Local SEO checklist: what your website needs to show up in local searches

When someone nearby searches for a dentist, an electrician or a place to stay, Google often answers with a map and a short list of businesses above the ordinary results. This local SEO checklist covers what it takes to appear there.

The two parts you control, your Google Business Profile and your website, are often looked after by different people, or by nobody. So the checklist covers both, how they support each other and what changes with several locations.

The short answer

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance (how well you match the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching) and prominence (how well known you are, including links to your website and your reviews). You can’t move your premises, so the work goes into the other two:

• On your website: identical name, address and phone everywhere; a useful page for each location or the areas you serve; LocalBusiness structured data; directions and opening hours; visible reviews; fast pages on a phone.
• Off your website: a verified, complete Google Business Profile; accurate listings on the directories that matter in your sector; a steady flow of genuine reviews, each one answered.
• Across both: every detail matches.

What decides local rankings, and what you control

Google keeps the details confidential, and you can’t pay for a better local ranking. Your website counts twice: links to it feed prominence, and it’s where your profile sends people to decide, so the fundamentals in our guide to SEO-friendly websites apply here too.

On your website: the local SEO checklist

1. Name, address and phone, identical everywhere

NAP consistency means your business name, address and phone number appear in exactly the same form on your website, your profile and every listing you control. Search engines, map apps and customers piece your details together from several sources, and when they all agree, nobody has to guess which is right.

• Name, address and phone appear as text, not an image, in the footer or contact page and on every location page.
• The format matches your profile, in the same order.
• Phone numbers are tap-to-call links on mobile.
• Old addresses and numbers are gone, including from PDFs and old news posts.

Check it yourself. Search Google for your old address or phone number in quotation marks. Every result that still shows it is a listing to correct.

2. Location pages that earn their place

Each premises that serves customers needs its own page, and that is where its Google Business Profile should send people (with one location, your contact page does the job). Answer the questions a customer has on the way to you:

• full address, opening hours and a direct phone number
• the services available there, and who works there
• photos of the actual building, entrance and interior
• written directions: landmarks, parking, public transport, which entrance, step-free access
• reviews, projects or examples connected to that location

Give the page a title and main heading that say what and where: the service, the area and your brand. Scattering “near me” through the copy doesn’t make you nearer; the searcher’s location does that work.

Google’s spam policies name doorway abuse: pages created to rank for similar searches, such as pages aimed at different towns that all funnel visitors to the same place. The test: would a customer learn something here they couldn’t on any other page? If not, it’s a doorway. How to write a service page explains how location pages and service pages divide the work.

Service-area businesses. If you travel to customers, don’t invent an address or a premises page. For service area business SEO, one strong page per service that lists the areas you cover, with real detail such as call-out arrangements and example jobs, usually beats a set of cloned area pages.

3. LocalBusiness structured data

Structured data describes a page to search engines in a fixed vocabulary. For a local business, that means a LocalBusiness block on each location page, using the most specific Schema.org type that fits, such as Dentist, Restaurant or Hotel.

• Name and address, which Google’s documentation lists as required.
• Phone, URL, opening hours and map coordinates, which it recommends.
• areaServed for businesses that travel to customers.
• Every value matches the visible page and your profile.
• Tested in Google’s Rich Results Test after every change.

Our guide to schema markup for business websites covers the other types worth adding, and how.

4. Directions, hours and a page that works on the move

Local searches often happen on a phone, sometimes on the pavement outside. Put the phone number, hours and a “Get directions” link that opens the visitor’s maps app near the top, and make sure the page loads quickly on mobile data.

An embedded Google Map helps, but it’s heavy third-party code, so load it only when a visitor taps or scrolls to it. Written directions matter more: the map shows the building, but only you can say the entrance is at the back. Keep opening hours in text, and update holiday hours on the site and the profile together.

5. Reviews and proof, visible on the site

People who have read your Google reviews often open your website next, to check you’re real. Show recent reviews with a first name and date (shared with permission), photos of real work and relevant credentials, plus a link to your full profile so nobody suspects you’ve picked only the best. Place proof beside the call to action. Website credibility explains how visitors decide whether to trust you.

Off your website: profile, citations and reviews

Google Business Profile

For many local searches, your profile is the first thing people see. Treat it as part of your website, with a named owner.

