Local SEO means getting a business found when people nearby search for what it offers, in Google Maps and in the map pack of local businesses on Google Search. Google’s guide to local ranking says those results are mainly based on how well a business matches the search, how far it is from the searcher and how well known it is. The work happens on your Google Business Profile, your website and what other people and websites say about you.
What is local SEO, and how is it different from ordinary SEO?
Google’s SEO Starter Guide describes SEO as helping search engines understand your content, and helping people find your site and decide whether to visit it. Ordinary SEO does that for web pages, which compete for places in the list of links. Local SEO does it for searches where the answer is a business near the searcher, such as “boiler repair Wakefield” or “physio near me”. Those results are built from Google Business Profiles, and they change with where the searcher is.
The two overlap. Google says it can pick up a business’s category from its website and from mentions across the web, and that how well known a business is depends partly on links from other websites. A weak website holds back a good profile, and a good website can’t rescue a profile that’s missing or wrong.
Where local results appear: the Google map pack and Maps
What the 3-pack is
Search Google for a service and a town, or a service and “near me”, and you’ll usually see a map with a short list of businesses under it. SEO people call it the map pack or local pack, or the Google 3-pack, since it usually lists three businesses. Each listing comes from that business’s profile: its name, star rating, opening hours and buttons to call, get directions or visit the website. Google’s ranking guide calls them local results, and they show on Google Maps as well as Search.
Why results change from street to street
Distance is measured from the person searching. Google says that if a searcher doesn’t share their location, it uses what it knows about where they are. So two people typing the same words a few miles apart can see different businesses in the pack. A search from your own desk shows roughly what customers near your base see. Seeing the rest means running the same search from points across the towns you serve, which is why our local SEO clients get town-by-town map ranking checks.
How Google ranks local businesses: relevance, distance and prominence
Google’s guide to local ranking names three main factors.
- Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone searched for. Businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up.
- Distance is how far each business is from the person searching. You can’t control where people search from, so the work goes into relevance and prominence.
- Prominence is how well known a business is (the page’s summary calls it popularity). It’s partly based on how many websites link to the business and how many reviews it has, and more reviews and positive ratings can help.
The same page makes two more points. Verifying your profile tells Google you’re authorised to represent the business, which makes it more likely to show in results. And there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, so be wary of anyone who offers to sell you one.
The three parts of local SEO
Your Google Business Profile
Your profile is what appears in the pack, so it comes first, and Google says you can add or claim your business at no charge. Google’s guidelines for representing your business set the rules that matter most:
- The name should be your real-world name, as it appears on your signs, website and stationery. Adding services or locations to it isn’t permitted and could get the profile suspended.
- There should be one profile per business.
- Use the fewest categories it takes to describe your core business, and make them as specific as you can.
- Your address, or your service area, should be accurate.
If you travel to customers and they don’t come to you, you’re a service-area business, and Google says you should hide your address. You can then list up to 20 service areas by town, postcode or other area, rather than drawing a radius. The overall area shouldn’t stretch beyond about two hours’ drive from your base, though Google says larger areas may suit some businesses.
If your profile isn’t appearing at all, our note on why a business isn’t showing on Google Maps works through the usual causes.
Your website
Your website backs up what the profile says. The profile links to it, so someone arriving from the map should land on a page that matches what they searched for. For most service businesses we’d start with one page per main service that names the towns you cover and shows the same business name, address and phone number as the profile. The usual SEO groundwork still applies: pages Google can crawl and index, on a site that works on a phone.
Your reputation: reviews, links and listings
Reviews are part of prominence. Ask every customer for a review when you finish their job, and reply to the reviews you get: Google says replies show you value feedback, and that positive reviews and helpful replies can help you stand out. Keep them genuine. Google’s content policy bans paid or incentivised reviews and asking only your happiest customers, and in the UK fake reviews have been banned under consumer law since 6 April 2025.
Links count too, because Google names them as part of prominence. For a local business the useful ones usually come from real connections: a trade body, the local paper, a supplier, a club you sponsor.
Listings are the third piece. Apple Maps has its own listings through Apple Business, Bing has Bing Places, and trade directories carry your details too. Google doesn’t name matching listings as a ranking factor, but it does say it decides how to show your address using information from other sources as well as your own. Some customers search Apple Maps or Bing instead, and a wrong number there costs you the call.
A local SEO strategy in five steps
This is the order we’d work in for most owner-run service businesses.
- Claim and verify your profile. It’s free, and a verified profile is more likely to show.
- Get the facts right. Your real-world name, the most specific category that fits, opening hours, phone number, and your address or service areas.
- Make the website agree. Check each service page against the profile and fix anything that doesn’t match.
- Build reviews and links steadily. Ask every customer, reply to every review, and say yes to genuine local mentions.
- Measure from where your customers are. Check map positions town by town, and count calls and enquiries, not only rankings.
Steps one to three are quick. Reviews and links build slowly, so steps four and five carry on month after month. Our note on how long SEO takes to work explains what sets the pace.
Does your business need local SEO?
If customers visit you, or you go to them, almost certainly yes. Google’s eligibility guidelines say a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours to qualify for a Business Profile. That covers most clinics, trades, shops, salons, solicitors and other local services. To check, search for what you do plus your town. If a map of businesses comes up, that’s the kind of search local SEO is for.
The same guidelines list online-only businesses as ineligible, so if you never meet customers, ordinary SEO is where your effort belongs. If you have several branches, each with its own staff (and, if you travel to customers, its own service area), Google’s guidelines for representing your business allow a profile for each location. And if you’re based in or around Leeds, our page on SEO in Leeds shows how the map pack changes across the city.
How to tell local SEO is working
Your position in the pack changes with every search location, so rankings are only part of the answer. These tell you more:
- Your profile’s Performance report. For a verified profile, it shows views, the searches people used to find you, calls, direction requests and website clicks. Google’s guide to the report says it counts Google Ads activity as well as unpaid results, so bear that in mind if you run ads.
- Map positions town by town, checked from the same points each month, so you can see whether your reach is growing.
- Search Console, for the searches and clicks your website gets.
- Enquiries: the calls, forms and bookings that came from search. They’re what the work is for.
The profile, Search Console and enquiry figures should all come from accounts you own. With Peacock Search, every account stays in your name, and the monthly report fits on one page.
Questions
Is local SEO different from ordinary SEO?
It uses the same foundations, then adds your Google Business Profile, your reviews and your listings on other sites. Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence.
Can I pay Google to rank higher on Maps?
No. Ads can appear on Google Maps, but Google says there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
Do I need an office or shop to do local SEO?
No. Google lets service-area businesses hide their address and list the areas they serve, usually within about two hours’ drive of their base.
Getting help with local SEO
Most local businesses don’t need everything at once. Getting the profile right comes first, and the rest builds on it. Our local SEO services cover that work, starting from a written plan you approve. To see where you stand today, ask for a free visibility audit. It names the three things to fix first and commits you to nothing.
