Google Business Profile
The single highest-return hour in local SEO. Correct primary category, every service listed, real photos, opening hours that match your website, products and services filled in, and posts that are not three years old.
Local SEO for small businesses
If your customers search with a town name or tap the map, the three businesses in that map pack take most of the calls. This is the work that puts you among them.
Get your free local SEO auditWhy local search is the best opportunity a small business has
Competing nationally means fighting companies with marketing departments. Competing in your town means fighting the other four firms who do what you do, and most of them have never touched their Google Business Profile. The gap between a business that takes local search seriously and one that does not is usually visible within a couple of months.
Local searches also convert far better than general ones. Somebody typing "emergency electrician Bristol" is not researching. They are choosing, now, from whoever appears first and looks credible.
Reviews that actually move rankings
Volume, recency and the words customers use all count. I set up a system for asking at the right moment so reviews arrive steadily rather than in one suspicious burst, and make sure every one gets a reply.
Location and service pages
One page per town you genuinely serve, each with different content, real local detail and its own reason to exist. Ten near-identical pages with the town name swapped is the fastest way to get ignored by Google.
Citations and consistency
Your name, address and phone number have to match everywhere they appear: directories, trade bodies, your own site. Old addresses and dead phone numbers scattered across the web quietly hold local rankings back.
Who this works best for
Any business whose customers are nearby and whose work is worth enough to justify a monthly fee. In practice that is mostly:
- Trades: plumbers, electricians, roofers, builders
- Home services: fitters, cleaners, removals, landscaping
- Clinics: dental, physio, private GP, aesthetics
- Professional services: accountants, solicitors, surveyors
- Independent retail and hospitality with a catchment
- Multi-branch businesses covering several towns
If your customers are spread across the country rather than clustered around you, local SEO is the wrong tool and the audit will point you at the right one instead.
Local SEO questions
What is local SEO and how is it different from normal SEO?
Local SEO targets searches where Google shows a map and a handful of nearby businesses, such as "plumber near me" or "accountant in Leeds". It leans on your Google Business Profile, your reviews and your proximity to the searcher as well as your website, so the levers are different from ranking a page nationally.
How long does it take to rank in the Google map pack?
Faster than ordinary rankings. A profile that has never been optimised often improves within four to eight weeks, particularly in less contested towns. Competitive cities take longer and depend heavily on review volume and how established the businesses above you are.
Do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?
Yes. The profile can generate calls on its own, but a website is where you prove you are worth choosing, and Google uses it as a signal for the profile itself. A business with no site is capped in how far it can climb.
Can I rank in a town I do not have an office in?
In the map pack, generally not without a genuine presence there, and faking one gets profiles suspended. In the ordinary results below the map, yes: a well-built page about the work you do in that town can rank, and for many service businesses that is where the enquiries come from anyway.
How many reviews do I need?
Enough to be credible next to whoever is ranking above you. Look at the top three in your map pack, note their totals, and treat that as the target. Steady arrival matters as much as the number.
Find out where you stand locally
Send your details and I will check how your Google Business Profile and website compare with the businesses ranking above you in your town, then write up what would close the gap.
-
You get a document, not a sales call. Written findings you can act on yourself or hand to another agency.
-
Replies within two working days. It is me reading your form, so I only take on a few audits a week.
-
No contract, no cold calls. Your details are used to answer your enquiry and nothing else.