Local SEO services for Google Maps and local search

Google ranks local results on three things: how well a profile matches the search, how far the business is from the person searching, and how well known it is: relevance, distance and prominence, in Google's words. Its help pages add that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up, and that a verified profile is more likely to appear. A profile with one broad category, no hours and no photos gives Google little to match, in the map pack or in Google Maps itself.

Google asks that the name on a profile match the real-world name used on your storefront, website and stationery. Its guidelines list service details and location details among the things a name must not contain, so "Your Name Dental Implants Downtown" breaks the rule. Google can suspend profiles that break its guidelines.

An old phone number on a directory, a second spelling of the name on social media, an address that changed two years ago: each one sends a client to the wrong place. Google builds a profile from several sources, your own website among them. We make your site the reference first, then correct the listings around it.

A contact page that lists five addresses gives each profile no page of its own to link to. The opposite mistake carries a risk too: Google's spam policies count pages made for specific cities or regions that funnel visitors to one page as doorway abuse. Each real address needs a page with something of its own on it.

Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking, and that helpful replies show you are responsive. Most businesses receive few reviews because nobody asks. Asking only your happy clients breaks Google's rules, and so does offering a discount for a review.

A plumber or a cleaner who works at the client's place should hide the business address and list a service area. Showing a home address helps no client and sits outside Google's guidelines for service-area businesses.