Part of: SEO
Local SEO services
Local SEO helps nearby customers find a business that has a physical place or serves a defined area. It centres on your Google Business Profile, accurate listings, honest reviews and a few well-judged pages. If you sell only online, you probably do not need it, and we will tell you so.
Is this right for you?
Who it is for
Businesses with a shop, showroom or office that customers visit, and firms that travel to customers within a defined area, such as tradespeople, clinics and professional practices.
When it is not
Online-only stores, which rarely need it. Also businesses that serve customers anywhere in the country with no local element, and anyone hoping to appear in towns they have no connection to.
What is included
- A check of your Google Business Profile and how you appear in local results
- Corrections to your name, address and phone details across key listings
- A plan for asking real customers for reviews, and for replying to them
- Location pages only where each one has something genuinely different to say
- Local wording on the pages you already have
- Reporting on calls, direction requests and website visits from local search
Who needs local SEO, and who does not
This is the part many agencies skip, so we will be direct.
You probably need it if:
- customers visit a shop, showroom, clinic or office
- you travel to customers within a defined area
- people search for what you do with a place name or “near me”
- a map of nearby businesses appears when you search for your own services
You probably do not need it if:
- you sell only online and ship nationwide
- your customers do not care where you are
- you have no physical presence and no area you serve
A business with one shop and an online store sits in between. The shop benefits from local work, and the online store is better served by SEO for ecommerce. We would look at both, and tell you which deserves the effort.
What the work involves
Your Google Business Profile
For most local businesses, this free listing is the most important local asset. We check that your category, opening hours, services, photos and description are accurate and complete, and that the listing is yours to control.
Consistent details across the web
Your business name, address and phone number should be the same wherever they appear, such as directories and industry listings. Small differences confuse people and can confuse search engines. We find and correct the ones that matter. We do not pay for hundreds of low-quality directory entries.
Reviews
Reviews help people choose between businesses, and local results show them prominently. We help you ask customers politely, at the right moment, and reply to every review, including the poor ones. We do not write reviews, buy them or filter who is allowed to leave one. Google’s rules also ban offering incentives for reviews and asking only happy customers.
Location and service-area pages
A page for a real location, with its own address, team, photos and local detail, is worth having. A page for every town you might serve, with the town name swapped in, usually is not. We build pages only where each one can be genuinely useful. If you serve many areas, we will often suggest one strong service-area page instead.
Your website
Local search also looks at your site. Your address and services should be clear, your pages quick on a phone and your contact details easy to tap. If you are a professional practice, our professional service websites work builds this in from the start. For sites that exist to generate enquiries, see lead-gen websites.
Local search and AI answers
People increasingly ask AI tools and search summaries for local recommendations, such as “a good plumber in Leeds”. Accurate, consistent business details and honest reviews probably help there too, but the evidence on exactly how those answers are chosen is thin. Our page on AEO explains what is known and what is not.
What we measure
- calls, direction requests and website visits from your Business Profile
- how you appear for a short list of local searches we agree with you
- the number and average rating of new reviews, and how quickly you reply
- enquiries that mention finding you through local search, which we ask you to record
Business Profile figures are limited, and local results vary with where the searcher is standing. We say so in the report. We do not promise rankings in local results.
How we do it
Every project is different, so timings depend on its size and complexity. You get a realistic timeline in writing before work starts, and we never promise results by a date.
Step 1: Check the basics
We look at how you appear when someone nearby searches, and note anything wrong, missing or out of date.
Step 2: Fix your profile and listings
We tidy your Business Profile and make your details the same everywhere they appear.
Step 3: Build reviews the honest way
We set up a simple, polite way to ask real customers for feedback, and a way to reply to it.
Step 4: Add pages that earn their place
We write a location or service-area page only where there is a real, distinct reason to have one.
Step 5: Report
We report on what local search brought you, and say where the figures are incomplete.
What it costs
Retainers start from £500 per month and cover our services only. They do not include your ad spend, or any software or other subscription costs. One-off optimisation projects are priced by current need or an agreed hourly rate. Our pricing page has the detail.
Questions people ask
Do I need local SEO if I only sell online?
Usually not. Local SEO is for businesses where location matters to the customer, because they visit you or you visit them. A store that ships nationwide gains little from it, and we will tell you if that is you.
What is a Google Business Profile?
It is the free listing that can appear on Google Search and Maps with your address, opening hours, photos and reviews. It's called Google Business Profile, and you manage it from Google Search, Maps or the Business Profile Manager.
Can you get me to the top of the map results?
No, and nobody honestly can. Local results depend on relevance, distance and how well known you are, and the searcher's own location matters a great deal. We can make sure you are eligible, accurate and worth choosing.
Should I have a page for every town I serve?
Only if each page has something real and different to say, such as local projects, a real address or local staff. Near-identical pages with the town name swapped are the kind of thin content search engines tend to ignore, and they can weigh down the wider site.
Can you buy or write reviews for me?
No. Fake or bought reviews break platform rules and mislead customers. We help you ask real customers for honest feedback and reply to it well. Google also bans offering incentives for reviews and only asking happy customers.
Can I hide my home address?
Often, if you work at customers' premises and do not welcome visitors. The rules are specific, so we check them with you. Google asks businesses that serve customers at their premises, and don't welcome visitors, to hide their address and set a service area instead.
Ready to talk it through?
Get a free, top-level audit of your website for SEO, your ad account for PPC or your analytics account. A subject matter expert at Advent reviews it, and we aim to send it within 5 working days of receiving access.