A 90-Day Local SEO Plan: What to Do, in What Order

The three factors, in Google's words

Google's own guidance on local results names three factors. It is worth reading them as written rather than as they are usually paraphrased.¹

• RelevanceHow well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. Google's advice for improving it is to provide complete and detailed business information.
• DistanceHow far each business is from the person searching, using their known or shared location. You cannot move this, and it is the reason the same query ranks differently two miles apart.
• ProminenceHow well known a business is. Google says this draws on factors including links to your website and the number of reviews, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking.

Because distance is in the mix, there is no single position to hold. Your ranking varies by the exact query and by where the searcher is standing when they type it. A report showing one rank for one keyword is a snapshot of one location.¹

Days 1 to 15: measure before you touch anything

1. 01Record the starting positionCapture current rankings for your target queries from several points across your service area, not from your office. Record the date and the location of each check, because a rank without a location attached cannot be compared to anything later.
2. 02Export the profile's current performanceCalls, direction requests, website clicks and search queries from the Business Profile, plus organic performance from Search Console. This is the before, and it is the only chance to collect it.
3. 03Audit what is actually publishedEvery field on the profile, every category, every service, the hours, the description and the photos. Note what is missing rather than fixing it yet, so the list can be prioritised.
4. 04Find the duplicate and stale listingsOld profiles, an address from a previous office, a phone number from a disconnected line. These are the cheapest problems to fix and the most damaging to leave.

Days 16 to 45: accuracy and relevance

• Complete the profilePrimary category chosen deliberately rather than approximately, secondary categories that match services you genuinely provide, every service listed with a real description, accurate hours including holidays, and photographs of the actual business.
• Fix name, address and phone everywhereOne canonical form of each, matching character for character across your site, your profile and every directory. Inconsistency here is a solvable problem that most businesses simply have never audited.
• Build landing pages that match the queryA page per service, and a page per location only where you have something specific to say about that location. A page that reads identically with the city name swapped is the pattern Google calls scaled content abuse, and it is a liability rather than an asset.
• Clean up citationsClaim and correct the major aggregators and the directories that actually rank for your category. This is administrative work with a clear finish line, which is what makes it good early work.

Days 46 to 75: prominence

• Ask every customer, the same way, every timeA single request after service delivery, sent to everyone, with a direct link. Consistency of asking is what produces a steady review flow. Selecting who to ask is review gating and is not permitted.
• Reply to all of themIncluding the negative ones, briefly and without arguing. Replies are visible to the next reader, which is the audience that matters.
• Earn local links that would exist anywaySuppliers, trade bodies, local press, sponsorships you already fund, organisations you already belong to. Links that describe a real relationship are the ones worth having.
• Publish something only you could publishJob photographs, pricing for your area, the questions your customers actually ask. This is what makes a location page worth reading, and it is the only durable answer to the near-duplicate problem.

Days 76 to 90: conversion and measurement

Visibility that does not produce enquiries is not a result. The last stretch is about making the outcome legible.

• Track the callCalls from the profile and from the website, measured separately, so the channel that produced the enquiry is knowable.
• Track the formA conversion event that fires only after the submission is stored, not when the button is clicked. A click is not a lead.
• Re-measure from the same pointsRankings from the same locations you sampled on day one, on the same queries. Anything else is comparing different measurements.
• Report the range, not the best numberRankings vary by searcher location, so the honest report is a range across your service area and the trend in enquiries underneath it.

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