Local SEO for UK businesses: the complete checklist

If your customers are local, whether they find you comes down mostly to five places: your Google Business Profile, your reviews, your listings on other sites, your website, and the local sites that mention you. The setup below covers all five, in the order we'd tackle them for a client, and it's a list you can actually finish. The habits that follow are what keep it working. Google's own guidance is linked as we go, because plenty of the local SEO advice online flatly contradicts it.

How Google decides who to show

Google's help page on improving your local ranking names three factors:

• Relevance: how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for.
• Distance: how far each business is from the person doing the search.
• Prominence: how well known the business is, which Google says includes things like the links to your website and your reviews.

You can't move your premises closer to every customer, so the work is all on relevance and prominence. Google also says plainly that there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, so anyone selling you a guaranteed map position is selling something that, by Google's own account, doesn't exist.

The setup: do these once

Everything in this section has an end to it. Tick each item as you go, and the panel at the end will show which of the remaining ones matter most.

1. Your Google Business Profile

This is the most important of the five. Your profile is what appears in the map results and the local listings, and for a lot of searches people see it before they ever see your website.

• Claim and verify the profile. Start at Google Business Profile; our step-by-step Google Business Profile guide takes you through it in order. Google offers several verification methods, including phone or text, email, a live video call and a code by post, but it chooses which ones you are offered based on your business type, region and other details. If the first option does not work, the others may appear later.
  What good looks like

  Your Business Profile shows as verified in your Google account, and you can edit it without asking anyone.

  Takes half an hour, plus any wait for a code. Covered in Google Business Profile: how to set one up properly, in the right order.

• Use your real business name, exactly as it appears on your signage, letters and invoices. Google's guidelines for representing your business say that adding unnecessary information, such as keywords, locations or services, is not permitted and could get the profile suspended. If your signage says a two-word name, the profile says the same two words, with no town or service tacked on the end.
  What good looks like

  The profile name matches your signage, letters and invoices exactly, with no town, service or keyword added.

  Takes five minutes. Covered in Google Business Profile suspended? Why it happens and how to get it back.

• Choose your primary category carefully, and use as few categories as you can. This surprises people, because a lot of advice says to add as many as possible. Google's own guidance says to use as few categories as possible to describe your core business, and to choose ones that complete the statement "This business IS a" rather than "this business HAS a".
  What good looks like

  The primary category completes "This business IS a", and any extra categories are few and each describes what the business is.

  Takes fifteen minutes. Covered in Google Business Profile: how to set one up properly, in the right order.

• If customers do not come to you, set it up as a service-area business. Hide your address and list the areas you cover. Google's guidelines say the boundary should not extend beyond about two hours' drive from where you are based.
  What good looks like

  If you travel to customers, the address is hidden and the service area lists only places you actually cover, within about two hours' drive.

  Takes twenty minutes. Covered in Google Business Profile: how to set one up properly, in the right order.

• Get your hours right, and set special hours for the next bank holiday. Wrong hours are one of the quickest ways to lose a customer who has already chosen you.
  What good looks like

  Your normal opening hours are correct, and special hours are already set for the next bank holiday.

  Takes ten minutes, then a reminder before each holiday. Covered in Google Business Profile: how to set one up properly, in the right order.

• Write a plain description of what you do and who for. Google's guidelines say it should describe your products, services, mission and history, and should not be used for special offers, prices or links.
  What good looks like

  The description says what you do, for whom and a little of your history, in plain words, with no offers, prices or links.

  Takes twenty minutes. Covered in Can you explain what you do in one sentence? How to fix your messaging.

• Add your services or products with short, specific descriptions in your customers' words.
  What good looks like

  Each main service or product is listed with a short description in the words customers use.

  Takes half an hour. Covered in Google Business Profile: how to set one up properly, in the right order.

• Add real photos and video: the outside (so people recognise it), the inside, your work, and you. Google lists photos and videos among its own tips.
  What good looks like

  The profile has recent photos of the outside, the inside, your work and you, taken by you, not stock images.

  Takes an hour. Covered in Google Business Profile: how to set one up properly, in the right order.

• Fill in the attributes that apply, such as accessibility, parking or payment options. They answer questions before anyone has to ask.
  What good looks like

  Every attribute that applies to you, such as accessibility, parking or payment options, is filled in.

  Takes ten minutes. Covered in Google Business Profile: how to set one up properly, in the right order.

• Turn on messaging only if someone will answer it promptly. An unanswered channel is worse than none.
  What good looks like

  Messaging is either off, or on with a named person who answers within your business hours.

