What local SEO actually is
Local SEO is the work of making a business the obvious answer to a place-based question. Google isn't ranking the best plumber. It's ranking the plumber it is most confident can serve this person, in this place, right now.
That confidence comes from proximity, category accuracy, consistency of information, activity and reviews, roughly in that order of stubbornness.
Google Business Profile is the main event
For many local businesses the profile is the first thing a customer sees. It is also something many owners set up once and never touch again.
Active profiles behave differently to dormant ones. That observation is why GBPly exists.
Target the searches that ring the phone
- Service plus town, from someone ready to book.
- Urgency and emergency phrasing.
- The specific problem, in the customer's own words.
- Not the biggest industry keyword. It looks good in a report and pays nobody.
Service areas and local landing pages
A business serving thirty towns needs a credible page for each of them. Genuinely credible, not thirty copies with the town name swapped. Done properly this is one of the highest-return jobs in local search. Done lazily it's the fastest way to look like spam.
Evidence: what Mike has built in this space
More Leads Local (agency), Mike Martin Business Coaching, 3local Ltd and its Google Business Profile software GBPly. Mike also co-founded Magic Page Plugin, Lead Simplify and Local Content Engine, but is no longer involved in any of them. The products came out of the agency work, not the other way round.
Featured book
Google Business Profile Management for Agencies
A complete guide to the GBP Loop, profile setup, client delivery, measurement and managing the work consistently across multiple locations.
See what is insideRead this book onlineBooks on this
Google Business Profile Management for Agencies: How to Scale Your Agency with the GBP LoopHow to Scale Your Agency with the GBP Loop
The Complete Local SEO Playbook 2025: Proven Strategies for Boosting Your Rankings, Optimising Your Google Business Profile, and Link BuildingHow local businesses actually get found on Google.Common questions
- How is local SEO different from normal SEO?
- Local SEO adds place to the ranking question. Proximity, Google Business Profile signals and local relevance often matter more than the classic ranking factors that dominate national search.
- What's the fastest improvement most local businesses can make?
- Use the Google Business Profile properly: correct categories, honest service areas, current information, regular posts and photos, and a steady flow of reviews.