Local SEO guide: get found by people searching nearby.

What local SEO is and why it matters to you

When someone searches “plumber Bassano” or “restaurant near me”, Google shows different results from a generic search: maps, business profiles, reviews. Local SEO is the set of techniques that get you into these results, in front of customers in your area at the very moment they’re looking for you.

For a business working locally — a shop, a professional firm, a tradesperson — local SEO is often worth more than traditional SEO: it catches nearby people, ready to buy or call.

Google Business Profile: your shopfront on Google

The Google Business Profile is free and is probably the most powerful tool for local visibility. It’s the box that appears on the side or on maps with hours, photos, reviews and a call button. Filling it in well and keeping it updated is the first step, even before the website.

Right category, well-written description, real and updated photos, correct hours, services listed: every completed field is a signal that helps Google show you to the right people. A neglected profile is a gift handed to competitors.

Reviews: the currency of trust

Reviews don’t just look good: they directly influence local ranking and people’s decisions. A business with fifty recent reviews and a thoughtful reply to each conveys reliability and is rewarded by Google.

Asking satisfied customers for reviews isn’t embarrassing, it’s normal: just do it at the right moment and make it easy. And replying to all of them — even negative ones, politely — shows there’s someone who cares behind the business.

Data consistency: name, address, phone

Google trusts businesses whose details are consistent wherever they appear: same name, same address, same phone number on the site, Google profile, social media, directories. Small inconsistencies — an abbreviated street here, an old number there — confuse search engines and weaken ranking.

Tidying up this information, on the site and on the main directories, is unglamorous but highly effective work.

Area pages on the site

If you serve several towns, it makes sense to have pages dedicated to each area: not identical copies, but pages with real content about that area, its needs, your services there. These pages are what make you appear when someone searches for your service in a specific town.

Be careful though: pages built only for search engines, with no value for the reader, are now penalised. An area page works when it’s genuinely useful to whoever finds it.

Getting found by AI too

More and more people don’t search on Google but ask ChatGPT or other AI assistants for advice on a business. Appearing in these answers is the new frontier: it depends on data consistency, online reputation and clear content that AI can read and cite.

Those who look after their local presence well today find themselves at an advantage on this front too, almost without realising it.

Measuring and improving over time

Local SEO isn’t a switch you flip: it’s a journey. You look at the Google profile data (how many people find you, how many call, how many ask for directions), watch your ranking on the searches that matter, and adjust. Month after month, results grow.

No tricks or shortcuts needed: just method, consistency and real content. It’s an investment that keeps paying off over time, unlike advertising that stops the moment you stop paying.