Local SEO basics — how to get your business found in your city

For a small or medium business, ranking nationally for a competitive search term is hard. Ranking locally — for people searching from the city or region you actually serve — is much more achievable, and the leads are usually better. Here is a plain-English guide to where to start.

Google My Business is the centre of everything

When you search for a service in your city, Google often shows a "local pack" of three businesses with map pins at the top. Getting into that pack is largely about your Google My Business listing. Claim it, verify it, fill in every field, add photos, and make sure the name, address and phone number match what is on your website.

Your website needs to say where you are

A surprising number of local businesses have homepages that never mention their city. Search engines cannot infer geography from a phone number alone. Put your city in your homepage title tag, in at least one heading, in the footer with a full postal address, and on a clear contact page.

Reviews matter, and not just for star count

Google factors in the volume, recency and freshness of reviews on your Google My Business profile. Encourage happy customers to leave reviews — not by paying for them, but by asking at the right moment, with a clear link or QR code that goes straight to the review form.

Citations and consistency

Get your business listed in a handful of well-known directories: Yell, FreeIndex, Thomson Local, your local Chamber of Commerce. Use the exact same name, address and phone number on every one. Consistency across these "citations" is a trust signal — inconsistency dilutes it.

None of this is technically difficult, but it does require methodical attention. If you would prefer to outsource that to someone who has done it a hundred times, that is where an agency tends to earn its fee.