Local SEO can mean a lot of things. For the sake of this article, it refers to organic visibility in Google Maps via the Local Pack. Or, more plainly, your Google Business Profile (GBP).

GBP is particularly relevant today because small businesses are losing organic clicks from top and mid-funnel queries to AI Overviews (AIO). For any business or marketer, fewer clicks means less data. For these small businesses, it can mean fewer leads, too.

In other words, showing up for bottom-of-funnel search queries is more important than ever. For local businesses, those queries are the ones driving prospective customers to the Local Pack.

How AIOs Impact SMBs: A Quick Look at 2025

For a lot of businesses, clicks go down as AIOs take over relevant search engine results pages (SERPs). This is true even if the business ranks well in the overviews, as the business referenced below does. While some AIO citations result in clicks, many do not.

Correlation is not causation, but this is not an isolated example. SMBs are seeing fewer clicks across the board, and it’s not difficult to guess why.

GBP is a Critical Source of Leads for SMBs

The bright side is this: GBP remains a critical source of leads for SMBs. In fact, I’ve seen about 10-15% more calls come through GBP compared to pre-AIO times.

Additionally, first-time calls to businesses with aggressive marketing packages saw their Google listings start to drive more leads than their organic website traffic (which was unusual for the businesses I work with, historically).

With the advent of AIOs, GBP has overtaken organic search for phone calls by a margin of about 12%.

Small Business Local SEO 101: Make Patterns, Not Big Changes

SMBs need an actionable and consistent approach to GBP. We’ll dive into tactics in a minute, but for now, I want to focus on the right approach: Don’t look for one “big” change to fix everything. Look for small improvements and iterate on them.

Google actually encourages this approach with on-site SEO in its SEO Starter guide. It says “…if you’re not satisfied with your results and your business strategies allow it, try iterating with the changes and see if they make a difference.”

This statement isn’t about GBP, but the same principle applies. Don’t chase the big fixes; instead, iterate on the small ones to create a positive pattern.

This includes things like:

• Posting regularly, in a natural cadence that reflects your business’s updates, events, specials, etc.
• Gathering reviews over time, naturally, and in a way that reflects customer experience
• Consistently reviewing changes to your GBP data and keeping it fresh, accurate, and updated
• Responding to reviews consistently, over time
• Responding to customer questions in the Q&A section as they are asked
• Keeping your website updated with relevant content and information

Let’s Talk Strategy: Tactics that Customers (and Google!) Love

So, what patterns should you create? And which tactics create them? The simple answer is this: Focus on the things you can control, or at least try to.

Below, I’ve listed what I consider the more important local SEO tactics for small businesses. Some of them may seem obvious; others not. But they’re all important, especially when taken as part of a larger strategy.

Keep Your Profile Updated & Accurate

This one’s pretty obvious: it’s important to keep your business information updated and accurate. Not because it’ll help you rank, but because it’s a good customer experience. (And because customers will get annoyed if your information is wrong.)

A 2023 study from BrightLocal found that 62% of consumers would not use a business if they found incorrect information about them online.

It’s also completely within your control and could impact whether or not a customer is able to find or call you. Thus, it’s worth noting.

Describe Your Business Accurately (Don’t worry about the SEO)

As a general rule of thumb, make sure your GBP accurately reflects your business as customers experience it in the real world. This means filling out every field in your profile and adding as much detail as GBP allows, including your business description.

Here are a few best practices for the description:

• DO fill out your business description with as much helpful information as possible, so customers can see what you’re about.
• DON’T use keywords in your description or try to cater to what you think Google wants.

Keep Your Photos Updated (and Helpful)

Include photos of your business storefront so customers know what it looks like from the street or parking lot. Add pictures of the inside, too, so they know what to expect when they get there.

Update images if something changes. This is especially relevant for businesses (such as restaurants) that change their menu frequently. Service-based businesses, such as law firms, may not need to update their photos as often unless something at the business location changes.

A few things to avoid:

• Stock photos
• Geo-tagging your images
• Low-quality images
• Outdated images

Show Customers What You Have to Offer

If it’s available for your business type, add products and services to your listing.

Products are detailed snapshots of what you offer; services are more like a menu of what you do.

I find the products feature particularly valuable because you can add a detailed description, image, and link to a related page on your website from the product listing. Even for service-based businesses (like law firms or dentists), “products” are a great way to give customers more information about how you can help them.

