How local SEO actually works for small businesses

Local SEO is the work that gets your business shown when someone nearby searches for what you do. There's no secret to it, Google is trying to answer one question: which nearby business best matches this search and looks trustworthy?

There are three main things it weighs up. How relevant you are to the search, how close you are to the person searching, and how established you look, reviews, mentions of your business elsewhere online, and a website that backs up what your profile claims.

Your Google Business Profile does more heavy lifting than most websites. Correct category, correct service area, real photos, accurate opening hours and a steady flow of reviews will usually beat a prettier website with a neglected profile.

On your website, have a proper page for each main service and each main area you cover, written for people, not stuffed with town names. One page that says "we cover the whole of the North West" competes with nothing.

Speed and mobile matter because most local searches happen on a phone, often standing in a kitchen with a problem. If your site takes five seconds to load, the customer is already back on the results page.

Consistency counts too: the same business name, address and phone number everywhere it appears online. Small mismatches make Google less confident about who you are.

Local SEO is slow, steady work rather than a one-off job. That's the part most businesses can't fit in around actual work, so it's built into what we manage each month.