“We are not in Google” rarely means the site is missing from the index. It means that for a query with a town name, someone else appears. Local results follow their own rules: distance, relevance to the query and business credibility — not the number of subpages or the age of the domain.
Three pillars of local visibility
Local visibility stands on three legs. Each one alone achieves little — together they produce a result.
| Pillar | What it covers | How fast it works |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Categories, service area, hours, photos, description, reviews, posts | Weeks — the fastest effect |
| Website | Technical quality, service structure, local content, contact details, structured data | One to three months |
| Consistent data across the web | The same name, address and phone in directories, maps and social profiles | Months, but long-lasting |
Start with the words your customers actually use
Do not guess. Write down your services the way a customer names them, not the way your price list does. “Laptop repair” rather than “mobile device servicing”. Add the town to each one and check what the search box suggests and what appears under related searches.
A good list has three layers: core phrases (“IT support Nysa”), problem phrases (“computer will not turn on”) and decision phrases (“how much does a laptop repair cost”). The first bring traffic, the second build trust, the third bring calls.
How many phrases per page?
One intent, one page. If a single page tries to serve computer repairs, camera installations and web design, none of those phrases will match strongly. Separate the services and connect them with links instead of building one page about everything.
Town pages — when they help and when they hurt
A separate page for a town makes sense when you genuinely work there and can write something concrete: what travel looks like, which requests dominate, what is specific about the local market. Such a page then answers the query better than a generic one.
It hurts when pages are produced in bulk: the same text with a swapped town name, copied across dozens of addresses. Google calls these doorway pages and treats them as a violation — you risk not only zero effect but a worse assessment of the whole domain.
The technical basics content cannot work without
- The site loads fast on a phone — that is where most local traffic lands.
- Every page has its own title and description starting with the phrase, not the company name.
- The canonical address points to itself, not to the home page.
- Structured data describes the business, the service and the service area.
- The phone number is clickable and the form works without JavaScript.
- The site is in Search Console with a submitted sitemap.
Reviews: the most underrated element
Reviews influence local rankings and decide whether someone clicks. Do not buy them and do not ask your family — Google filters such patterns. Something simpler works better: after finishing a job, send a short message with a direct review link. Reply to every review, including critical ones — the reply is read by the next customer, not by its author.
How to measure whether it works
Positions checked by hand in a browser are not a measure — results are personalised and location-dependent. Two free tools give reliable data:
- Search Console — impressions, clicks and average position for specific queries.
- Business profile insights — how many people called, requested directions and visited the website from the map.
A realistic horizon is three to six months. The first month usually shows technical fixes, the second rising impressions, and only later clicks and calls.
The most common mistakes I see in local businesses
- No business profile, or a profile without categories and a service area.
- One phone number on the site, another in the profile, a third in directories.
- A site built entirely from images — there is nothing for a search engine to read.
- A single “Services” page instead of one page per service.
- The town name stuffed into every paragraph — readers notice and search engines do not reward it.
- No Search Console, so nobody knows which queries the site appears for.
Local SEO is not a trick but an order of operations: a correct business profile, a clear website with one intent per page, consistent data and patience measured in months. To see where you stand today, start with a visibility audit.