Local SEO is just this: when someone nearby searches for what you do, you show up. No jargon required. Here's how it actually works and what to do about it, in the order that matters.
The two places you can show up
Search 'electrician near me' and the results have two zones. The map pack: the map with three businesses pinned under it. Driven mostly by your Google Business Profile, proximity and reviews. The organic results: the normal links below. Driven mostly by your website. Winning local search means working both zones, and they reinforce each other.
1. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile
Free, and the single highest-leverage hour you'll spend: claim the profile, pick accurate categories, set service areas and hours, add real photos (your van, your team, your work, not stock), and keep it active. An incomplete profile tells Google you might not be a going concern.
2. Think in keywords. The way customers actually search
Keywords aren't mystical; they're the words customers type. Nobody searches 'premier residential plumbing solutions'. They search 'boiler replacement [town]'. Your website should have a page for each main service and each main area you serve, using those plain words in the page title, the headline and the text. That's the core of on-page local SEO, and it's exactly what's built into our managed websites.
3. Citations: make sure the internet agrees about you
A citation is any mention of your business name, address and phone number. Yell, Checkatrade, Trustpilot, trade directories, Apple Maps. Google cross-checks them. If your old address or a dead phone number is floating around, the mismatch erodes trust. Pick one exact format for your name, address and phone, and make every listing match it.
4. Reviews: the tiebreaker
When three businesses look similar, reviews decide. Two things matter: a steady flow of recent reviews, and owner replies that show a human is home. The businesses that win here aren't luckier. They simply ask every happy customer, every time, usually with an automated text or email after the job. That consistency is hard to sustain manually, which is why review automation is included in our packages. The asking happens automatically, and no happy customer slips through.
5. The website underneath it all
Everything above works dramatically better anchored to a fast, mobile-friendly website with your services, areas and contact details clearly laid out. The profile gets you seen; the site convinces and converts. Do the five things on this page in order and you're ahead of most local competitors, or have us do the website part for you.
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We design, build, host and update websites for local businesses, from £99/month plus a small one-off design fee (see pricing). US business? See our US plans.
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