Prep for GBP Suspensions Before They Happen

Google Business Profile suspensions are a hassle. Prepare for them in advance. There are two types of suspensions: hard and soft suspensions. A soft suspension keeps you from editing your business information; a hard suspension completely removes it from SERPs.

If your listing gets suspended, you can appeal it and submit evidence for reinstatement.

Here’s a quick list of what you should have on file to make sure you can appeal your listing quickly in the unfortunate event of a suspension:

• Business registration
• Business license
• Tax certificates
• Utility bills (Internet, phone, water, etc.)

I also recommend keeping a picture of their storefront with signage on hand as well.

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews

Treat reviews like an ongoing part of your business operations and request them consistently.

The number of reviews and average star rating are important, but velocity (how often people review your business) is also important. If you can, I recommend using review management software, such as BrightLocal, GatherUp, or Podium, to request reviews.

A few best practices and notes regarding reviews:

• It’s okay if your star rating isn’t 5/5. People know you’re not perfect, and a 4.8/5 can look more authentic to customers anyway.
• Respond to reviews. Be kind and don’t get defensive. If you’re able, offer to fix the problem. If not, let the customer know you’ll do better next time.
• If a review is fake or harassment, do not respond to it; instead, report it to Google so it can be removed.
• Do not have your employees leave reviews! Only reviews from real customers count.

Perfect Your Intake (Make Every Lead Count)

It’s easy to treat your digital marketing as something separate from your business’s day-to-day operations. Once you get a lead or someone walks through the door, your Google Listing has done its job, right?

Kind of. The next step is just as important, though. When you get a lead (call, form, text), you need to make sure that prospective customers have the same helpful experience they got online. If you can, audit your intake (you’ll need call tracking for this!) and coach your team on how to work with prospective customers/clients when they reach out.

The goal is to turn leads into revenue, and that only happens when the lead converts.

Track everything really well (call Tracking, UTM codes, etc.)

Speaking of call tracking, if your business gets leads over the phone, use call tracking software on your website and your Google listing. Call data is part of your local SEO Strategy.

Set up call recording (if permitted by local laws) and pay attention to the origin of your calls.

Additionally, make sure to add UTM tracking codes to your Google listing and any links on it (appointment link, product link, website link, etc.). I won’t go into too much detail here, but this resource from Claire Carlile has everything you need to know (including a template!).

What about directory listings (other than GBP)?

“Local SEO” used to be synonymous with “directory listings,” and the general rule of thumb was this: The more, the merrier! Today, it’s more closely associated with Google Maps optimization, and it’s worth asking whether other directories are worth the time and money it takes to stay listed in them.

Not long ago, I revised my approach to these third-party listings and removed clients from many of them. Here’s what happened:

• Rankings did not go down (they went up, on average, for important terms)
• Leads did not go down (they went up, on average, for most clients)

This doesn’t mean directories don’t have their place, but syndicating your business information to 80+ listings that will never be indexed or seen by humans simply is not needed to achieve local SEO success.

When Third-party Directory Listings Really Matter

Local SEO is still SEO, so “it depends” applies even to third-party directory listings. There are a few technical instances in which directories are relevant, and not just for your ideal clients:

New Businesses

I’ve worked with some new businesses that struggle to get their Google listing verified because they are so new.

If your business falls into this category, consider getting it listed in more directories than I recommended above. Listings that come with a unique profile that Google can index are best. Syndicating your data to many publishers is one way you can show search engines that your business is, in fact, “legit” and has some semblance of an online footprint.

Website Indexation

The same goes for new websites (often associated with new businesses).

In recent years, I’ve seen new domains struggle to get indexed without the help of some third-party mentions. Directory listings are one way to encourage crawlers to engage with your site.

Of course, your website needs to include some kind of value and helpful content, too, but getting onto directory listings can help move the indexation process along.

Address Changes

Changing an address in GBP can be really easy, but it can also be tough if Google deems the change unreliable. Having additional listings (ones that are easier to update, ideally) with the new address in place can increase the likelihood of Google accepting the change quickly.

LLMs Use Listings for Business Information

Kate Herbert-Smith, Digital Learning Manager at BrightLocal

BrightLocal’s research from July 2025 found that AI has bought citations and listings back into a more prominent position. While their importance had been waning for a few years, LLMs now use them as a regular source of information for your brand.

A few of our findings:

• Yelp is used as a source in a third of all searches, and often multiple times in one search.
• LLMs use reviews from Yelp, Google Business Profile, and other sources to get additional rich information.
• LLMs also take information from social media channels.
• Businesses own websites are incredibly important sources for LLMs.
• Industry niche directories are a regular source of information.

