Work through the steps in order. Steps 1 to 3 fix what Google reads about you. Steps 4 to 7 build trust. Steps 8 to 10 keep the result fast, findable and measured.
If you are a trade or home-service business, our guides to HVAC, plumbing and roofing apply this checklist to a single trade.
What is local SEO and how does Google rank local results?
Local SEO is the work of making your business show up when people search for what you offer near them, in the map results and in the ordinary results.
Google names three things behind local ranking: relevance, which is how well your profile matches the search; distance, which is how far you are from the searcher; and prominence, which is how well known you are, including links to your business and your reviews. Google also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
Step 1: Set up and complete your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile is the base of local search. Claim and verify it, then complete every part:
- Use your real name. Google's guidelines say the name should reflect your real-world name, and extra information such as service descriptions or locations in the name is not permitted.
- Choose the most accurate main category, then add secondary categories for other services you offer.
- Write a clear description of what you do, where you work and who you help, in plain words.
- List your services with a line or two on each, and prices where you can.
- Add real photos of the outside, the inside, your products and your team.
- Set your hours and turn on messaging, so a customer who prefers to write can reach you.
If you travel to customers and do not have a shop they can visit, list your service area. Google's guidelines say a service-area business should hide its address from customers, have one profile with a designated service area, and not use a mailbox or a rented virtual office as its location.
Step 2: Keep your name, address and phone number the same everywhere
NAP means name, address and phone number. Differences such as “St.” and “Street”, an old number or a different business name confuse customers and can confuse search engines. To fix this:
- Search for your business and list every place it appears. Tools such as Moz Local, BrightLocal or Whitespark can help you find listings.
- Write your details exactly the same way on your website, profile, social pages and directories.
- Make sure you are listed on the platforms people use: Google, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp and Facebook.
- Add the directories for your trade, such as a restaurant platform or a home-services directory.
- Check your listings every quarter and fix errors.
Step 3: Get your website ready for local search
Your site should show clearly where you work and what you offer.
- Put your city or region in the title and heading of the homepage and main service pages, in words a person would use.
- Show your name, address and phone number as text in the footer of every page, and make the phone number tappable.
- Add a map on the contact page.
- Give each place you serve its own page, written for that place: the work you do there, the customers you help, and reviews from nearby. Do not copy one page and swap the city name.
- Write for how people search: “near me”, “cost in [city]” and “how to choose” questions, answered plainly.
Step 4: Add local business structured data (if you have a real address)
Structured data tells search engines what your business is. Google's guide to local business markup lists the business name and address as required, and recommends telephone, opening hours, a working URL for the location, price range and coordinates. It says nothing that makes markup necessary for local results, and adds that Google does not promise that features using structured data will appear.
Test it in the Rich Results Test. One older tip is out of date: Google's page on FAQ markup says the FAQ rich result is no longer shown in Search from 7 May 2026, so do not add FAQ markup in the hope of getting one. Review markup is for sites that collect reviews about other businesses, not for a business's own page.
Step 5: Build and manage your reviews
Google says that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking. They also matter to customers. BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US adults, as summarized by PinMeTo, found that 41% always check reviews, 74% look for reviews from the last three months, and 80% are more likely to use a business that replies to all of its reviews. It also found that 50% are put off by generic, templated replies.
What to do:
- Create a direct review link and share it by email, text, receipt or a QR code.
- Ask right after a job or a purchase, when the customer is most satisfied.
- Reply to every review in your own words, including the critical ones, and offer to fix problems.
- Never buy reviews, write them yourself or offer rewards for positive ones.
- Collect reviews on more than one site where your customers look, not only on Google.
Step 6: Post regularly on your Business Profile
Posts let you share offers, news and events right in the search results. Post at least weekly, add a clear photo and a button such as Call or Book, and keep a simple calendar so the profile never looks abandoned.
Step 7: Earn local links and mentions
Google lists links to your business as part of prominence, and local links help most. Join your chamber of commerce, sponsor a local event, partner with neighboring businesses that do not compete with you, send news to a local paper or site, and offer a quote to a local blog. These links come from being active in your town, and they cannot be rushed.
Step 8: Make the site fast and easy on a phone
Most local searches come from phones, so test yours there. Google's Core Web Vitals measure loading, responsiveness and stability: a good loading time (LCP) is 2.5 seconds or less, a good interaction response (INP) is under 200 milliseconds, and a good layout stability score (CLS) is under 0.1. Use PageSpeed Insights, fix the largest images first, and keep buttons big enough to tap. Our WordPress speed checklist covers the usual fixes.
Step 9: Answer “near me” and question searches
People type short, spoken-style searches: “plumber near me”, “open now”, “who fixes a cracked screen”. Make sure each service page names the service, the area and the hours, answers the obvious questions in plain words, and has a phone number or button within easy reach. We have no evidence on voice search that we can cite, so we focus on the written answers that work for every kind of search.
Step 10: Track, measure and improve
Each month, record the same few numbers: calls, direction requests and website visits from your profile; clicks and impressions for local searches in Search Console; the number and recency of reviews; and leads by source. Our guide on measuring digital marketing ROI shows how to link them to revenue. Change one thing at a time so you can tell what worked.
Local SEO and AI search in 2026: a local business AEO checklist
Google says its AI features in Search follow the same SEO best practices, with no extra requirements. For a local business, that means the basics above matter more, not less: accurate details, a complete profile, real reviews and clear pages.
AI summaries can change how people click. Pew Research tracked 68,879 Google searches by 900 US adults in March 2025 and found that users clicked a result link in 8% of visits with an AI summary, against 15% without. So write a clear, direct answer at the top of each page, keep prices, hours and service areas consistent everywhere, and track calls and direction requests as well as clicks. Our guide to zero-click SEO explains more.
Your local SEO roadmap
In the first month, finish the profile, correct your listings and fix the site basics. In months two and three, add local pages, a review routine and posts. After that, build local links, review your numbers each month, and update pages when facts change. Local SEO is steady work, and the checklist is a way to keep it steady.
Conclusion
Do the basics well and keep them current: a complete profile, consistent details, helpful local pages, honest reviews and a fast site. Then measure and repeat.
PromotEdge International is an international strategy, technology, marketing and design company, and our delivery team is in India. See our local SEO service for how we handle profiles, listings and local pages.
Facts we rely on: see our company facts for what we state about ourselves and where each fact comes from.