Local SEO built on how Google actually ranks local results.
Most local SEO work focuses on citations and Google Business Profile optimisation. Those things matter — but the businesses that dominate local search understand the deeper mechanics: how engagement signals influence the Local Pack, how location pages need to be built to rank at scale, and how user behaviour plays a far bigger role in local rankings than most people realise.
Why local SEO is harder than it looks
Local search has its own ranking systems sitting alongside organic. The Local Pack — those three results with the map — is determined by a different set of signals to the organic results below it. Proximity, relevance, and prominence all feed in, but so do user behaviour signals: click-through rates on your listing, direction requests, calls, website clicks. Google's engagement-based ranking signals are active in local search too. The businesses getting the most relevant clicks tend to stay at the top of the pack. That changes how you should be thinking about your listing, your reviews, and your local page architecture.
What I cover
Google Business Profile strategy
Beyond the basics — category selection, attribute optimisation, Q&A management, and understanding how your GBP listing interacts with your site's organic signals. Including how engagement on your listing feeds into your Local Pack ranking.
Local page architecture
Building location pages that actually rank — not thin duplicates with the city name swapped out, but pages that demonstrate genuine local relevance, structured for both users and crawlers, with the internal linking strategy to support them.
Multi-location site structure
For businesses operating across multiple locations, getting the architecture right is critical. Avoiding duplicate content, managing crawl budget across hundreds of location pages, and building a structure that scales without cannibalising itself.
Local citation building & cleanup
NAP consistency across directories, identifying and correcting conflicting data, and building authoritative local citations in the directories that actually matter for your sector and region.
Local structured data
Implementing LocalBusiness schema, opening hours, service areas, and aggregate review markup — the structured signals that help Google understand your entity and eligibility for rich results.
Local competitor analysis
Understanding what's actually driving your competitors' Local Pack positions and organic rankings — not surface-level metrics, but the signals that explain the gap and give you a roadmap to close it.
Review strategy
Reviews are a local ranking signal and an engagement driver. Building a process for generating genuine reviews, responding effectively, and using review content to strengthen your E-E-A-T signals with Google.
Local link building
Earning links from locally relevant sources — local press, industry associations, community organisations. The kind of link profile that signals genuine local authority, not just generic domain authority.
"Most local SEO advice stops at "optimise your GBP and build citations." That's table stakes. The businesses that genuinely dominate local search have pages that earn real engagement, listings that convert the right queries, and a site architecture built to support local relevance at scale — not just a few location pages bolted on as an afterthought."
Ryan White · Manchester
Who this is for
- Businesses with physical locations competing in the Local Pack
- Multi-location brands needing consistent local visibility across markets
- Service-area businesses without a shopfront presence
- Businesses whose local rankings have plateaued despite doing "the basics"
- Agencies needing senior local SEO expertise for a specific client
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