Local SEO and Google Business Profile · US and UK
Local SEO is won in the map pack. That is a different job from ranking a website.
I’m Harshal Yadav. I run local search for businesses that serve a place: clinics, contractors, hotels, studios, anyone whose customer types “near me”. The work is the Google Business Profile, the reviews, the citations and the one location page that backs them up.
The audit is a written review of your Business Profile and your map pack position for the searches that matter. No call required, no obligation after it.
Who this is for
Local works when there’s a place and a category.
Google’s map pack rewards three things: relevance to the search, distance from the searcher, and how prominent the business looks. Two of those can be worked on. The third, distance, can’t, which is why I’ll tell you in the audit if your location is the problem.
Take it on when
- Customers come to you or you go to them, within a radius you can name.
- You have a physical address you can verify, or a service area you serve from one.
- You get customers you could ask for a review, and you’re willing to ask.
- You’re in a category where the map pack shows for your main searches. I check this in the audit; it isn’t every category.
Not the right tool when
- You sell nationally or online with no location. That’s the SEO or Google Ads page.
- The business is a virtual office or a PO box. Google removes those profiles, and I won’t build on one.
- You want reviews bought or generated. That gets the profile suspended, and I don’t do it.
- You’re outside the radius of the searches you want. No amount of optimisation moves a pin.
What I check first
Most profiles are losing to a wrong category and an unanswered review.
The checks run in this order because the ones at the top decide whether the ones below can matter. A profile in the wrong category doesn’t show for the search at all, so its reviews and photos are invisible however good they are.
What’s included
The profile, the reviews, the citations, the page.
Local search is maintenance as much as setup. The profile has to keep moving every month or it slides, so the ongoing part is where most of the work is.
SETUP · MONTH 1
Profile rebuild
Primary and secondary categories from what competitors in the map pack use, every service listed with a description, hours, attributes, and a description written to the searches, not to the brand.
SETUP · MONTH 1
Citation cleanup
One correct version of name, address and phone, pushed to the directories that matter in your country and category, and the wrong ones corrected or removed.
SETUP · MONTH 1
Location page
One page on the site with the address, the map, the services, the reviews and the area served, so the profile has something to point at that says the same thing it does.
ONGOING · WEEKLY
Review system
A repeatable way to ask every customer, a reply to every review within two days in your voice, and a written process your staff can run without me.
ONGOING · MONTHLY
Profile activity
Photos, posts, Q&A, and service updates every month, because Google reads a profile that changes as a business that’s open.
ONGOING · MONTHLY
Reporting and a call
One page: map pack position for the five searches from inside the area, calls and direction requests from the profile, reviews gained, against the baseline. And a 30-minute call.
How it starts
Audit first. Always.
The audit is written and free. It tells you your map pack position today for the searches that matter, what the profile is doing wrong, and what I’d change first.
Day 0
You send access
Manager access to the Google Business Profile, or just the business name and city if you’d rather not yet. And the five searches you most want to show for.
Within 3 days
Written audit
The seven checks above, your position for the five searches, and a list of what each finding is costing you.
If it fits
Scope and quote
A one-page scope: the profile changes, the citations to fix, the location page, the review process, and the monthly fee in USD.
Month 1 onward
Rebuild, run, report
Profile and citations in the first three weeks, the review system live by week four, first report against the baseline at the end of month one.
Recent work
One profile, in detail.
[Client name], [category], [city]. A [category] business with a profile in a generic category, [n] reviews with none answered, and a website that pointed the profile at a homepage with no address on it.
Changed the primary category, corrected [n] citations to one version of the details, built a location page, and set up a review request that goes out after every [visit or job]. Replied to every review from the day I started.
The figures on the right are [period] against the [period] before, positions checked from inside the service area.
Pricing
Quoted after the audit, in USD, as a flat monthly fee.
Local search is the least expensive of the three services I offer, because the surface is small and most of the gains come from doing the basics correctly and keeping them that way. The fee is flat and it’s in the scope document before you commit.
Multi-location businesses are quoted per location, with a lower rate from the third one.
As a performance marketing consultant, I’ll also tell you in the audit if the map pack doesn’t show for your searches at all, in which case this is the wrong service and you’d be better on the Google Ads page.
Questions
Asked before most audits.
How fast does local search move?
Faster than website SEO. A category change and a citation cleanup usually show in map pack positions within four to six weeks. The review system compounds from there. Six months is when the profile has a stable position it defends on its own.
Do you get reviews for me?
I build the system that asks for them and I reply to every one. I don’t write them, buy them or generate them, and I’ll walk away from a profile where that’s been done, because it gets suspended and takes the legitimate work with it.
My competitor has a fake address and keywords in their name. What can be done?
Report it through Google’s redressal form with evidence. It’s slow and it works about half the time. I do this as part of the ongoing work because it’s often the only thing standing between a profile and the top three.
Do I need a new website for this?
No. You need one page on the site you have that carries the address, the services and the area. If the site can’t take a new page, I’ll build that one page on a subfolder or tell you honestly that the site is the bottleneck.
Is there a minimum contract?
Three months. The setup takes one, and two more show whether the review system holds. After that it’s month to month, and the profile and the process stay with you if you stop.
Free local audit
Send the business name and city. Get the seven checks back in writing.
Within three working days you’ll have a document showing where the profile stands for the searches that matter, what’s holding it back, and what I’d change first. Yours to use with or without me.
Prefer WhatsApp? Message me directly and I’ll reply the same day.
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