Local SEO services for the map pack

How does the Google map pack decide who to show?

Google says local results are decided by three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your Business Profile matches the search, which comes down to your primary category, your services and the words on your profile and website. Distance is how far you are from the person searching, or from the place named in the search. Prominence is how well known you are: reviews and how recent they are, mentions on other websites, and the strength of your own site. You cannot move your premises, so local SEO works on the other two. That means the right categories, a complete profile, a steady flow of genuine reviews with replies, listings that agree with each other, and pages on your site that say plainly what you do and where. It also means measuring from many points across a town, because the pack a searcher sees changes from street to street.

What the work covers

• Google Business Profile: primary and secondary categories, services, description, photos, opening hours and the service area
• Reviews: a simple way for customers to leave one, and a reply to every review, good or bad
• Citations: your name, address and phone number consistent across Bing Places, Apple Business, Yell and the directories in your trade
• Duplicate and outdated listings found and merged or removed
• Location and service pages on your own site that match what the profile says
• Local links and mentions: trade bodies, local press, business networks and suppliers

Measured on a grid, town by town

A single ranking check tells you where you appear from one spot. A grid check runs the same search from dozens of points across a town and shows where you sit in the map pack at each one. It shows where the edge of your visibility is, and how it moves month to month. Peacock Search runs the grid for every town you serve and reports it next to your Search Console and Analytics, so you can see the map pack, the clicks and the enquiries together.

Local SEO for small businesses

Local SEO for small business owners is mostly about consistency. A profile that is complete, reviews that keep arriving and a website that agrees with both will beat a bigger competitor whose listings contradict each other. None of it needs a large budget. It needs the right order of work and someone checking that each change landed. If you trade from a van rather than a shop, the same rules apply: Google lets service-area businesses hide their address and list the towns they cover instead.

Local SEO from Peacock Search is run from Leeds for businesses in Leeds, York, Harrogate and Sheffield.

Who it is for

Local SEO suits clinics, trades, shops and other businesses that win work from people searching nearby. It suits owners who want to see where they appear in the map pack, town by town, next to their own Search Console and Analytics.

What Peacock Search will not do

• Buy reviews, or ask only happy customers for them
• Stuff keywords into your Business Profile name
• Pretend you have an office in every town you cover
• Promise a place in the map pack

What you get

• A local audit: profile, categories, reviews, citations and the map pack grid for each town
• A written fix list, in order, with the reason for each item
• Profile and listing changes made with your approval, under your ownership
• A one-page monthly report: grid positions, profile actions, review count and the enquiries behind them

Local SEO essentials: £450 a month for one town

Local SEO essentials is a package for a business that serves one town and wants the basics of local search done every month. It is the core of the work described above, in set amounts and at a fixed price. The founder does the work and writes the report, as with every Peacock Search service.

What is included

• A setup month: a local audit of your town and a written fix list for you to approve before anything changes
• Your Google Business Profile filled in during the setup month, with photos you supply
• A review link for your customers, and a reply to every new Google review
• Up to four profile updates a month, such as a post, new photos or a change to your services
• Up to three listings checked, corrected or added each month
• One page on your website brought into line with your profile each month, or a brief for your developer
• A grid check across your town every month, for up to three searches
• The one-page monthly report, on the fifth working day of each month

£450 a month, with one month’s notice to end it. No setup fee, and no VAT is charged. Paid directory upgrades and Google Ads are not included, and nothing is bought without your written approval.

Who the package suits

• Trades, clinics and local services that work in one town or the area around it
• Businesses whose Google Business Profile is half finished or out of date

If you serve several towns or compete for a busy city-centre search, the full Local SEO service fits better. The free audit will say which suits you.

How it starts

1. Request the free visibility audit. It arrives in writing within five working days, with the three things to fix first.
2. If the package fits, Peacock Search sends a short proposal with a start date and the access it needs, such as manager access to your Business Profile.
3. Month one is setup: the local audit, the fix list for your approval, then the first profile and listing fixes.
4. From month two, the monthly work begins.