Local SEO: how to get found on Google by people searching nearby

"Family lawyer in Denver", "seafood restaurant near me", "wedding photographer in Tuscany". When a search has a place in it, Google shows a map with a few businesses highlighted. Being there is the difference between getting calls and not existing. Here’s how it works and what you can do.

How does Google decide who to show in local results?

Google explains it in the official Business Profile guide: local results are based mainly on three factors.

• Relevance: how well your profile matches what the person is looking for. Complete, detailed information helps Google understand what you do.
• Distance: how far you are from the location in the search, or from the person searching.
• Prominence: how well known your business is. Google considers the information it finds across the web, such as links, articles and directories, as well as the number of reviews and their score.

Google adds two important points: you can’t pay for a better local ranking, and the details of the algorithm stay confidential.

How do you optimize your Google Business Profile?

Google’s guidance is concrete:

1. Verify your business. Verified profiles are more likely to appear.
2. Fill in every detail. Address (if clients visit you), hours, including holiday hours, primary category, services, attributes such as parking or accessibility.
3. Keep everything up to date. Inaccurate information can keep you out of relevant searches.
4. Add photos and videos of the business, the work, the space.
5. Respond to reviews, positive and negative: it shows you listen to your clients.

How much do reviews matter?

A lot, for two reasons. Google uses them for prominence, and clients read them before they choose: according to BrightLocal’s annual survey (2026, US consumers), 97% of people read online reviews when evaluating a local business.

How to get more of them, the right way:

• ask at the right moment, when the work is done and the client is happy;
• make it easy to leave one, with a direct link;
• reply to all of them, in your own voice, negative ones included;
• don’t buy them or trade them: besides being unfair, it breaks Google’s rules.

What role does the website play in local SEO?

The profile gets people to look at you; the website convinces them. And it helps Google understand who you are. Your site needs:

• the same name, address and phone number as your profile, in text (not only inside an image);
• pages for the services you offer, written in the words your clients use;
• the area you serve, stated clearly, without stuffing pages with city names;
• structured data consistent with the visible information;
• speed on phones: people searching "near me" are almost always on the move. See how to tell whether your site is slow.

Local SEO and AI engines

When someone asks an AI assistant for "a good dentist nearby," the answer relies on sources the engine considers reliable: profiles, reviews, clear and consistent websites. The same work you do for Google makes you more "citable." We cover it in how to show up in ChatGPT and AI Overviews.

A 15-minute checklist

• Is your profile verified, with the right category?
• Are your hours, phone number and address identical on your profile and your site?
• Have you replied to your last ten reviews?
• Does your site open quickly on a phone?
• Can someone tell in five seconds what you do and where?

If even one answer is no, there’s room to improve. If you want a site that works hand in hand with your Google profile, tell us about your business.