When customers search in your city
Local SEO means adjusting your website and Google Business Profile so Google shows you to people looking for your services in your city or nearby. These are searches with a city or district name, or with "near me".
For small and medium businesses it is often the fastest way to customers from Google. Competition is lower than for nationwide searches, and whoever types "accountant trnava" already knows what they want.
Where local results show up
For local searches Google usually shows a map with three businesses first and regular results below it. You get into the map through your Google Business Profile and into the regular results through your website. It pays to work on both at once, because Google compares the details in your profile and on your website.
How Google picks local businesses
Google says it looks at three things for local results. You cannot change distance, but you can work on the other two.
How Google ranks local businesses
- Relevance
- How well your profile and website match what the person is looking for. The right category, a description of your services and the text on your website all help.
- Distance
- How far you are from the person searching, or from the city they typed.
- Prominence
- How well known the business is. Reviews, mentions on other websites, backlinks and the strength of your website all count.
Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile (once called Google My Business) is the foundation of local SEO. It is free, and without it you will not get into the map.
What to set up in your profile
- Primary category
- The most important setting in the whole profile. Pick the most precise one, for example "Accountant" rather than "Consulting".
- Address or service area
- If customers come to you, list your premises. If you go to them or work online, hide the address and set the cities you serve.
- Services and description
- Say specifically what you do and where. Use the words your customers use.
- Photos and opening hours
- People are more likely to click a profile that looks alive and up to date.
- Reviews
- Ask for them regularly and reply to all of them, including the bad ones.
Do not use a virtual office or any place where you do not actually receive customers as your address. Google suspends profiles for it.
Local SEO on your website
The profile alone is not enough. Google checks whether your website says the same as your profile. And the website is what brings you the regular results below the map.
What to fix on your website
- City in titles and headings
- Where it makes sense. "Hairdresser Ruzinov" tells Google more than "Welcome to our website".
- Consistent contact details
- Write your name, phone and city the same way everywhere: on your website, in your profile and in directories.
- Structured data
- LocalBusiness with your city, contact details and opening hours.
- City pages
- Only make them when you have something to say about each city. Google ignores pages where only the city name changes.
- Mobile speed
- Local searches happen mostly on phones, often on the way somewhere.
Reviews, directories and mentions
Google also judges how well known a business is by what others say about it. Reviews on your profile help, as do listings in directories such as Zoznam.sk or Firmy.sk, articles in local media and links from partners and regional websites.
Your details need to match everywhere. When a business has three different phone numbers in three directories, Google does not know which one to trust.
Bought reviews and mass submissions to hundreds of dubious directories are more likely to hurt you.
Case study: Gymfinder
We tried everything on this page on our own project. Gymfinder is a database of gyms. At first it had pages for only 8 cities and Google barely saw it. Now every city has its own page with real gyms, and Google treats them as useful content.
Local SEO in Bratislava
We are from Bratislava, so with Bratislava businesses we can meet in person and go through everything at one table. With businesses in other cities we work online. The process is the same.
SEO services in Bratislava
We meet, look at your website and profile and tell you where there is room to improve.
SEO in Bratislava