Local SEO questions, answered

What is local SEO?

Local SEO is the work that helps a business show up when people nearby search for what it offers: in Google Maps, in the local results at the top of Google, and in answers from AI assistants. It covers your Google Business Profile, your reviews, your listings on other sites and the pages of your website.

When someone searches “pizza near me” or “emergency plumber Ottawa”, Google shows a map with three businesses before the regular results. Local SEO is what decides whether you are one of them, and how high you sit in the regular results below.

The work has four parts. Your Google Business Profile: the right categories, services, hours, photos and description. Your reviews: how many you have, how recent they are and whether you reply. Your details elsewhere: your name, address and phone the same on Yelp, Facebook, Yellow Pages and other directories. Your website: a clear page for each service, with titles and headings that match what people search.

It is different from general SEO because location matters: the same search gives different results a few streets apart, so the goal is to be the strongest choice in the area you actually serve.

Our local SEO plansGoogle Business Profile optimization

What is the difference between local SEO and regular SEO?

Regular SEO tries to rank a website for a topic anywhere; local SEO tries to win the searches made near your business, which mostly happen in Google Maps and the local results. Local SEO leans on your Google Business Profile, reviews and listings as much as on your website.

A national online shop competes with every site in the country, so it needs lots of content and links. A local restaurant, clinic or contractor only needs to beat the businesses around it, for searches made by people who can actually come in or call.

That changes where the work goes. For local businesses, the Google Business Profile and reviews often matter more than blog articles, and one clear page per service usually helps more than many general posts. Most local businesses need both: a strong profile for the map, and a clear website for the regular results and for AI answers.

Service and location pages

Is SEO worth it for a small business?

Usually yes, if your customers search for what you sell and you serve a local area. People who search “near me” or name your service and town are often ready to call or visit. The work is worth it when it is specific, measured each month and priced for a small business.

The case is strongest for businesses customers look up before they choose: restaurants, trades, clinics, salons and local shops. If nobody searches for what you do, or you sell mainly through referrals, SEO matters less.

What makes it worth it is the work, not the label. Ask what will be done each month, how you will see it and what it costs. A plan that only sends a report is not worth much; a plan that fixes your profile, your pages and your listings, and shows the results, usually is.

Nobody can honestly promise a ranking. You can check progress yourself: calls and direction requests in your Google Business Profile, your position in Maps across your area, and clicks from Google Search Console.

Get a free report on your business

How long does local SEO take to work?

Fixes to your Google Business Profile and website can show within a few weeks, once Google sees them. Climbing in Maps and in competitive searches usually takes a few months of steady work, and depends on how strong the businesses around you are.

Quick changes, such as correct categories, complete hours and services, and clear page titles, are picked up as Google re-reads your profile and pages. Reviews, listings and new pages build up over months.

Competition decides most of the timeline. In a small town with few competitors, a well-kept profile can lead the map quickly; in a busy city area it takes longer. Measuring your Maps position point by point across your area shows where you are winning and where you are not.

Google Maps rank tracking

Should a small business choose SEO or Google Ads?

Google Ads bring visits as soon as you pay and stop when you stop; SEO takes longer but keeps working without paying per click. Many local businesses start with SEO for their profile and website, and use ads only for busy seasons or very competitive searches.

Ads are useful for testing which searches bring customers, or for a new business that needs calls this month. Each click costs money, and in competitive trades a click can cost several dollars or more.

SEO improves the things that every searcher sees, including the map and AI answers, which ads do not cover. A complete profile and clear website also make ads cheaper and more effective, so the two work well together.

How much does SEO cost for a small business in Canada?

Industry surveys put most local SEO retainers between about $500 and $1,500 a month. TopReach plans are $139, $219 and $399 a month in Canadian dollars, with no setup fee and no minimum term, because much of the checking is automated and the hands-on work is spent where it counts.

Published surveys of SEO providers (for example by Ahrefs and SE Ranking) found the most common monthly retainer between about $500 and $1,000, with local SEO averaging higher at agencies than with freelancers. Prices vary with the work included, the competition and who does it.

What matters is what you get for the price. On TopReach, Starter ($139) is a full Google Business Profile clean-up and 2 approved improvements a month, review monitoring, 30 keywords and Maps tracking. Growth ($219) adds your website (up to 8 main pages fixed in the first two months, then 2 a month), review replies, listing corrections and AI search checks. Premium ($399) adds more pages and checks, a reply to every review, a written report and a monthly call.

Watch for long contracts, setup fees and plans that only send reports. Ask exactly what will be done each month and how you will see it. A one-time audit ($99) is a way to see the problems before committing to anything.

Compare the SEO plansThe one-time audit

What does a local SEO company actually do each month?

A good local SEO company checks your Google Business Profile, website, reviews and listings, fixes what holds you back with your approval, tracks where you rank in Maps and Google, and shows you the work done and the results every month.

At TopReach a month looks like this: we re-check your profile and website, choose the changes most likely to help, show each one to you for approval, make it, and record it with a date. Website changes keep a before and after and can be undone.

Some work has to be done by a person: Google Business Profiles and directories can’t be safely changed by software alone, so a team member makes those changes and records what was done.

You should be able to see all of it. Every TopReach client sees the month’s completed work in their portal; Premium also gets a written monthly report and a 1-to-1 call.