Read the full study

Your On-site SEO Matters, Too!

Your website is part of your local SEO strategy, too. Not only because it can rank for local queries, but also because your website optimization can impact your performance in Google Maps.

It goes without saying that for your GBP to reap the benefits of an optimized and authoritative website, you need a live website to optimize. But research shows that only 40% of SMBs said they had a dedicated website for their business.

Here’s an example of how an active website can impact your local SEO:

I encountered a business not too long ago that wasn’t new, wasn’t indexed except for the home page. Additionally, Google refused to display their website on GBP (would deny the update every time). Initially, the clear problem was thin content. However, the site encountered the same issues after that was fixed.

After checking the site’s technical elements (robots.txt, internal links, etc.), I noticed unsavory backlinks in the client’s backlink profile and submitted a disavow file.

Within two weeks, the site was indexed, and the firm’s visibility in Google Maps increased by 44%. Calls followed a similar pattern:

In short, the relevance of your website impacts the relevance of your Google listing.

If you’re interested in how to structure your website for local success and how to optimize your service pages, check out my course on mastering service page optimization from BrightLocal Academy.

Conclusion

SEO is iterative, and local SEO is no exception. Don’t look for one big lever you can pull and walk away. GBP isn’t a slot machine. If you treat it like one, you’ll end up disappointed. Look for the little things you can do consistently (and well!) that pile up over time. That’s how you win.

What is a location page in local SEO?

Location pages are web pages that give detailed information about a particular business location in a specific city, county, or state. They help potential customers find the nearest physical location of the business, as well as provide search engines with enough info to index and rank the page for “near me” and “city name + industry” keywords.

You may also hear location pages referred to as ‘local landing pages’ or ‘location landing pages’. These are essentially the same thing.

Why bother with location pages? 

Location pages are a worthwhile effort because they give valuable information to customers, which in turn adds value to your local SEO strategy. Without location pages, multi-location businesses can struggle to get found in search engines like Google.

If you want to create a location page that stands a chance to rank in SERPs and convert customers, you have to justify each new page with unique and valuable content. In other words, the amount of value on your location page has to merit its own URL.

How to Make Location Pages Valuable

Value on a location page comes from information that only applies to the specific location. If you copy and paste content to another location page and it remains true, it’s not unique. Yes, it’s okay to Include non-location-specific information (such as the brand mission statement or service descriptions), but let those be the exception rather than the rule.

Bottom line: Your location page should be largely comprised of information that only applies to that location.

Location Pages vs Geo Pages

There’s an important distinction between location and geo pages.

In short, location pages are tied to actual, brick-and-mortar locations while geo pages are not. A location page is about a specific location; a geo page simply describes the services offered by a business in a specific location.

Often, geo pages are used when a business wants customers from a specific region but doesn’t have an office there. Service area businesses can find it particularly tricky to rank in an area when they don’t have a physical store or office, for instance. This makes properly crafted service area pages of particular importance.

Ranking Geo Pages is Difficult

Ranking geo pages is challenging because it’s difficult to prove that a business is relevant to an entire area if they don’t have a physical store/office there. Even if the business typically serves clients from far away (e.g. attorneys), this may still be difficult to show on a geo page that isn’t tied to an address, Google Business Profile, etc.

Geo Pages Can Easily Become Doorway Pages

Another concern with geo pages is that they can slide down the slippery “is this a doorway page?” slope.  

What is a doorway page?

Simply put, a doorway page is a type of spam that uses slight variations of a similar page in an attempt to rank for many variations of many queries. As you can probably tell, a few hundred pages sans actual locations and addresses targeting small cities in the same county could, ostensibly, fall into this category. Proceed with caution.

You can see what Google has to say about doorway pages here.

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Differentiating Between Nearby Locations

Locations under the same brand in close proximity to one another create a unique challenge. Not only are they providing the same (or similar) products and services to each other, but offering those services to the same pool of customers.

The truth is some element of competition will always exist between these types of locations. That said, there is one way to help differentiate them: content with unique value.

In other words, you’ll want to provide as much information as possible on these locations that only applies to each individual location. This is the goal of any location page but is especially important for ones in close proximity.

Sure, NAP information (Name, Address, Phone Number) is a great start, but try to find other ways to differentiate the pages. This could include:

• Staff bios/profiles
• Location-specific reviews
• Inventory or services (if unique)
• Driving directions
• Parking information
• Accessibility information
• Pet friendliness
• Anything else you think is useful to the customer and truly unique to that location.

