Local Search: The Basics

Local results are assembled from more than your website. Search engines cross-reference your own pages, your business profile, directory listings and review platforms, and they favour businesses whose details agree across all of them.

Start with NAP consistency

NAP is name, address and phone number. The goal is that these are byte-for-byte identical everywhere they appear. Inconsistencies that look trivial to a person — "Suite 4" versus "Ste 4", an old phone number on a directory you forgot about — make it harder for a search engine to be confident two listings describe the same business.

1. Decide the canonical form

   Write your name, address and phone exactly once, in the format you will use everywhere. Include or omit the legal suffix consistently.

2. Audit where you already appear

   Search your business name, your phone number and your address. Old listings from a previous address are the usual source of conflict.

3. Correct or claim

   Claim what you can and correct the rest. Duplicates should be merged or removed rather than left to contradict each other.

Citations worth having

A citation is any mention of your business details on another site. Quality matters more than quantity, and the useful ones fall into three groups:

• The major platforms — the mapping and review services people actually use in your area.
• Industry directories — trade bodies, licensing registers, and sector-specific listings relevant to what you do.
• Genuinely local sources — community organisations, local sponsorships and local press, which tend to carry more weight than generic national directories.

Bulk submission to hundreds of low-quality directories is largely spent effort. A smaller set of accurate, relevant listings is more useful than a long list of thin ones.

What your website needs

A real location page

For each physical location: the full address as text rather than only inside an image or map, the phone number as text, opening hours, an embedded map, parking and access notes, and something specific about that location. Thin pages that differ only by a swapped city name are treated as low-value, and templated city pages for places you do not operate in are worse than having none.

Service pages that match how people ask

One page per service, described in the words customers use rather than internal terminology. If you serve several towns genuinely, a page per town is defensible only when each page says something true and specific about working there.

Structured data

LocalBusiness schema markup lets you state your name, address, phone, hours and geographic coordinates in a machine-readable form. It does not create a ranking boost by itself; it removes ambiguity, which is the point. Keep it consistent with your visible page content — markup that contradicts the page is a problem rather than a help.

The basics that apply everywhere

• Pages that load quickly on a phone on a mobile connection.
• A descriptive title and meta description per page, written for a person.
• Tappable phone links, so a number on a phone dials.
• Working HTTPS, and one canonical version of the site rather than several.

Reviews as a ranking and conversion input

Volume, recency and rating all feed local prominence, and reviews are often the deciding factor once a customer is choosing between two similar options. A steady trickle is more useful than an occasional burst, which can look inorganic.

Ask everyone rather than only the customers you expect to be positive — selective solicitation breaches most platforms' policies. See setting up a Google Business Profile for the specifics.

What to measure

Questions owners ask