Local SEO

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Google Business Profile (GBP) Optimization

Google Business Profile is the most important factor for local pack rankings.

Required fields

Field	Best Practice
Business name	Exact legal name (no keyword stuffing)
Primary category	Most specific category that fits
Address	Exact match to website and all citations
Phone	Local number (not toll-free) with area code
Website URL	Link to location-specific landing page
Hours	Accurate, including holiday hours

Optimization fields

Field	Best Practice
Secondary categories	Add all relevant categories (up to 9 additional)
Business description	750 chars max; include primary services and location keywords naturally
Services/Products	List all services with descriptions
Attributes	Complete all relevant attributes (wheelchair accessible, Wi-Fi, etc.)
Photos	Minimum 10 quality photos (exterior, interior, team, products/services)
Logo	Square logo, clear at small sizes
Cover photo	Represents the business, 1080x608px

GBP Posts

• Post weekly at minimum (shows Google the profile is active)
• Types: Updates, Offers, Events
• Include a CTA button (Learn More, Book, Call)
• Add a photo to every post
• Keep text under 300 words (first 100 words visible without clicking)

Q&A Section

• Seed with your own frequently asked questions
• Answer all questions promptly (within 24 hours)
• Include relevant keywords naturally in answers

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NAP Consistency

NAP = Name, Address, Phone number. Must be identical everywhere.

Why it matters

Google cross-references your business information across the web. Inconsistencies reduce trust and hurt local rankings.

Common inconsistencies

Problem	Example
Name variations	"Bob's Pizza" vs "Bob's Pizza Inc." vs "Bobs Pizza"
Address format	"123 Main St" vs "123 Main Street" vs "123 Main St, Suite 200"
Phone format	"(512) 555-0123" vs "512-555-0123" vs "5125550123"
Old address	Previous location still listed on old citations
Old phone	Changed number but old one still appears

Fix workflow

1. Choose ONE canonical format for Name, Address, and Phone
2. Update Google Business Profile first
3. Update your website (header, footer, contact page)
4. Update top citation sources (Yelp, Facebook, Apple Maps, Bing Places)
5. Use a citation audit service or manually check top 50 sources
6. Set up monitoring for new inconsistencies

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Local Citation Building

Citations are online mentions of your NAP — even without a link.

Tier 1: Must-Have Citations (Do first)

Source	Authority	Notes
Google Business Profile	Critical	Primary listing
Apple Maps / Apple Business Connect	High	iOS Maps + Siri
Bing Places	High	Microsoft ecosystem
Facebook Business Page	High	Social + local search
Yelp	High	Major review platform
Yellow Pages / YP.com	Medium	Still used by Google
Better Business Bureau	Medium	Trust signal
Foursquare	Medium	Powers many apps

Tier 2: Data Aggregators

Submit to these to propagate to hundreds of smaller directories:

• Data Axle (formerly Infogroup)
• Neustar Localeze
• Factual (Foursquare)

Tier 3: Industry-Specific Directories

Industry	Top Citations
Healthcare	Healthgrades, Zocdoc, Vitals, WebMD
Legal	Avvo, FindLaw, Justia, Martindale-Hubbell
Restaurants	TripAdvisor, OpenTable, Zomato, DoorDash
Home Services	Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Houzz
Automotive	Cars.com, AutoTrader, CarGurus, DealerRater
Real Estate	Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, Trulia
Hotels	Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Hotels.com, Expedia

See CITATION_SOURCES.md for the complete list of 50+ sources.

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Local Keyword Research

Keyword patterns for local SEO

Pattern	Example
[service] + [city]	"plumber austin"
[service] + near me	"plumber near me"
[service] + [neighborhood]	"plumber south austin"
best + [service] + [city]	"best plumber in austin"
[service] + [city] + [qualifier]	"emergency plumber austin tx"
[service] + reviews	"plumber reviews austin"
[service] + cost/price + [city]	"plumber cost austin"

Local keyword research process

1. List all services offered
2. List all service areas (city, neighborhoods, suburbs, zip codes)
3. Create combinations: service + location
4. Add modifiers: best, cheap, emergency, 24/7, near me, reviews
5. Mine Google autocomplete for local variations
6. Check "People Also Ask" for local question keywords
7. Analyze competitor keywords with research_keywords (if API available)

MCP Tool: Use research_keywords with location parameter for local search volume data.

