A local SEO checklist for service businesses

Introduction

When someone nearby searches for what you sell, Google shows a map with three businesses on it before any ordinary result. Those three places get most of the calls, direction requests and website visits. Local SEO is the work of earning one of them — and most of it is steady housekeeping rather than tricks.

This checklist is the order we work in with new clients. Each step builds on the one before, so resist the urge to skip ahead to reviews or content before the basics are right.

1. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile

Your profile is the single biggest factor you control. Verify it, then fill in every field Google offers:

• The primary category that best describes your business, plus any secondary ones that genuinely apply
• Opening hours, including holiday hours as they come up
• Services or products, each with a short description
• Real photos of your premises, team and work — not stock images

2. Make your name, address and phone number consistent

Search engines cross-check your details across the web. Write your business name, address and phone number exactly the same way on your website, your profile and every directory you appear in. Small differences — “Street” against “St”, an old phone number — make it harder for Google to be sure the listings are all you.

3. Build pages for the places and services you cover

One page that lists everything you do in every town you serve rarely ranks for any of them. Give each core service its own page, and if you serve several areas, write something specific about each — the jobs you have done there, the questions customers there ask. Thin pages that swap only the town name don't help.

4. Ask for reviews, every time

Reviews influence both ranking and whether people choose you once they see you. The businesses with the most reviews are rarely the best — they are the ones that ask. Make it part of finishing every job:

1. Send the review link the same day, while the experience is fresh
2. Keep the request short and personal
3. Reply to every review, good or bad, within a few days

Local search rewards the businesses that keep showing up: accurate details, fresh photos, and a steady stream of new reviews.

— The Obrofy team

5. Measure what matters

Rankings move every day. What you want to know is whether more people are contacting you. Track calls, direction requests and form enquiries from your profile and your site month over month, and judge each change by those numbers.