Local SEO
Be the business people find when they search for what you do near them, on Google Maps and in the local results. Included in every website plan.
Included from
£99 /mo
→The short answer
Local SEO is the work that helps a business appear when people nearby search for what it does, on Google Maps and in the local results. Google says it ranks these on relevance, distance and prominence. We improve relevance and prominence through your Google Business Profile, your website and your reviews, in every plan from £99 a month.
(01)How Google decides
From Google's own help pages, not guesswork.
Relevance, distance and prominence
Google says its local results are based mainly on three things1. You can influence two of them.
RelevanceYou control this
How well your profile matches what someone searched for. Complete, accurate information, the right categories and services, and a website that describes each service properly all raise it.
DistanceNobody controls this
How far you are from the person searching, or from the place they searched for. No agency can change where you are, and anyone who promises to rank you everywhere is promising something they can't deliver.
ProminenceYou can build this
How well known your business is. Google says this takes in information from across the web, such as links and articles, and that review count and ratings play a part1.
(02)Your Google profile
Tick off what's done. Each item is something we check and fix.
Google Business Profile optimisation checklist
Most of this is free and takes an afternoon. Our guide to getting more Google reviews covers the last two items in detail.
(03)Working from home
For trades, cleaners, mobile hairdressers and anyone who goes to the customer.
Service-area businesses: keeping your home address private
Hide the address
If customers don't come to you, Google expects you to hide your address and show the areas you serve instead3. Your home address never needs to appear.
Set your areas properly
Areas are set by town, city or postcode area rather than a circle on a map, and Google allows up to 203. List the places you really work.
No virtual offices
Google's guidelines don't allow a profile at an address you don't operate from, such as a rented mailbox2. Profiles at such addresses can be suspended.
(04)Pages for each town
The most abused tactic in local SEO.
Location pages vs doorway pages
A page for each town you cover can help you be found there. But Google's spam policies name "doorway" pages specifically: many near-identical pages made to rank for similar searches, such as one page per city with the town name swapped4. These can harm the whole site, not just those pages.
The test is simple: would the page be useful to someone in that town if search engines didn't exist? On the Pink Ideas site we built, every area page was written separately, with what's true of that area, and only for places the business really serves.
| Genuine location page | Doorway page | |
|---|---|---|
| Written for | People in that town | Search engines |
| Content | Jobs done there, local details, which areas nearby you cover | The same text with the town name swapped |
| How many | Only where you really work and have something to say | One for every town in the county |
| Where it leads | Straight to contact, with what's relevant locally | A funnel to the same page as every other |
(05)Your details everywhere
Citations and consistent details
A citation is any listing of your business name, address and phone number on another site: directories, trade bodies, Apple Maps, Bing. When they all match, search engines can be confident they're the same business. When they don't, such as an old phone number or a former trading name, they muddy the picture.
Where we check your details
- Google Business Profile, Bing Places and Apple Business Connect
- Your own website, including the footer and contact page
- Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages
- Trade bodies and accreditation schemes you belong to
- The main UK directories and review sites for your trade
(06)What we do
Local SEO is part of every plan. What changes is how much new work each month.
Local SEO on each plan
SEO Website, £99 a month
Your Google Business Profile set up or tidied and kept matching your website, service pages written for local searches, and your sitemap submitted to Google and Bing.
Traffic Growth, £199 a month
Everything above, plus new pages each month, including location pages where they're justified, and a monthly report showing what we did and what changed.
Growth Partner, £499 a month
Everything above, plus a look at the competitors who beat you locally and why, landing pages for your most valuable services, and a monthly review call.
SEO Website
£99
a month
For getting a proper, findable website live.
- Website design and build
- Hosting and maintenance
- Mobile-first design
- Keyword research and on-page SEO
- Sitemap and indexing set-up
- Local SEO and Google Business Profile support
Traffic GrowthFits this best
£199
a month
For turning the site into a steady source of enquiries.
- Everything in SEO Website
- New SEO content and service pages each month
- Location pages where they're justified
- Better calls to action and enquiry forms
- Monthly report with recommendations
Growth Partner
£499
a month
For businesses ready to push hard on growth.
- Everything in Traffic Growth
- Competitor and market analysis
- Strategic landing pages and customer journeys
- Monthly performance review call
- A prioritised growth plan
Questions
(07)Questions
Ours are included in every website plan, from £99 a month, with more new work each month on the £199 and £499 plans. Our UK SEO cost guide compares typical prices across the market.
Fixing a Google Business Profile can make a difference soon after Google picks up the changes. Building prominence through reviews, links and pages takes months. Nobody can honestly promise a position or a date, and we won't.
On your website, yes, with a genuinely useful page about the work you do there. In the map results, distance counts, so it's harder for towns far from where you're based. Google suggests a service area generally shouldn't stretch beyond about two hours' drive from your base3.
It helps a great deal. Your profile can link to your website, and the website is where you can describe each service and area in depth, which supports the relevance Google looks for.
It's the part of SEO aimed at searches with a place in them, said or implied, such as "electrician near me". It leans heavily on your Google Business Profile and reviews. SEO for small businesses covers the rest.
Sources
(08)Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Checked on the date shown.
- 1Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 2Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 3Manage your service areas for service-area and hybrid businesses, Google Business Profile Help. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 4Spam policies for Google web search, Google Search Central. Checked 26 October 2026.
(09)Start a project
Let's build your
free preview.
Tell us about your business. We'll come back with a plan and start on your preview. You pay nothing until you give it the nod.