaks Google’s guidelines.
- Stuffing keywords into the business name.
- Running several listings for one location.
- Ignoring negative reviews instead of replying calmly.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a physical address for local SEO?
Service-area businesses can hide their address in Google Business Profile, but they still need a real address to verify.
How long does local SEO take?
Profile fixes can show results within weeks. Reviews and links build steadily over months.
Related terms
See ecommerce SEO, on-page SEO and the SEO encyclopedia.
Mr. SEO
Mr. SEO is the webmaster at SEO TT - SEO tips and tricks, a publication about all things SEO related.