Local SEO Checklist: How to Show Up in Google Maps and the Local Pack

Local SEO is how a business that serves a specific area shows up in Google’s local pack, Google Maps and “near me” searches. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. You can’t move your shop closer to every searcher, so this checklist focuses on what you control: a complete Google Business Profile, consistent contact details everywhere, LocalBusiness schema, genuinely useful location pages, honest reviews, local links and tracking that shows what’s working.

1. Google Business Profile

For most local businesses, the profile drives more calls and visits than the website. Work through it field by field, following Google’s guidelines for representing your business:

• Claim and verify the profile. Google chooses the verification method (video, phone, email or postcard), and an unverified profile has limited visibility.
• Use your real-world business name. “Rivera Plumbing,” not “Rivera Plumbing – Best Emergency Plumber Austin.” Adding keywords to the name violates the guidelines and can get the profile suspended.
• Pick the most specific primary category. “Emergency plumber” or “Pediatric dentist” beats a generic category. Add a few secondary categories only for services you really offer.
• Set your address or service area correctly. If customers don’t visit you, hide the address and define service areas instead of listing a home address.
• Keep hours accurate, including holiday and special hours. Wrong hours lead to bad reviews faster than almost anything else.
• Fill in services, products, attributes and a description (up to 750 characters) that says what you do and where, in plain language.
• Add real photos of your premises, team, vehicles and work, and keep adding them.
• Check the profile monthly. Anyone can suggest edits, and Google sometimes applies them. Make sure nothing has changed without your knowledge.

2. NAP consistency

NAP stands for name, address and phone number. Google cross-checks business information from many sources, so conflicting details weaken its confidence in yours and confuse customers.

• Pick one canonical format and use it everywhere: “Suite 200” or “Ste 200,” not both; one main phone number; the same business name as on your signage.
• Put the NAP on your website as text, typically in the footer and on the contact page, not only inside an image or map embed.
• Update the major listings first after a move or rebrand, then work down the list.

3. LocalBusiness schema

Structured data restates your NAP, hours and location in a format machines can’t misread. Google requires only name and address for LocalBusiness; add the recommended properties that are visible on the page. Use the most specific schema.org subtype you can, such as Plumber, Dentist or Restaurant.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "Rivera Plumbing",
  "url": "https://example.com/austin/",
  "telephone": "+1-512-555-0142",
  "image": "https://example.com/img/rivera-van.jpg",
  "priceRange": "$$",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "1200 E 6th St, Suite 200",
    "addressLocality": "Austin",
    "addressRegion": "TX",
    "postalCode": "78702",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  },
  "geo": {"@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": 30.2638, "longitude": -97.7286},
  "openingHoursSpecification": [{
    "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
    "dayOfWeek": ["Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday"],
    "opens": "07:00",
    "closes": "18:00"
  }],
  "sameAs": ["https://www.facebook.com/riveraplumbingatx"]
}
</script>

With several locations, put one block on each location page with that location’s details, not a list of every branch on the home page. One warning: review stars that a business marks up about itself on its own site aren’t shown by Google, so don’t add an aggregateRating expecting stars. Our schema markup guide covers validation and common errors.

4. Local landing pages

Each physical location deserves its own page, and that page should be useful to someone deciding whether to visit or call:

• Unique, specific content: the address, an embedded map, parking or transit tips, opening hours, the team at that branch, photos of the actual premises and the services offered there.
• A clear title and H1 such as “Emergency Plumber in Austin, TX | Rivera Plumbing,” and a tap-to-call tel: link near the top.
• Local proof: recent projects, real customer quotes (with permission) and local certifications or licenses.
• Internal links from a locations hub and from relevant service pages.

Service-area businesses often create one page per town they serve. That’s fine when each page has something real to say, such as jobs completed there, local regulations or response times. Dozens of near-identical pages with only the city name swapped are what Google’s spam policies call doorway pages, and they tend to drag the whole site down.

5. Reviews: get more, ethically

Review count, rating and recency all feed into prominence, and they heavily influence which business people choose. The ethical way is also the sustainable one:

• Ask every customer, at the moment they’re happiest, with the direct review link from your profile. Google’s tips to get more reviews include short links and QR codes.
• Reply to every review, positive or negative, politely and without revealing private details about the customer.
• Fix the problem behind repeated complaints. Responses help; changing what caused the complaint helps more.

And the things to avoid:

• Buying reviews or swapping reviews with other businesses.
• Review gating: asking only satisfied customers, or screening people first and sending only happy ones to Google. Google’s policies prohibit selectively soliciting positive reviews.
• Incentives such as discounts or prize draws in exchange for reviews.
• Staff or family writing reviews about the business.

Google removes content that breaks its prohibited content policy and can restrict profiles that collect fake reviews. In the US, the FTC’s rule on fake reviews and testimonials, in force since October 2024, also allows civil penalties for buying fake reviews or suppressing negative ones.

6. Local links and mentions

Links and mentions from other local organizations are a strong prominence signal, and they usually bring customers too. Good sources:

• Chambers of commerce, trade associations and business improvement districts.
• Sponsorship of local teams, events, charities or meetups that list their supporters.
• Local news coverage of something genuinely newsworthy: a new location, a community project, local data you’ve gathered.
• Suppliers, partners and manufacturers with “where to buy” or “certified installer” pages.
• Useful local resources you publish yourself, such as a guide to permits in your city, that others want to reference.

Avoid paid link packages and private networks; they violate Google’s spam policies and rarely help a local business for long.

7. Technical basics for local sites

• A fast, mobile-friendly site: most local searches happen on phones, often on the move.
• HTTPS, a clear contact page and indexable location pages (no stray noindex).
• NAP as crawlable text and a tel: link that works on mobile.
• A title and meta description on each location page that names the service and the place.

The free SEO checker covers these on any page in one run, and the mobile-friendly test checks viewport and layout issues.

8. Track your local results

For the profile link, use a URL like https://example.com/austin/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp so profile traffic doesn’t blend into general organic search. Remember that local rankings change with the searcher’s exact location, so a single check from your office says little about what customers across town see.

Generate your LocalBusiness schema

The schema markup generator builds LocalBusiness JSON-LD from a simple form: fill in your name, address, phone, hours and profile links, then copy the script tag into each location page. Afterwards, run the page through the schema validator to confirm the required properties are present and the JSON is valid. The local SEO glossary entry has a short definition to share with your team.