If you sell services within a geographic radius — clinics, salons, gyms, agencies, builders, restaurants — Local SEO is the single highest-leverage marketing channel you can invest in. Done right, it prints leads at near-zero variable cost.
The 12-point GBP checklist
- Verified profile with exact business name (no keyword stuffing).
- Primary category that exactly matches your main service.
- All secondary categories that meaningfully describe what you do.
- Detailed service list with descriptions, not just titles.
- Hours, holiday hours, and special hours kept current.
- Photos: exterior, interior, team, work-in-progress — minimum 25.
- Weekly GBP posts (offers, news, photos, events).
- Q&A populated with your own seeded common questions.
- Service-area or address coverage matching reality.
- Booking and call-tracking integrated.
- Reviews: 5+ per month, all responded to within 48 hours.
- Products and menu sections used where relevant.
Beyond GBP — the supporting layer
- Localised landing pages for every service area you serve.
- Schema markup: LocalBusiness, Service, Review, FAQ.
- Citations in the top 25 industry-relevant directories.
- Backlinks from local press, chambers of commerce, partners.
- A review-generation system tied to every customer interaction.
Note — Reviews are the new backlinks. Velocity and recency beat lifetime totals.
The review engine that compounds
We build every client a simple two-step system: (1) automatic text or WhatsApp ask 24 hours after service completion, (2) one-click link to your Google review URL. Conversion to review jumps from 2% to 20%+.
Common pitfalls
- Inconsistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across web mentions.
- Treating GBP as set-and-forget instead of a weekly publishing surface.
- Buying reviews — Google will detect and your ranking will collapse.
- Ignoring negative reviews instead of responding professionally.
Run this checklist on your business this week. If you'd rather we run it for you, we offer a fixed-price local SEO sprint.
