Local SEO: five fixes before anything else
Most local businesses lose ground on the basics. Before spending on anything advanced, check these five.
- Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Choose the right primary category, list your services, keep hours accurate and add real photos.
- Keep your name, address and phone number identical everywhere. Small differences across directories create doubt about which listing is correct.
- Ask for reviews consistently and reply to every one. Recency and regular replies both matter, and both are visible to customers.
- Give each location or service area its own page with real local detail: the area, the team, the work done nearby. Avoid copying the same text with the town name swapped.
- Add local business schema and make sure the site loads quickly on mobile, since most local searches happen on a phone.
Once those are in place, measure what matters: calls, direction requests and website clicks from your profile. Rankings are useful, but customers contacting you is the real result.