The more information you have about each location–its features, services, amenities, etc.–the easier it becomes to differentiate between them and create a unique set of pages that add value to customers and search engines alike.

Things to Avoid and Common Mistakes

1. Saying the Same Thing with Different words

One of the biggest and most common mistakes you can make when creating location pages is thinking your content is unique when it really isn’t. For many business types (plumbers, cleaning services, lawyers, chain restaurants, etc.) location pages run the risk of being rewritten home pages or service page content.

If you find yourself creating location pages with a unique address and phone number but content that isn’t really saying anything new, it’s not really unique.

This type of content – I like to think of it as “diluted-value content” is bad because it takes time to create but doesn’t give anything new or helpful to the humans and search engines you’re hoping to impress.

2. Making It Hard for Customers and Search Engines to Find Your Location Pages

In order for people to find your location page, Google (or your search engine of choice), needs to find, crawl, render, index, and rank it.

Google needs to be able to find your pages, which means they should be included in XML and HTML sitemaps. It’s also helpful to link to the page internally, as this makes it easier for Google to discover.

Unfortunately, internal links aren’t always easy to create for location pages. From an SEO standpoint, we tend to prioritize linking between pages of content that are topically related (as we should). But, if the topic of your page is a location, linking to it from another page can feel stilted or unnatural.

Here are a few tips for creating internal links to your location pages:

For businesses with just a few locations

• Create a “Locations” dropdown in your top nav and link to locations from it
• If location pages are standalone and do not have their own service pages/child pages, link to the locations from the business’ service pages by mentioning the areas the business serves
• If locations are nearby (or even within the same state), include links to the other locations via side navigation in the location page template

For businesses with many locations

• Use a location finder to make pages accessible to humans via search
• Link the location finder in the top navigation of your home page (and throughout the site)
• On each location page, add a module with “nearby locations” and link to other locations in the vicinity
• Consider a separate XML sitemap for location pages. This allows you to easily check the indexation status of them in Google Search Console and ping the sitemap when new locations are added

The goal is to avoid creating location pages that are “orphaned” from the rest of the site (e.g. inaccessible via navigation from other pages). Not only does this make it harder for humans to find your content, but Google as well.

Search Intent and Why it Matters for Location Pages

Search intent refers to what someone is looking for when they type a search into Google. At the most basic level, location page search intent can be broken down into two categories:

• People looking for a service or product
• People looking for the brand

Someone looking for a service, for example, might type “plumber in Seattle” into Google. If done right, your location page should rank for that query because it is relevant to the search intent–someone looking for a plumber in Seattle.

On the other hand, if someone was typing “ABC Plumbers Seattle” into Google, they would be looking for information about ABC Plumbers specifically. The search intent is different, and the content of your location page should reflect that–it should be focused on ABC Plumbers and how they are different from their competitors in Seattle.

In the grand scheme of search query intent, both of these are pretty close to the bottom of the conversion funnel. Someone looking for “how to unclog a drain without calling a plumber,” for example, probably won’t land on a location page because the query is more easily satisfied by a video or how-to article.

So, it’s pretty safe to assume that location pages are almost always targeting bottom-of-funnel searches.

Search Intent and Page Structure

By understanding the search intent of location pages, you can create content that speaks to what your potential customers are looking for and then prioritize the right content on the page.

Branded searches benefit from “conversion” focused content like unique selling propositions, coupons, or information that distinguishes the brand from competitors. If the majority of your location page content is branded, it may be wise to structure your page to focus on conversion-focused content items.

Searches like “plumbers in Seattle” should focus on informational content like where the business is located and what types of products and services they offer. If your page attracts more clicks from these types of queries, be sure to focus your page structure accordingly.

Conclusion and Takeaways

Creating location pages isn’t difficult, but building pages that are truly helpful to humans can be a challenge, much less ones that stand a chance to rank in search engines. That said, well-crafted location pages can provide the value customers are looking for if your strategy focuses on the right things:

• Try to make the majority of content on location pages unique and location-specific (aim for 40%-60% unique-value content)
• Geo pages are more difficult to rank than location pages and are easily mistaken as doorway pages
• Unique value content is especially important on pages that compete with nearby locations from the same brand 
• Saying the same thing with different words doesn’t make the content more valuable – it’s essentially duplicated 
• Make sure people and search engines can find your location pages via sitemaps and internal links
• Optimize your page structure to accommodate the search intent of your most-searched queries