SEO StarterSEO GrowthSEO Premium

What is a Google Business Profile?

A Google Business Profile is your free business listing on Google Search and Google Maps: your name, category, address or service area, hours, phone, website, photos, services and reviews. For many local searches it is the first thing customers see, before your website.

It used to be called Google My Business. You manage it at business.google.com or straight from Google Search when you are signed in as the owner or a manager.

The profile is where people call you, ask for directions, read reviews and check whether you are open. Keeping it complete and accurate is the single most direct way to be found locally.

Google Business Profile optimization

How do I set up a Google Business Profile?

Go to business.google.com, sign in with a Google account, add your business name and main category, choose whether customers visit you or you serve them at their place, add your contact details, then verify the business. Google decides the verification method, often a video, a phone or email code, or a postcard.

Search for your business first: a profile may already exist, created by Google or a past owner. If it does, request access instead of making a second one, because duplicates cause problems.

Once verified, finish everything: additional categories, every service you offer, opening and holiday hours, a description, photos of the outside, inside and your work, and your website link. Then add your team as managers, not owners, so access stays with the business.

If you work with an agency, give them Manager access from the profile’s settings (People and access). Never share your Google password.

How do I optimize my Google Business Profile?

Choose the most accurate main category and the right additional ones, list every service, keep hours and holiday hours correct, add real photos regularly, write a clear description, get and reply to reviews, and make sure your name, address and phone match your website and other listings exactly.

Categories carry the most weight: compare yours with the businesses that rank above you, and add only categories that truly describe what you do.

Completeness matters next: services, products or menu, attributes such as accessibility, and accurate opening and holiday hours, so customers don’t find you closed when the profile says open.

Reviews and replies show activity and help customers decide. Posts are useful when you have real news, but they are not a ranking shortcut, so there is no need to post for the sake of it.

How we work on your profileGoogle review management

How does Google Maps ranking work?

Google says local results are based mainly on three things: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching or the place in the search) and prominence (how well known you are, including reviews, links and your presence across the web).

Distance is why the same search gives different results a few streets apart. You can’t move your business, but you can be more relevant (accurate categories, services and pages) and more prominent (more recent reviews, consistent listings, a stronger website).

Google also says there is no way to pay for a better position in the local results; ads are labelled separately.

How can I improve my ranking on Google Maps?

Fix your main and additional categories, complete your profile, get steady new reviews and reply to them, make your name, address and phone identical across directories, and give each main service a clear page on your website. Then measure your position across your area to see what moved.

Start with what the businesses above you do differently: their categories, how many reviews they have and how recent they are, and whether they have a page for the service being searched.

Measure before and after. A Maps grid checks your position from many points around your business, which shows where you are strong and where competitors win. A single search from your own phone can’t show that.

Google Maps rank trackingLocal listings and citations

How do I check where my business ranks on Google Maps?

Searching from your own phone is misleading, because results change with your location and history. A Maps grid check searches your keyword from many points around your business and shows your position at each one, along with the businesses ranked above you.

Every TopReach plan includes Maps checks: 1 keyword monthly on Starter, 3 keywords every 2 weeks on Growth and 5 keywords weekly on Premium.

Your Google Business Profile performance view also shows how many people found you, called and asked for directions, which is the best measure of whether a better position brings customers.

How Maps tracking works

Do Google reviews help local SEO?

Yes. Google lists reviews as part of prominence, one of the three things behind local results, and they strongly affect whether people choose you. The number of reviews, how recent they are and your replies all matter. Buying or faking reviews breaks Google’s rules and can get them removed.

The easiest way to get reviews is to ask happy customers right after a good visit, with a direct link or QR code to your review form.

Reply to every review, good or bad, briefly and politely. It shows customers you care and keeps your profile active.

Google review management

Do I need a website for local SEO?

Not to start: your Google Business Profile can bring customers on its own. But a website with a clear page for each service helps you rank in the regular results, gives Google and AI assistants more to understand, and makes customers more confident to call.

TopReach SEO Starter works on your Google Business Profile only, so you don’t need a website for it. Growth and Premium also fix your website pages.

If you need a site, a simple fast one with a page per service is enough; it doesn’t have to be large.

SEO StarterWebsite design

How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT and Google AI?

AI assistants recommend local businesses from what they can find and trust: your Google Business Profile, reviews, directory listings, and clear website pages that say what you do and where. There is no switch to turn on; the same local SEO work is what feeds them. Google says its usual SEO advice applies to AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Some call this GEO (generative engine optimization). For a local business it mostly means being consistent and clear everywhere: the same name, address and phone, a page for each service, real reviews, and being listed on the sites AI answers cite.

You can measure it: ask ChatGPT and Google’s AI the questions your customers ask, and record whether you are named and which competitors are. TopReach checks this monthly on Growth and weekly on Premium.

Nobody can promise an AI recommendation. What you can do is make sure the facts about your business are easy to find and agree everywhere.

AI search visibility

What is a local SEO audit?

A local SEO audit checks your Google Business Profile, reviews, listings and website against what helps local rankings, and gives you a list of fixes in order of importance, with the evidence for each.

TopReach has two: a free report that checks 50 things across your Google listing, three local searches and your website in about a minute, and a one-time audit ($99) where a person reviews your website and Google profile and gives you a prioritized action list.

An audit finds and explains problems; fixing them is the monthly work.

Free reportOne-time audit