Local SEO means optimising a business's online presence so that it appears when people nearby search for its services, in Google Maps and in Google's map-based results. The foundation is a complete, verified Google Business Profile, backed by a website with clear information about the area you serve, identical contact details everywhere and genuine reviews from customers.
For a clinic, a car repair shop, a restaurant, a plumbing company or any business that serves customers in a city or region, searches such as “plumber Cluj” or “car repair near me” are often the closest to a buying decision. Below we explain, step by step, what you can do yourself, what is worth delegating and which mistakes can put your profile at risk.
In short
Claim and verify your Google Business Profile, choose the primary category carefully, keep your name, address and phone number identical on your website and in every listing, ask real customers for genuine reviews and reply to them. Your website complements the profile with pages for the services and areas you cover. Results come over time, not overnight.
What local SEO is and how it differs from traditional SEO
Traditional SEO (search engine optimisation) aims to get a site's pages as high as possible in the organic results, wherever the person is searching from. Local SEO adds a geographical dimension: Google tries to show businesses close to the searcher or to the area mentioned in the search.
Google explains in its documentation for businesses that local results depend mainly on three factors: relevance (how well the profile matches what the person is looking for), distance (how close the business is to the search location) and prominence (how well known the business is, including through reviews, links and its online presence in general). You cannot change distance, but relevance and prominence depend largely on you.
- Traditional SEO: content, technical structure, speed, links, for searches with no geographical limit.
- Local SEO: Google Business Profile, consistent contact details, reviews, service pages by area, local signals.
- The two support each other: a well-built site strengthens the local profile, and the profile sends visitors to the site.
How to create and verify your Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the business listing that appears in Google Maps and in the panel on the right of the results. It is created free of charge, from a Google account, on the official Google Business Profile page. Before creating a new one, search for your business in Google Maps: a listing may already exist, created by a customer or by Google, which you can claim.
- Use a business Google account, not an employee's personal account, and add at least one other trusted administrator.
- Enter the business's real name, as it appears on your signage and documents, without keywords or towns added artificially.
- Choose whether you have a location customers visit, whether you travel to customers (service area) or both. Businesses that work only at the customer's premises can hide their address and display the area they serve.
- Complete verification. Google chooses the method available for each profile; it may be, for example, a video recording, a code by phone or email, or a postcard. Follow the instructions you receive exactly.
- Fill in your opening hours, phone number, website, description, services or products, and real photos of the location and the team.
Please note
Do not use virtual addresses, PO boxes or addresses where you do not operate, and do not add keywords to the business name. Google's guidelines prohibit these practices, and the profile can be suspended. Recovering a suspended profile takes time and is not guaranteed.
Which category to choose in Google Business Profile
The primary category is one of the most important settings, because it tells Google what kind of business you are. Choose the category that most precisely describes your main activity, not the most general one. For example, “Dentist” says more than “Medical clinic” for a dental practice.
You can also add secondary categories for important services, but only ones you genuinely offer. Too many unrelated categories dilute the profile. A simple way to choose: search for your service in Google Maps and see which categories similar businesses in the area use, then decide what realistically fits you.
Why NAP consistency matters: name, address, phone
NAP stands for “Name, Address, Phone”, the business's name, address and phone number. These details appear in many places: your website, Google Business Profile, Facebook, business directories, booking platforms or classified ads. When they vary from one place to another, both Google and customers can be confused about which details are correct.
- Write the business name the same way everywhere (the same form, with or without “SRL”, the Romanian equivalent of “Ltd”, but consistently).
- Use the same form of the address: street, number, town, postcode.
- Display the same main phone number on your website and in every listing.
- When you move or change your phone number, update your website and Google profile first, then the other listings.
- Delete or correct any old listings and duplicates you find.
Practical tip
Make a simple list of every place your business appears online and the details shown in each. A check every few months prevents the inconsistencies that build up over time, especially after a move or a change of number.
How to get Google reviews without breaking the rules
Reviews influence both customers' decisions and the business's prominence in Google's eyes. It is allowed, and recommended, to ask your customers for a review, for example through a short link sent once the service is complete or through a QR code displayed at your location.
What is not allowed: fake reviews, written by employees or friends or bought from third parties, and reviews obtained in exchange for discounts, gifts or other benefits. Google's content policies prohibit such practices, and the consequences can include reviews being removed or restrictions on the profile. Selecting only satisfied customers to ask for reviews is not a recommended practice either.
- Ask for the review at the right moment, straight after the customer has received the service.
- Send a direct link to the review form, so that as few steps as possible are needed.
- Reply to all reviews, including negative ones, politely and specifically.
- With a negative review, acknowledge the problem, explain what you have done and offer a contact channel, without the customer's personal details.
- Use Google's tools to report only reviews that genuinely breach the policies, not ones you dislike.
Local pages on your website: what they contain and when they are worth it
The Google profile sends people to your website, and the website must confirm what the profile promises. For a business with a single location, a complete contact page and clear pages for each service, mentioning the area served, are usually enough.
For businesses with several locations or that work in several cities, dedicated pages for each location or area can be useful. Each such page must have real, specific content: the location's address and opening hours, the team, the services available there, directions, real photos. Identical pages where only the city name changes do not help customers and may be treated by Google as low-quality content.
LocalBusiness structured data
Structured data is a small block of code, usually in JSON-LD format, added to the page and invisible to visitors, that describes the business in a language search engines understand easily. For local businesses, the LocalBusiness type from the schema.org vocabulary is used (or a more specific subtype, where one exists), with name, address, phone number, opening hours and a link to the site.
Structured data does not guarantee a better position, but it helps Google interpret the information correctly. It must match exactly what the visitor sees on the page and the details in the profile. You can check the implementation with Google's Rich Results Test tool.
How to measure local SEO results
Without measurement, local SEO becomes a list of good intentions. You do not need expensive tools to begin with: a large part of the data comes free from Google.
- Google Business Profile performance data: how people found you, and how many calls, direction requests and website clicks came from the profile.
- Google Search Console: which searches your site appears for and which pages get clicks.
- A UTM parameter on the website link in your profile, so you can see visits from Google Maps separately in your analytics.
- The number and pace of new reviews, plus the quality of your replies.
- Real enquiries: calls, forms, bookings. In the end, these matter more than rankings.
Rankings in Google Maps vary depending on the exact place the search is made from, so a single check from your own phone does not tell you much. Follow the trend over a few months and compare similar periods, taking your business's seasonality into account.
Common local SEO mistakes
- A profile created and then abandoned: opening hours not updated for holidays, old photos, unanswered questions.
- Several profiles for the same location, or profiles for addresses where there is no real activity.
- Keywords added to the business name.
- A website without a visible address, phone number or service area.
- Reviews requested “in bulk”, from people who were not customers.
- Expecting immediate results: local SEO is ongoing maintenance work, not a one-off setting.
How WEB-AZ helps with local SEO
At WEB-AZ we start from what already exists: your Google profile, your website and your business listings. We check the consistency of your details, the structure of your service and area pages, the structured data and how enquiries are measured. Then we agree together on a realistic list of priorities, which you can implement in-house or with our support. We do not promise guaranteed rankings, because local results also depend on factors no one controls, but we help you get the foundations right.
Next steps