  Takes five minutes to decide. Covered in full above.

2. Reviews

Reviews do two jobs at once. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and they're also what most people read before choosing between the three businesses on the map.

• Make it easy. Google lets you create a link or QR code that takes customers straight to the review form, explained in its guide to getting reviews. Put it in your follow-up email, on your receipt or invoice, and on a card if you meet people in person.
  What good looks like

  Your review link or QR code appears in the follow-up email, on the receipt or invoice, and on a card if you meet people in person.

  Takes half an hour. Covered in full above.

3. The same details everywhere

Search engines, and increasingly AI assistants, cross-check what different sites say about you. When your name, address, phone number and hours match everywhere, you look like one verifiable business. When they differ, you look like several uncertain ones.

• Decide on one exact version of your name, address and phone number, and use it everywhere, down to "Road" or "Rd".
  What good looks like

  You have written down one exact form of your business name, address and phone number, down to "Road" or "Rd", for everyone to copy.

  Takes ten minutes. Covered in full above.

• Claim your listing on Bing Places. Bing's results also feed Microsoft Copilot: Microsoft says Copilot sends search queries to Bing to ground its answers in the web. We go through the set-up in getting your business on Bing.
  What good looks like

  Your Bing Places listing is verified and matches your Google profile word for word.

  Takes half an hour, if you import from Google. Covered in Get your business on Bing.

• Claim your listing on Apple Business, which Apple offers as the way to put your business on Apple Maps. It was called Apple Business Connect until Apple brought it into Apple Business.
  What good looks like

  Your business appears on Apple Maps with the same name, address, phone number and hours as your Google profile, and you can edit the listing yourself through Apple Business.

  Takes half an hour, plus any wait for Apple to verify you.

• Check your Facebook page, LinkedIn page and any trade or membership directories you belong to, and bring them into line.
  What good looks like

  Your Facebook page, LinkedIn page and every trade or membership directory you belong to show the same name, address and phone number as your master version.

  Takes an hour. Covered in full above.

4. Your website

Your profile gets you into the local results. Your website is what convinces people once they click, and it gives Google more to go on about what you do and where.

• Say where you work, plainly. Name the towns and areas you serve on your homepage and service pages in normal sentences, not a block of place names at the bottom.
  What good looks like

  Your homepage and service pages name the towns and areas you serve in ordinary sentences.

  Takes an hour. Covered in full above.

• Show your full business details on your contact page, matching your profile exactly, with a map if customers visit you.
  What good looks like

  The contact page shows your name, address and phone number exactly as on your profile, with a map if customers visit.

  Takes twenty minutes. Covered in full above.

• Add LocalBusiness structured data, which tells search engines your name, address, hours and contact details in a form they read reliably. Google's local business structured data guide shows what to include.
  What good looks like

  Your site has LocalBusiness markup with your name, address, hours and contact details, matching the page, and it passes the Rich Results Test.

  Takes an hour, less with a plugin. Covered in Does schema markup help you rank?.

• Check the site on a phone. Tap the phone number: does it call? Find the address: is it easy? Much local searching happens on the move.
  What good looks like

  On a phone, tapping the phone number starts a call, and the address is easy to find and opens in a map.

  Takes ten minutes. Covered in Nine homepage mistakes.

• Test the speed with PageSpeed Insights and fix anything flagged as poor on mobile.
  What good looks like

  The mobile results in PageSpeed Insights show nothing marked poor for your homepage and main service pages.

  Takes twenty minutes to test; fixes vary. Covered in Nine homepage mistakes.

• Link from your Google Business Profile to the most useful page, which is not always the homepage. If most people want one service, link to that.
  What good looks like

  The website link on your profile goes to the page most people want, which may be a service page rather than the homepage.

  Takes five minutes. Covered in full above.

5. Search Console

• Verify your site in Google Search Console and submit your sitemap. It is free and it is the only place Google tells you which searches you appear for.
  What good looks like

  Search Console shows your site as verified and your sitemap as submitted with no errors.

  Takes twenty minutes. Covered in Why is my website not showing up on Google or Bing? A step-by-step diagnosis.

• Read the Pages report for anything Google has not indexed, and fix the reasons it gives. If important pages are missing, work through why.
  What good looks like

  The Pages report shows no important page as not indexed, and anything it flagged has been fixed.

  Takes half an hour. Covered in Why is my website not showing up on Google or Bing? A step-by-step diagnosis.

