A local SEO checklist you can work through yourself

Local SEO is the work that helps you appear in Google’s map results and in ordinary results for searches like “electrician Stockton” or “dog groomer near me”. It has five parts. Do them in this order, one sitting at a time:

Nothing here guarantees a position in Google. Nobody controls that. What you can control is giving Google accurate, complete and consistent information, and giving customers a reason to pick you.

Your website backs up the profile. Google reads it, and customers check it before they call.

• The first line of the homepage says what you do and for whom, not your company values.
• The areas you cover are written out in words: “Middlesbrough, Stockton and Redcar” beats “the North East”.
• Each main service has its own page, with real detail about that service.
• Every page has its own title that names the service and, where it fits, the place.
• Each page has one main heading that matches what the page is about.
• Your phone number is in the header as a tappable link, not text in an image.
• Your business name, phone number and areas match your Google profile exactly.
• The site loads in a few seconds on a phone on mobile data. Test it yourself.
• You have sent a test enquiry through every form and checked the email arrived.
• Prices, a price range or a starting price are shown for your main services.
• Photos show your real work, not stock images of strangers.
• The copyright year in the footer is current.

One warning: do not create lots of near-identical pages with only the town name changed. They give customers nothing new, and Google’s spam policies describe pages like that as doorway pages. A page for a town is worth having only if it says something genuinely useful about working there.

Google says reviews are one of the things it considers in local ranking, and customers read them closely. Make asking a habit, not a campaign.

• Get the direct review link from your profile and save it on your phone.
• Ask every customer at the moment they are happiest, usually when the job is finished.
• Ask everyone, not only the customers you expect to be happy. Google’s policies do not allow selectively asking for positive reviews.
• Never offer a discount, gift or entry into a draw for a review. That breaks Google’s policies too.
• Reply to every review, good or bad, calmly and briefly. Future customers read the replies.
• Never write reviews for yourself, or ask friends and family to pose as customers.

For more on what affects your position in the map once the basics are in place, read how to rank in Google Maps without a shop.

1. Log in to your Google Business Profile and check the primary category, hours and phone number.
2. Add five recent photos of real work to the profile.
3. Save your review link on your phone and ask your next three customers.
4. Check your website header has a tappable phone number, and send yourself a test enquiry.
5. Search for your business name and note every listing that has an old phone number or address. Fix one a day.

If you would rather hand it over, our local SEO service for Middlesbrough and Teesside covers parts one to three for businesses in Middlesbrough and the towns around it, and our Google Business Profile setup is included in the same £99 setup.