Local SEO basics, in plain language

What local SEO actually is

When someone searches for a pressure washing service or an emergency electrician, Google tries to show nearby businesses that match. Local SEO is the work of making sure your business is one Google can find, understand and trust enough to show.

Google's SEO Starter Guide is clear that there are no secrets that automatically rank a site first. Its advice is about helping Google find and understand your content. Anyone selling a trick is selling something Google itself says does not exist.

Start with your Google Business Profile

Google describes the Business Profile as the way a business manages how it appears on Google Search and Maps. For a local business it is usually the place to start.

• Claim and verify the profile for your business
• Use your real business name, without extra keywords added to it
• Choose the main category that best matches what you do
• Add your phone number, hours and a link to your website
• List your services in the words customers use
• Add real photos of your work, and add new ones from time to time
• Update hours for holidays and closures

Working at customers' homes: hide your address

Many small businesses do not have a place where customers come: cleaners, handymen, mobile mechanics, lawn care crews. Google treats these as service-area businesses. They can hide their address and list the areas they serve instead.

If you run the business from home, this keeps your home address private and gives customers the information they actually need: whether you come to them. Set your service areas to the places you really work, and say the same on your website.

Reviews: ask honestly, never buy them

Reviews help customers choose, and the honest way to get them is simple: ask. After a job goes well, send the customer a link to your profile and a short, polite request. Ask every customer the same way, not only the ones you expect to be happy.

Do not buy reviews, write them yourself, ask friends to pose as customers, or offer discounts in exchange for good ones. It misleads the people you want to serve. Reply to reviews, including critical ones, calmly and briefly; future customers read the replies too.

Content that helps: your website's job

Google's guidance asks for helpful, reliable, people-first content. For a local business, that means pages that answer what customers really want to know. A page for each main service. A clear statement of your area. Answers to the questions you hear on every call: how soon you can come, whether quotes are free, what to do before you arrive.

Write the way you would explain it to a customer standing in front of you. A cleaner explaining what a move-out clean includes, or an electrician explaining when a flickering light is worth a call, is giving people something they can use.

Keep your details the same everywhere

Your business appears on your website, your profile, social pages and directories. Use the same business name and phone number everywhere. If you changed number or moved, search for your business and fix old listings you find. Mismatched details confuse customers and make it harder to tell which listing is right.

What to skip

Some tactics are still sold to small businesses even though they go against Google's guidance or simply waste money.

• Buying links from other websites
• Stuffing keywords into your business name or your pages
• Copying the same page for every nearby town with only the name swapped
• Fake or paid reviews
• Anyone promising a set position on Google