Local search is a different game
National SEO is largely a contest of domain authority, which is why big sites win. Local search weighs three things that are far more attainable: proximity to the searcher, relevance of your categories to the query, andprominence — reviews, citations and general signals of being a real, active business.
That mix is genuinely good news for smaller operators. A well-run local business can outrank a far larger competitor in its own area, because proximity and review signals do not care about your marketing budget.
The Google Business Profile does most of the work
For most local businesses, the profile drives more visibility than the website. It is also the most commonly neglected asset we encounter — claimed once, filled in halfway, then abandoned for years.
- Primary category is the highest-leverage single setting. It must match what customers search, not how you describe yourself internally. "Cosmetic dentist" and "dentist" surface for meaningfully different queries.
- Service areas defined honestly. Claiming an implausibly wide radius dilutes relevance rather than extending reach.
- Hours kept accurate, including holidays. Wrong hours produce a specific and expensive kind of negative review.
- Photos added regularly. Profiles with recent photos read as active businesses, to both customers and Google.
- Products, services and attributes completed. Each field is another chance to match a query.
Citations and NAP consistency
Your name, address and phone number appear across dozens of directories, many of which you never created. When these disagree — an old suite number, a previous phone line, a former trading name — it undermines confidence that the business details are correct.
The fix is unglamorous: audit where you appear, correct what is wrong, and remove duplicates. Old addresses from a previous office are the single most common problem we find, and it is entirely fixable.
Reviews drive local rankings directly
Review count, average rating, recency and response rate all feed local prominence. Recency matters more than most businesses realise: a steady trickle generally outperforms a large historical pile with nothing recent, because the second pattern suggests a business that has stopped paying attention.
Building that flow properly — asking at the right moment, making it frictionless, asking everyone rather than only those you expect to be happy — is covered in ourreputation managementwork, because review strategy sits squarely between the two disciplines.
Note that review gating — soliciting only customers you expect to be positive — violates the terms of most major platforms and is detectable.
On-site local signals
Location pages that are genuinely distinct, not templated with the place name swapped. `LocalBusiness` schema with accurate details. Name, address and phone in crawlable text rather than an image. Fast mobile pages, because the overwhelming majority of local search happens on a phone.
Where we work
We maintain local practices inSan DiegoandLos Angeles, and work with local businesses elsewhere. Local search rewards genuine local knowledge, so we would rather run two markets properly than claim twenty.