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Local Landing Pages

For businesses serving multiple areas, create dedicated landing pages per location/service area.

Structure for location pages

/locations/                      (Store locator / all locations)
/locations/austin-tx/            (City landing page)
/locations/austin-tx/south-austin/ (Neighborhood page, if sufficient demand)

Required elements per location page

• H1: [Service] in [Location] (e.g., "Emergency Plumber in Austin, TX")
• Unique content: 500-1,000 words specific to that location
• NAP: Full name, address, phone for that location
• Embedded Google Map: Centered on the business location
• LocalBusiness schema: JSON-LD with location-specific data
• Customer reviews/testimonials: From customers in that area
• Service area description: Neighborhoods, landmarks served
• Photos: Location-specific images (storefront, team, local landmarks)
• CTA: Location-specific call-to-action ("Call our Austin office")

Avoid

• Duplicate content across location pages (each must be unique)
• Doorway pages (thin content with only city name swapped)
• Creating pages for areas you don't actually serve
• Keyword-stuffing the city/neighborhood name

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Review Management

Reviews are a top-3 local ranking factor.

Review generation strategy

1. Ask happy customers for reviews at the right moment (after service completion)
2. Make it easy: provide a direct link to your Google review form
3. Train staff to ask in person
4. Send follow-up emails/texts with review link (1-3 days after service)
5. Never incentivize reviews (violates Google guidelines)
6. Never buy fake reviews (Google can detect and penalize)

Review response templates

Positive review response:

Thank you for the kind words, [Name]! We're glad we could help with [specific service].
We appreciate you choosing [Business Name] and look forward to serving you again.

Negative review response:

[Name], thank you for your feedback. We're sorry to hear about your experience with
[specific issue]. We take this seriously and would like to make it right. Please contact
us at [phone/email] so we can address this directly.

Review signals that impact rankings

Factor	Impact
Overall star rating	High — 4.0+ preferred
Review count	High — more reviews = stronger signal
Review velocity	Medium — steady stream better than bursts
Review recency	Medium — recent reviews weighted more
Review diversity	Medium — reviews from different platforms
Owner response rate	Medium — respond to all reviews
Keywords in reviews	Low-Medium — organic mentions of services help

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Local Pack Ranking Factors

The local pack (3-pack) shows for local intent queries. Key ranking factors:

Top factors (in approximate order of importance)

1. Google Business Profile signals — primary category, completeness, keywords in description
2. Proximity — distance from searcher to business location
3. Review signals — rating, count, velocity, keywords
4. On-page signals — NAP on website, local keywords, location pages
5. Citation signals — NAP consistency, citation volume, quality
6. Link signals — local links, domain authority, link diversity
7. Behavioral signals — click-through rate, mobile clicks-to-call, driving directions requests
8. Personalization — user's search history and location

What you can control

• GBP optimization (fields, categories, posts, photos)
• Review generation and response
• NAP consistency across citations
• Local landing page quality
• Local link building
• Website technical health

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Multi-Location SEO

Architecture for multi-location businesses

example.com/                            (Homepage)
example.com/locations/                  (Store locator with map)
example.com/locations/austin-tx/        (Location page)
example.com/locations/dallas-tx/        (Location page)
example.com/locations/houston-tx/       (Location page)

Key rules

• Separate GBP profile for each physical location
• Unique landing page per location with unique content
• Location-specific LocalBusiness schema on each page
• Unique phone number per location (helps with tracking and citations)
• Consistent NAP per location across all citations
• Avoid cannibalization between location pages (different target keywords)

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Related Skills

• seo-on-page-optimization — on-page elements for location pages
• seo-schema-structured-data — LocalBusiness schema markup
• seo-content-strategy — local content planning

Key MCP Tools for Local SEO

Tool	Use For
analyze_page	Audit location landing pages
extract_schema	Validate LocalBusiness schema
generate_schema	Generate LocalBusiness JSON-LD
research_keywords	Local keyword research with location targeting

See GBP_OPTIMIZATION_CHECKLIST.md for field-by-field GBP guide. See LOCAL_SCHEMA_TEMPLATES.md for LocalBusiness schema templates. See CITATION_SOURCES.md for the complete citation source list.