Local SEO: a practical guide to being found in your area
If your clients are nearby, local SEO is what you need. Which factors count, what to do on and off your website, and the mistakes that hold you back.
A neighbourhood hair salon gains nothing from ranking in a city 500 km away. What it needs is to appear when someone nearby searches for "hair salon" or "hair salon in [their area]". That is local SEO, and for most small businesses it is far more achievable than traditional SEO.
How Google decides in local SEO
Google mainly looks at three things:
- Relevance: whether what you offer matches the search.
- Distance: how close you are to the searcher or the area they mention.
- Prominence: how well known you are: reviews, mentions elsewhere, the quality of your website.
You cannot change distance. The other two, you can.
Local SEO on your Business Profile
It comes first. First of all, the right category, hours, real photos, services and reviews. Step by step in how to get on Google Maps.
Local SEO on your website
- Say where you are, naturally: city and neighbourhood in the home page title and text, without repeating it absurdly.
- One page per important service. "Sports physiotherapy" and "pelvic floor" are searched separately; a page for each answers better.
- Complete contact details, easy to find, identical to your profile.
- A map and directions, if clients visit you.
- Structured data for the business with its address and service area. More in structured data.
- Fast and mobile-friendly: almost all local searches happen on phones.
Local SEO off your website
Consistent details
Above all, name, address and phone identical everywhere: Google profile, directories, social media, website. Differences reduce trust.
Useful directories
For example, directories for your sector and your city, chambers of commerce, professional bodies. Still, you do not need a hundred: the relevant ones are enough.
Local mentions
Sponsoring something local, partnering with other businesses, appearing in local press or on an association's website. In the end, every real mention with your name and website adds up.
Mistakes that hold you back
- Several duplicate listings of the same business on Google Maps.
- A fake address or PO box to "be" in another city.
- Creating pages for twenty towns with the same text and a different name. Google recognises it and does not show them.
- Not replying to reviews.
What if you work remotely?
If you serve clients nationally or internationally (as I do with Nueva Página websites), local SEO still helps in your own city, but the rest comes from helpful content, reviews and mentions. More in how to get recommended by AI.
How to measure your local SEO
To know whether you are making progress, check two places every month. First, your Business Profile statistics: how many people saw you on the map, asked for directions or called. Then the performance report in Google Search Console, filtered by searches that include your town or neighbourhood.
In addition, search your service and area from a phone now and then, without signing in, and note where you appear. Google explains in its Business Profile help which factors it considers in local results. If the numbers rise little by little, you are on track: local SEO is built with consistency. What you do not measure, you cannot improve.
Frequently asked questions
How long does local SEO take to work?
Profile changes show in weeks. Reviews and mentions build up over months.
Do I need a website to appear on Google Maps?
It is not mandatory, but it helps: Google takes it into account and it converts people arriving from the map.
Should I put my city in every title?
Naturally yes, especially on the home page and service pages. But repeating it in every sentence does not help and reads badly.
Will my website be ready for local SEO?
Yes. On Nueva Página websites your town and area go into the titles and the marked-up business details, and the website is registered with Google. See how I work.