What is local SEO?

Local SEO is the work that helps your business show up when people nearby search for what you offer. For your barbershop on the high street and its website, cornerchairbarbers.co.uk, that means showing up when someone near the shop searches for "barber" on their phone. Google shows them local results on Search and on Maps, and local SEO is how you earn a place among them. The benefit of local SEO is that you compete with the barbers near you, not with every barbershop in the country.

How Google picks local results

Google says local results are mainly based on three things:

• Relevance: how well your business matches what someone searches for. A complete profile that says you offer haircuts and beard trims helps Google match you to those searches.
• Distance: how far your business is from the person searching. If they don't share their location, Google uses what it knows about where they are.
• Prominence: how well known your business is. Google looks at things like how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have.

You can't change how far you are from the person searching, so local SEO on Google comes down to relevance and prominence. Neither can be bought. Google also says there's no way to pay for a better local ranking, or to request one.

Who local SEO is for

You don't need a physical shop to benefit from local SEO, as long as your customers are in a particular area. Local SEO suits small businesses that serve one area. Examples are a barbershop or salon customers visit, a café, or a plumber or cleaner who travels to customers nearby. It works alongside the rest of your local marketing, such as flyers, local events and partnerships.

If you only sell online across the UK, put your effort into regular SEO instead, which targets searches from anywhere.

How to improve your local SEO

Start with your Google Business Profile, because it's the listing Google shows in the map results. The other local SEO tips below make sure your website and your other listings give the same details and back it up.

Set up your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile puts your address, opening hours, photos and reviews on Google Search and Maps. You can add or claim it at no charge, and you need a Google Account to sign up. If your business has no profile yet:

1. Go to business.google.com/add.
2. Click Add your business to Google.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to add details about your business.
4. Pick how you want to verify the business, then complete the steps on screen.

If an unverified profile for your business already exists, claim it instead:

1. On your computer, open Google Maps.
2. Search for your business's name and city, or find it on the map and select it.
3. Select Claim this business, then Manage now.
4. Choose a verification method and follow what Google asks you to do.

Verifying tells Google that you're allowed to manage the business, which helps it appear in search results. The ways to verify that Google offers you vary with your type of business, what's publicly known about it, your region and your opening hours.

Once your business is verified, it's worth filling in the profile as completely as you can. A complete profile has your full address, your opening hours (special opening hours too), the category that describes your business, and photos of your shop and your work. If you travel to customers and don't serve them at your address, Google asks you to remove the address from your profile and set the area you serve instead. According to Google, a complete, accurate profile has a better chance of appearing in local results for searches in your area.

Keep your name, address and phone number the same everywhere

Use the same name, address and phone number on your profile, your website and the other sites that list you. Google combines the details you give it with information from other sources to help customers decide on a business. When those details don't match, a customer may find an old phone number or go to the wrong address. Check old directory entries and fix any that differ from your profile. Look for small differences too, for example "Corner Chair Barbershop, 12 High St" where your profile says "Corner Chair Barbers, 12 High Street".

Whenever something changes, such as a new phone number or a move, update your profile and website first, then the other listings.

Give your website a local page

Make sure your website says where you are. On cornerchairbarbers.co.uk, you could do that with a contact page. Add a map so people can find the shop: you can embed a Google map straight into the page. Use the words your customers search with, such as "barber" and the name of your town or area, in your page titles and text. Write them the way you'd say them, so they read naturally.

You can also add schema markup to the page. It's a short piece of code that tells Google your business details, such as your opening hours, in a format it reads directly.

Get listed in local directories

A local citation is an online mention of your business's name, address and phone number. Some give your contact details in fixed fields, like your barbershop's social media page or an entry in a local business directory. Others mention you in running text, such as a local blog post that names your shop and its street.

Start with the places your customers actually look, such as Facebook, Apple Business and any directory for your trade or your town. Apple Business is where you put your business on Apple's map. While you're at it, check the listings you already have.

Earn links from local websites

Backlinks are links from other websites to yours, and Google counts them towards how well known your business is. Look for links close to home: a local business association, a school or club you sponsor, or a neighbouring business you work with. Helpful content on your own site gives people a reason to link too. Your barbershop could publish a short guide to looking after hair between cuts, for example.

Collect reviews and reply to them

More reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and they help customers choose you. Ask happy customers for a review before they head out of the door. Your Google Business Profile lets you share a review request link or a QR code, which you could put by the till. Our guide to getting more customer reviews has more ideas.

Reply to reviews, the negative ones too. A reply shows customers that you value their feedback. A helpful answer to a complaint can also tell them you're responsive. You can reply once your business is verified.

Tools that help with local SEO

Once you're listed in several places, local SEO tools can help you keep every listing and review up to date. Uberall is an add-on we offer that helps here: with Uberall, you manage your location listings and your reviews in one place.

Our SEO service can also take the work off your hands. For a business with local customers, our experts optimise both your website and your Google Business Profile for local searches and Google Maps. You get a dedicated expert to work with.

Each month, our SEO experts report on your progress and on what we'll improve next.

Does local SEO cost anything?

It doesn't have to. Adding or claiming your Google Business Profile costs nothing, and so do most of the steps above if you do them yourself. Paid tools and expert help cost extra: with our SEO service, for example, you pay a fixed monthly fee.

Once your profile is verified and your details match everywhere, the ongoing work includes keeping them current and answering your reviews. When you'd like someone to keep that going for you, our SEO experts look after your local search as well.