Local SEO basics: how to actually get found on Google

"Local SEO" covers everything that affects whether a nearby customer finds your business on Google before a competitor's. For a local trade or independent shop, it looks nothing like the technical checklist the term brings to mind for a large e-commerce site — it's mostly about being accurately and completely represented in the places Google already trusts.

What actually matters, roughly in order

Relative emphasis based on widely reported local-SEO practice, not a ranking-factor study or a Scoutline measurement. Google has never published exact weightings.

Getting the Business Profile right

This is the single highest-leverage thing a local business can do, and it's free:

• Claim it if nobody has, at business.google.com.
• Match the name, address and phone exactly to what's on the website and anywhere else the business is listed — inconsistent details across the web are a well-documented drag on local ranking.
• Pick the most specific category available, not the closest generic one — "Emergency plumber" over plain "Plumber," if that's genuinely the main service.
• Add real photos regularly — the shopfront, the team, finished work — not stock imagery.
• Keep hours accurate, including holiday hours. Nothing erodes trust faster than a listing that says open when the shutters are down.

Why reviews matter so much

Review count, average rating and how recent they are all factor into local ranking, separately from what they do for a customer's trust once they've found you. A business with genuinely strong, recent reviews and no website is one of the strongest situations to be in — see our guide on what actually counts as having no website for why that combination gets prioritised. Our guide on asking for more reviews properly covers the actual system for building this up.

The on-page basics

Once the profile and reviews are in good shape, a website adds a smaller but real amount on top:

• One clear page per main service, rather than every service crammed onto one page with no heading structure.
• Mention the town or area naturally in the copy — "we cover Dundee and the surrounding area" reads normally and tells Google exactly what "local" is being claimed.
• A working, findable phone number and contact form on every page, not buried on a separate contact page alone.
• A site that loads quickly on a phone — see our guide on page speed and Core Web Vitals for what that actually means and how to check it.

None of this replaces the Business Profile and reviews above — it's what makes the click worthwhile once someone's already found you through them.