The short answer
Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. You can’t move your shop, but you can make your listings more relevant and your business better known: a complete profile, the same details everywhere, steady reviews, a local website and links from your community.
People search for “café near me”, “plumber Parramatta” or “dentist open now” every day. Local SEO is the work that puts your business in front of them. This guide covers how Google decides who shows up, and the steps that make a difference.
How local rankings work
Google says local results are mainly based on three things:
- Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone searched for.
- Distance: how far you are from the person searching, or where Google thinks they are.
- Prominence: how well known your business is. Google names how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have.
Google also says there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. The steps below are how you earn it.
Get your Business Profile right
Your Google Business Profile is the biggest single thing you control. Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up.
- Choose a primary category that’s as specific as possible, and add only the extra categories that fit.
- Add your services, products and attributes where Google offers them.
- Keep your hours right, including special hours for public holidays.
Read the complete Google Business Profile guide for every field.
Keep your details the same everywhere
Your business name, address and phone number should match on Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Facebook, industry directories and your own website. Mismatched details confuse customers and make it harder to tell which listing is right.
- Fix old addresses and phone numbers wherever they appear.
- Update every listing when something changes.
Earn reviews and reply to them
Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Reviews also help people choose you, and recent ones show customers you’re still active.
- Ask every customer, not just the happy ones.
- Reply to reviews, good and bad. Google says replies show you value feedback and can help you stand out.
Read how to deal with fake reviews on Google for the ones that break the rules.
Make your website local
Your website should make it obvious where you are and what you do there.
- A page for each location, with real local detail rather than the same text with the suburb changed.
- LocalBusiness structured data that matches what’s on the page. Google uses it to understand your details, but doesn’t promise to show it.
- Fast pages that work well on a phone.
Track what changes
Local rankings can differ from one street to the next. Track them by suburb, alongside the calls, direction requests and website clicks in your Business Profile’s Performance report.
- Compare yourself with the businesses near you.
- Look at trends over months, not days.
Read how to measure your Business Profile performance for what each number means.