Local SEO

AI tools are now comparing local businesses on price, and some can even fetch prices for the customer. Showing any pricing at all improves your chances of being recommended. If you can't give exact prices, give a guide range or a "from" price. Put your prices on a dedicated pricing page, and repeat them on each service page too. If your website builder or developer can add price information in a format search engines read easily, even better. Hiding your prices means AI may simply recommend someone who doesn't.

Big chains cover everything. You can win by being the specialist. Searches are getting very specific, such as "boiler repair for older homes in Manchester", and AI answers for those searches are much easier to break into. Pick the speciality you're best at and write one long, detailed page about it, covering what you do, who it's for, prices and common questions. Don't create lots of thin, near-identical pages for every variation. One genuinely useful page beats ten weak ones, and won't risk a Google penalty.

It's tempting to chase the latest trick, but getting the basics right is most of the battle in local search. Make sure your main service and your town appear in your web page titles and main headings. Keep your Google Business Profile complete and up to date, with the right categories, opening hours, photos and services. Check that your business name, address and phone number match everywhere they appear online. You'd be surprised how many local businesses miss these simple steps. Fix them before you spend time on anything else.

AI tools often recommend businesses that appear in local roundups, such as "Top 5 plumbers in Bristol" on local news sites, blogs and directories. Big chains rarely bother chasing these, which gives small businesses an opening. Search for "best [your service] in [your town]" and note which articles come up. Contact the writers, offer a reason to include you, such as a speciality or a local story, and make your reviews easy to check. Mentions on other trusted local websites matter more than ever.

AI tools are now pulling local recommendations from community Facebook groups and city or regional subreddits, such as r/london or r/manchester. When someone asks "who's a good electrician near me?", those threads can shape the answer for months. Join the groups where your customers hang out, answer questions helpfully and share genuine expertise. Don't spam links or post fake recommendations, because communities spot it fast and moderators will ban you. Being a trusted local voice is what gets you named.

Google and AI tools look at your social media profiles to understand what you do and check that you’re a real, active business. A business that appears consistently across several platforms looks more trustworthy than one that only has a website.

Set up profiles on the platforms your customers use, such as Facebook, Instagram, X or LinkedIn. Use the same business name, address, phone number and description on every one, and link them to your website.

Then keep them active. Post regularly, share your work and reply to messages. An abandoned profile can do more harm than good.

The above is not easy work and I appreciate it, but it should help in the long run.

Almost everyone has WhatsApp on their phone, and many people, especially younger customers, would much rather send a quick message than pick up the phone. A free WhatsApp Business profile lets them contact you the way they prefer.

Add your opening hours, address, website and a short description, then tell people you’re on WhatsApp. Put it on your website, Google Business Profile, social media and shop window.

You can also send marketing messages when you have a sale or discount on. Just make sure customers have agreed to hear from you first.

An email address like joesplumbing123@gmail.com can make your business look less established, or even like spam. Customers, and the sites you list your business on, are more likely to trust an address that matches your website, like hello@joesplumbing.co.uk.

If you don’t already have a domain name, buy one. It usually costs just a few pounds a year. Then set up an email address on it, either through your domain provider or a service like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Use it everywhere: your Google Business Profile, website, invoices and social media.

This one is super important. Lots of people skip search engines and AI tools altogether and search straight in a map app to find a local business. If you’re not on the map, you don’t exist to them.

Set up a free profile on all three major map platforms: Google Business Profile for Google Maps, Bing Places for Business for Bing Maps, and Apple Business Connect for Apple Maps, which is the default on every iPhone. Bing Places can even import your details straight from your Google profile.

Do whatever it takes to get each profile verified. Unverified listings get less visibility and are easier for other people to change. Once you’re verified, keep every profile complete and active, with photos, opening hours, services and fresh reviews.

Millions of iPhone users find local businesses through Apple Maps, not Google. Apple Maps shows ratings and reviews from other sites, such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, alongside its own ratings. So if you only focus on Google reviews, you could look weak to every iPhone user searching nearby. Search for your type of business on Apple Maps, open a few listings and see which review sites are shown. Then ask happy customers to review you on those sites too, alongside Google. Strong reviews in more places help you get chosen, whichever map your customers use.

AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode don’t just count your stars. They read your reviews to understand what customers really think of you. Fake reviews tend to look alike: short, vague, full of praise and posted in bursts. AI systems are getting better at spotting those patterns, and so are customers. A handful of detailed, genuine reviews that mention real experiences will do far more for you than fifty generic five-star ones. Ask real customers to say what they bought or what you did for them, in their own words.