A local SEO checklist for service businesses.

How does Google decide which local businesses to show?

Google says local results are based mainly on three factors: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher or the location in the search) and prominence (how well known and well regarded your business is, including reviews and what the wider web says about you).

You can’t move your business closer to every customer, so local SEO focuses on relevance and prominence — and on making sure nothing about your listing is confusing or inconsistent.

What should your Google Business Profile include?

• The right primary category — Pick the category that best describes your main service; add secondary categories only where they truly apply.
• Service areas, not a fake address — If you visit customers rather than receive them, set service areas and hide your address. Never use a virtual office or mailbox address.
• Accurate hours and phone — Including holiday hours. A wrong phone number costs you calls.
• Services and descriptions — List each service plainly, in the words customers use.
• Real photos — Your team, vans, work and premises — not stock images.
• Regular updates — Posts, new photos and answers to questions show the listing is looked after.

Why do your name, address and phone need to match everywhere?

Your business name, address and phone number (often shortened to NAP) appear on your website, your Google profile, Apple and Bing maps, Facebook, industry directories and local listings. When those details disagree — an old address here, a tracking number there — search engines are less sure which is right.

• Use exactly the same business name everywhere (no added keywords — that breaks Google’s guidelines).
• Update or close old listings after a move or a phone change.
• Claim your listings on the main map platforms, not just Google.
• Add relevant industry and local directories — trade associations, chambers of commerce — rather than hundreds of low-quality ones.

What does your website need for local SEO?

Your Google profile links to your website, and Google reads both. The site should make it obvious what you do and where:

• One page per main service, with real detail: what’s included, how it works, what to expect.
• Area pages only where you genuinely serve — each with something specific to that area, not the same text with the town name swapped.
• Your phone number and a contact form that work well on mobile.
• LocalBusiness structured data that matches your Google profile.
• Proof: real photos of your work, licenses or accreditations, and reviews.

How much do reviews matter for local SEO?

Reviews feed directly into prominence, and they influence whether people call you once they see you. What matters is a steady flow of genuine reviews, and replies from you — to the good ones and the bad ones. Ask every customer, make it easy, and never offer anything in return. See how we approach reviews and reputation within the rules.

What should you do this month?

1. Claim & verify — Google, Apple, Bing and Facebook listings.
2. Complete the profile — Category, services, areas, hours, photos.
3. Fix NAP — Same details on every listing and the website.
4. Service pages — One clear page per service you offer.
5. Ask for reviews — Every customer, every job, no incentives.