“SEO” can sound like a dark art, full of jargon and people promising to get you to “number one on Google”. For a local business, though, the basics are fairly straightforward. You want to appear when people in your area search for the thing you do.
Here’s what actually matters, in plain English.
What search engines are trying to work out
When someone searches for “dog groomer near me” or “accountant in [town]”, the search engine is trying to answer three questions:
- Relevance — does this business actually offer what the person is looking for?
- Distance — is it close to the person searching, or to the place they mentioned?
- Prominence — is it well known and well regarded? (Reviews, mentions elsewhere, a solid website.)
You can’t change where your customers are, but you can do a lot about relevance and prominence.
Step 1: Say clearly what you do and where
This sounds obvious, but many small business websites never actually spell it out. If you’re a mobile hairdresser covering three towns, say exactly that, in normal words, on your homepage and service pages.
Avoid stuffing place names everywhere; it reads badly and doesn’t help. A natural mention in your heading, your introduction and your contact section is plenty.
Step 2: Give each main service its own space
If you offer several distinct services, a single sentence listing them all gives search engines very little to go on. A short section or page for each one, explaining what’s involved and who it’s for, makes it much easier to match you with the right searches.
Step 3: Set up and complete your Google Business Profile
Fill in every field: categories, services, hours, photos and description. Link it to your website. Keep it updated. A complete, active listing is one of the strongest local signals you can have.
Tip: choose your primary business category carefully. It has a big influence on which searches you appear for. Pick the one that most precisely describes your main service.
Step 4: Collect reviews steadily
Reviews help with both ranking and trust. The best approach is simple: ask every happy customer, and make it easy by sending them a direct link. A steady trickle of genuine reviews beats a sudden burst followed by silence.
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See what’s included →Step 5: Get the technical basics right
You don’t need to become a developer, but your website should:
- Load quickly, especially on phones
- Work properly on mobile screens
- Use a secure connection (the padlock in the browser)
- Have a sensible page title and description for each page
- Show your contact details as real text, not just inside an image
Step 6: Be consistent everywhere
Your business name, address and phone number should match across your website, your Google listing, social media and any directories you’re in. Small differences can create doubt about which details are correct.
What to be wary of
Be cautious of anyone guaranteeing top rankings, offering to buy you reviews, or promising hundreds of links for a small fee. These shortcuts can do more harm than good. Good local SEO is mostly about being clear, being consistent and doing good work that people talk about.
The bottom line
Local SEO for a small business isn’t a mystery. Describe what you do and where you do it, keep your Google listing complete, collect reviews, and make sure your site works well on a phone. Do those consistently and you’ll be ahead of most of your competitors.