• Do the same in Bing Webmaster Tools. Microsoft's Copilot uses Bing to find what it tells people, and Bing's webmaster guidelines ask sites to tell it through IndexNow when pages are added, changed or removed. IndexNow is a way of telling Bing straight away, rather than waiting for it to come back. Bing's AI Performance report then shows you when Copilot cites your pages.
  What good looks like

  Your site is verified in Bing Webmaster Tools, your sitemap is submitted, and changed pages are reported through IndexNow wherever your website platform supports it.

  Takes half an hour. Covered in Get your business on Bing.

6. Local links and mentions

Prominence is partly about who else talks about you. For a local business the best mentions are local ones, and most of them come from taking part rather than from asking.

• Join the business groups that genuinely suit you, such as a chamber of commerce, a town business association or a networking group, and make sure your membership listing links to your site. We wrote about how to choose the ones worth your time.
  What good looks like

  You belong to one or two groups that suit your business, and your membership listing links to your website.

  Takes an evening or two to try them. Covered in Which local networks are worth it?.

• Get listed by your business improvement district if your town has one and it runs a directory of local businesses.
  What good looks like

  If your town has a BID with a directory, your business is listed, with details matching your master version.

  Takes twenty minutes. Covered in Business improvement districts, explained.

• Ask suppliers and partners to list you where they list their stockists, installers or partners.
  What good looks like

  Every supplier or partner with a stockist, installer or partner list has you on it, with a link to your site.

  Takes a few emails. Covered in How to find and pitch the right brand partners.

The habits: keep these up

These never finish, so there are no boxes to tick. Come back to this list whenever you review your marketing.

• Keep your hours right through every bank holiday and seasonal change, setting special hours before each one rather than after.
• Ask every customer, as part of your normal process. Asking is allowed. What isn't allowed, under Google's policy on fake engagement, is asking selectively: you mustn't discourage negative reviews, or ask only the customers you expect to be happy. The rule comes from Google's policy and from Trustpilot's and the regulator's guidance, and all three are set out in Should you only ask happy customers for reviews?
• Never offer anything in return. Google prohibits payment, discounts or free goods in exchange for a review. UK law has tightened too: since April 2025, fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews have been banned, and the Competition and Markets Authority's fake reviews guidance sets out what that means for businesses.
• Don't ask staff, friends or family to review you, or set staff targets for reviews. Google treats reviews from people with a conflict of interest as fake engagement, and it specifically prohibits businesses from asking staff to collect a set number of reviews, or reviews with particular content.
• Reply to every review, good or bad. Google lists responding to reviews among its tips. Thank people briefly and specifically. For a critical review, reply calmly, once, with the facts and an offer to put it right offline. You're writing for the next customer who reads it, not for the reviewer.
• Read them for what they tell you. A pattern in your reviews, whether it's praise for one thing or repeated complaints about another, is free research.
• Update everything when something changes. A move or a new phone number needs changing in every place above, not just on your website.
• Write a page for an area only where you've got something real to say about working there: the clients, the jobs, the local detail. Pages that are identical apart from the town name add almost nothing, and Google calls them doorway pages, meaning pages made for search engines rather than for people.
• Check the Performance report once a month for searches that include your towns. Those are the searches worth building pages and posts around.
• Offer the local press something worth covering: an opening, an anniversary, an event, a genuine story. Local news sites link to the businesses they write about.
• Sponsor or support something local that you care about, and check that the thank-you page links to you.

What not to spend time on

Some of the most common local SEO tactics are either against Google's rules or a poor use of a business owner's time.

• Keywords in your business name. As above, they're against the guidelines and put the profile at risk of suspension.
• Buying reviews, or swapping them with other businesses. That's against Google's policy and, in the UK, against the law.
• Mass directory submissions. A handful of accurate, relevant listings will do more than hundreds of poor ones.
• Dozens of near-identical town pages. Write one strong page, or a few that are genuinely different.

How to tell it's working

Local SEO rarely changes anything overnight, and anyone who tells you exactly how many weeks it will take is guessing. What you can do is measure the right things from the start:

• Business Profile performance: Google's performance report shows how people found you and what they did next, such as calls, direction requests and website clicks. Note the figures before you start.
• Search Console: the searches that include your town names, and how often your pages appear for them.
• Enquiries: ask every new customer how they found you, and write it down. It's the measure that matters most, and it catches what the tools miss.

All of this counts for more than it did a few years ago, for reasons set out in why local search matters more now.

If you'd rather hand it over, local search is part of our SEO service. The SEO audit and first fixes is a fixed £2,500, and it starts with this checklist before going further into your website and your local competition.