Local SEO · being found nearby
«A competitor is above us and nobody can tell me why»
Found across the area you work in
Most local businesses are visible on their own street and invisible three miles away. That gap is not luck — it is a set of signals, and it can be worked on.
- 63,6%of people read reviews on Google before visiting — more often than anywhere elseBrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey
- 68,7%of all clicks go to the top three: 39.8 · 18.7 · 10.2 per centBacklinko, analysis of 4m search results
- 0,63%of clicks reach the second page. Almost nobody scrolls past the firstBacklinko, analysis of 4m search results
Local SEO is the work that decides whether Google shows your business to someone searching nearby — and how far from your door it is willing to show you. It is not the same as ranking a website: a page can rank nationally while the listing it belongs to is invisible two streets away.
Where they search from
Your position changes with the spot they are standing on
There is no single «position» in Maps. Google answers from where the person is, so the same business is first on one street and nowhere on the next. The grid below is how we measure that — one check per point, across the area you actually serve.
- 01 · 01We put a grid over the area you work in
- 02 · 02Each point is a real search made from that spot
- 03 · 03The darker the point, the higher you appear from it
3
45
Visible around the address and nowhere else — the usual starting picture for a business with no shopfront.
18
+15
The dark area has spread outwards. The same business, found from further away.
Darker means higher in the results from that point
Check it yourself
Three things you can look at today
None of this needs us. If all three look right, the problem is somewhere else and we will say so.
- 01
01
Search for your main service plus your town, from a phone, while standing somewhere you actually work — not at the office. See whether you appear at all.
Where to lookGoogle Maps on a phone, not a desktop browser
- 02
02
Open your profile and read the primary category. It sets the ceiling on which searches you can appear in — and it is the field found wrong most often.
Where to lookBusiness Profile → Edit profile → Category
- 03
03
Check the service area. For a business without a shopfront this is most of the job, and it is usually set once and forgotten.
Where to lookBusiness Profile → Edit profile → Service area
If any of the three is wrong, fixing it changes more than anything else on this page.
3 of 3
how many signals should point your way before the top three is yours
How they get to you
Three steps, and you are only visible in one of them
The search happens without you. By the time somebody is choosing, most of the decision has already been made by things that were set weeks ago.
- 01
01
Someone needs the job done and searches from where they are — usually on a phone, usually with «near me» or a town in the query.
- 02
02
Google answers with a short list. Which businesses go into that list is decided by distance, the profile itself, and how the rest of the web talks about you.
- 03
03
They pick from that list in about ten seconds: reviews, photos, whether you are open. If you were not in the list, none of that happened.
What decides it
Six things that move you up, and one that doesn't
In roughly the order they matter for a business without a shopfront.
The one nobody controls. Everything else on this list exists to widen the distance at which Google still finds you worth showing.
Sets which searches you can appear in at all. Secondary categories widen it; the primary one is the ceiling.
For a business working out of a van this is most of the job — and it is the field most often set once and never looked at again.
All three count, and the third is the one businesses skip. An unanswered bad review costs more than the review itself.
Name, address and phone matching everywhere they appear. Google compares, and disagreement quietly costs you.
Photos and posts added on a schedule. A profile that has not been touched in a year reads as a business that might not be there.
And the one that doesn't: paying Google. Ads and Maps positions are separate systems — spending on one does not move the other.
The work
What we actually do each month
Three areas, and the same core list every month underneath them.
- 01
The profile
Categories, service area, services, hours, photos, posts. The things Google reads first and most owners set once.
- 02
Reviews
Getting them asked for properly, and answered — including the bad ones, which is where most businesses go quiet.
- 03
The rest of the web
Directories and listings that mention you. Google compares what they say with what your profile says.
Included in every engagement
- Check the profile against Google's current rules
- Watch for edits Google or strangers make on their own
- Categories and services reviewed against what people search
- Service area checked against where the work actually comes from
- Photos added, not dumped in a batch once a year
- Posts on a schedule
- Reviews answered within the week
- Listings elsewhere kept saying the same thing
- A grid measurement of where you are visible from
weekly
the work is steady, not a rush the day before the report
What a month looks like
Work every week, not a rush before the report
The calendar below is a normal month. The darker the day, the more happened on it.
- Week 1Audit and the fixes that come out of it
- Week 2Photos, posts, reviews answered
- Week 3Listings elsewhere, and the grid measurement
- Week 4Report, and the plan for next month
- Reviews and questions
- Content: posts, photos
- Measurement and report
What the report shows
Movement on every search term
Not «things improved». Where you started on each term, and where you were six months later.
The top three — the short list a person actually sees in Maps
- Rehabilitation centre207+65%
- Ultrasound278+70%
- Medical centre129+25%
- Physiotherapy1815+17%
- Vaccination3116+48%
- Cardiologist2820+29%
- Endocrinologist2621+19%
- Rehabilitation3326+21%
What a place higher up actually buys
Every step up is views from people who did not see you before. Behind the views come the actions Google counts separately:
- Viewsthe profile is put in front of more people in the area
- Directionssomebody routes to you straight from the listing
- Callspresses call without opening the site at all
- Clicksopens the site to check services and prices
Questions
What people ask about being found nearby
Not covered here? Email us and we'll answer in plain words.
How is this different from managing my profile?
Profile work happens inside the listing: data, photos, posts, reviews. Local SEO is wider — it adds the rest of the web and how far from your door you appear. The profile is always needed; this matters once there is someone to compete with.
Can you guarantee I'll be in the top three?
No, and we would be careful with anyone who does. There is no single position: what a person sees depends on where they are standing. What we can show is whether the area you are visible from is getting wider.
How long before anything changes?
Profile changes show within a couple of weeks. The visible area widens over months, not days. If you need work next week, ads are the honest answer and we will say so.
I have no shopfront. Does this still apply?
More than it does for shops. Without an address customers can visit, the service area and the profile carry almost all of it — and that is also why businesses like yours get suspended more often.
What will the report show?
Position on each term you care about, the area you are visible from, and the actions that came out of it: calls, direction requests, clicks. Not impressions.
Do I have to sign for a year?
No. Monthly, with a month's notice to stop. The profile and every account stay in your name throughout.
Other services
Being found is one part of it
Getting into the list is this page. Being chosen once you are in it, and being there while the list fills up, are two other jobs.
- «The listing is there, but it brings nothing»Google Business ProfileSet-up, everyday upkeep, suspensions and ownership. The profile most local customers see before they see anything else.
- «We ran ads. Nothing came of it»Google AdsCampaigns built around the jobs you want, with the money going where enquiries come from.
- «It looks good inside, and nobody can tell»Virtual tours360° tours published to Google and embedded on your site. This one needs someone with a camera in the room — see the page.
- «The site exists, but nobody finds it»Website SEOPages that answer the searches your customers actually type, and the technical work that lets Google read them.
- «We had a site built and it earns nothing»WebsitesSites built around the enquiry, not the slideshow. Including looking after them once they are live.
Next step
Tell us about your business
Leave your details, or just email us. We will look at your listing in Google and say what would make a difference and what is not worth paying for.
Email us- [email protected]
- Phone
- +38 (063) 066-00-96
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