• Claimed and verified, with ownership held by the business, not a former employee or supplier.
• Business name exactly as it appears on your signage. Google’s guidelines don’t allow added service keywords, taglines or location details that aren’t part of the real name.
• The most specific primary category that fits, plus only the secondary categories your core services need.
• Address shown if customers visit you (plus service areas if you also travel to them); hidden, with service areas listed, if you only visit them.
• Regular and special hours kept current.
• Website link to the most relevant page, with UTM tags so GA4 can separate those visits.
• Services, description and recent photos of the premises, people and work.

Local citations

A local citation is any listing of your name, address and phone on another website: your entries on Apple Maps and Bing (managed through Apple Business Connect and Bing Places), sector directories, professional bodies and booking platforms. Google doesn’t say how much they weigh in local ranking, and more isn’t better.

Correct the listings that already exist first: a wrong number on a popular directory costs you calls whatever it does to rankings. Then add the few that matter in your sector, such as the association that lists accredited members. Skip bulk submission services, which create entries you can’t update later.

Reviews and local SEO

Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Reviews also do the persuading once someone is comparing you with the business above you on the map.

• Ask every customer, at the right moment. Soon after the appointment, stay or job, share the review link or QR code from your profile, without pressing anyone to write one on the spot.
• Don’t filter, script or pay. Google’s policies prohibit asking only happy customers (review gating), telling people what to write and offering payment, discounts or freebies in return for a review.
• Reply to every review. Answer criticism calmly, without customer details, and offer to continue privately. Your reply is written for the next customer as much as this one.

How the two sides reinforce each other

Customers move between your profile and your website before deciding, and search engines read both. When the details agree, each makes the other more credible.

Then measure both ends. Your profile’s Performance section shows calls, direction requests and website clicks, and you can link the profile to GA4 so those figures sit beside your website data. On the website, track phone taps, direction clicks and form submissions as key events, with the UTM tags separating profile visits. GA4 conversion tracking walks through the set-up.

Extra checks for multi-location businesses

Everything above applies to each location; several locations add problems of scale.

• One profile per real location. Each premises with its own signage, staffed and open to customers during its stated hours, gets one profile. Virtual offices and mailbox addresses don’t qualify.
• A location finder crawlers can follow. Search engines don’t type postcodes into a map search box. Keep an ordinary page listing every location with a plain link to each one.
• One template, distinct content. Use a single URL pattern, such as /locations/area-name/, and fill each page with that location’s own people, photos, services and reviews.
• One source of truth. Keep one record of every location’s details, holiday hours included, and update the website, profiles and main listings from it.
• A plan for closures. Mark the profile as permanently closed, redirect the page to the nearest location or the finder, and correct the listings.
• Every language your customers use. Directions, hours and service names need the same care in each language, with hreflang linking the versions. Multilingual SEO covers the structure.

Hotels face one more layer: their profile often lists online travel agencies’ booking options beside their own, so the linked page must make booking direct easy. See hotel direct booking websites.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a public address to appear in local search?

No. If you visit customers rather than receiving them, you can hide your address on Google Business Profile and list the areas you serve. You still give Google a real address, such as the office or home you work from, to verify the profile; it just isn’t shown.

Does LocalBusiness schema improve local rankings?

Not by itself. It helps search engines read your name, address, hours and services reliably, but it doesn’t outweigh relevance, distance and prominence. Treat it as accuracy work, not a ranking trick.

Can reviews on my own website earn star ratings in Google?

Generally not. Since September 2019, Google hasn’t shown review stars for reviews a business publishes about itself, even through a third-party widget, so the stars beside your name in local results come from your Google reviews. On-site reviews still reassure the visitors who arrive.

How often should I check my Google Business Profile?

At least monthly, and whenever something about the business changes. Anyone can suggest edits to a profile, and changes can appear without you noticing.

Where to start

Most local SEO problems aren’t exotic: the website and profile drift apart, a branch moves and half the listings don’t, or nobody owns the profile at all.

Start with what costs nothing: make your name, address, phone and hours match everywhere, point your profile to the right page and ask your next ten customers for a review. Location pages, structured data and the mobile experience take more planning.

To see where your website stands, ask for a free website audit. We’ll check how visible it is on Google and how easily a nearby customer can call, find you or enquire, and tell you what to fix first. If you need proper location pages built rather than patched, that’s part of our website design and development work.