SEO Guide Step 12: Local SEO

This is Step 12 of the 13-Step SEO Guide. Local SEO determines whether customers in your area can find you — and choose you over the competitor down the street.

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If your business serves a specific geographic area, local SEO isn't optional — it's your primary growth channel. 46% of all Google searches have local intent. When someone searches "dentist near me" or "plumber in Aarhus," Google shows a completely different result format: the Local Pack (map + 3 businesses). If you're not in that top 3, you're invisible to nearly half your potential customers.

The good news: local SEO has fewer variables than general SEO, making it more predictable and faster to improve.

What Local SEO Covers

Local SEO spans 7 critical areas:

1. Google Business Profile — Your listing in Maps and Search
2. NAP Consistency — Name, Address, Phone across the web
3. Local Citations — Directory listings that build authority
4. Reviews & Reputation — Social proof that drives clicks
5. Local Landing Pages — City-specific content
6. Local Schema Markup — Structured data for local businesses
7. Proximity & Relevance — The ranking factors you can't fake

1. Google Business Profile (GBP)

Your Google Business Profile is the single most important local SEO asset. It controls what appears in Maps, the Local Pack, and the Knowledge Panel.

What to optimize:

• Business name matches your legal/brand name exactly (no keyword stuffing)
• Primary category is the most specific match (e.g., "Tandlæge" not "Sundhed")
• Add all relevant secondary categories (up to 9)
• Complete business description using natural keywords (750 chars)
• Accurate hours, including holiday hours and special hours
• High-quality photos: exterior, interior, team, products (minimum 10)
• Service area or storefront address correctly configured
• Phone number is local (not a call center number)
• Website URL points to your most relevant landing page

Quick win: Add a Q&A section to your GBP. Write and answer 5-10 common questions yourself — these appear directly in search results and pre-empt customer objections.

2. NAP Consistency

NAP = Name, Address, Phone. Google cross-references your business information across hundreds of sources. Inconsistencies create doubt about your legitimacy.

What to check:

• Exact same business name everywhere (including punctuation, "ApS" vs "A/S")
• Same address format (floor, door, postal code)
• Same phone number (including country code format)
• No old addresses from previous locations
• No duplicate listings on any platform

Common mistakes:

• Different name on Facebook vs. Google vs. website
• Old phone number on Krak that you forgot to update
• Multiple Google listings from address changes
• Suite/floor number present on some listings but not others

Quick win: Search your business name on Google. If you see conflicting information in different sources, fix the highest-authority ones first (Google, Facebook, Apple Maps, your website).

3. Local Citations

Citations are mentions of your business on third-party websites. They validate your existence and build local authority even without a link.

Priority citations for Danish businesses:

• Krak.dk
• De Gule Sider (dgs.dk)
• Eniro.dk
• Yelp.dk
• Trustpilot.dk
• Proff.dk (company data)
• CVR.dk (official registry)
• Industry-specific directories

Priority citations for international:

• Apple Maps (via Apple Business Connect)
• Bing Places
• Yelp
• TripAdvisor (if relevant)
• Industry-specific directories
• Local chamber of commerce

Quick win: Claim your listing on the top 5 directories for your country. Ensure NAP matches exactly. Most are free and take 10 minutes each.

4. Reviews & Reputation

Reviews are a direct ranking factor for the Local Pack. More reviews + higher rating = higher position. But it's not just quantity — recency, diversity, and responses all matter.

Strategy:

• Ask every satisfied customer for a review (timing: right after service delivery)
• Create a direct review link (Google provides a shortlink in your GBP dashboard)
• Respond to ALL reviews — positive and negative — within 24 hours
• Never incentivize reviews (violates Google's terms, risks penalty)
• Address negative reviews professionally and offer resolution offline
• Aim for steady flow (5+ reviews/month) rather than bursts

What Google measures:

• Total review count
• Average star rating (4.0+ is competitive, 4.5+ is ideal)
• Review recency (reviews from the past 3 months matter most)
• Review velocity (steady growth, not spikes)
• Review diversity (across platforms, not just Google)
• Owner response rate and quality

Quick win: Create a simple review request message with your direct Google review link. Send it to your last 20 satisfied customers.

5. Local Landing Pages

If you serve multiple cities or neighborhoods, each needs its own landing page. But beware: thin, duplicate pages with just the city name swapped will hurt you.

What makes a good local page:

• Unique content about that specific area (mention landmarks, neighborhoods, local context)
• Location-specific testimonials from customers in that area
• Embedded Google Map showing your service area or location
• Local schema markup (see section 6)
• Internal links to/from your main service pages
• Contact information specific to that location (if applicable)

What to avoid:

• Copy-pasting the same text and just changing the city name
• Creating pages for cities you don't actually serve
• Hundreds of thin city pages (quality over quantity)
• Doorway pages that all redirect to the same contact form

Quick win: Start with your top 3-5 service areas. Write genuinely unique content for each, mentioning specific local details that prove you know the area.

6. Local Schema Markup

Structured data helps Google understand your business type, location, and services. It directly influences your Knowledge Panel and rich results.

Required schema for local businesses:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Your Business Name",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "Vestergade 12",
    "addressLocality": "Odense",
    "postalCode": "5000",
    "addressCountry": "DK"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 55.3959,
    "longitude": 10.3883
  },
  "telephone": "+4512345678",
  "openingHoursSpecification": [...],
  "priceRange": "$$",
  "image": "https://yourdomain.dk/images/storefront.jpg",
  "url": "https://yourdomain.dk"
}

Use the most specific @type available:

• Dentist, not MedicalBusiness
• Restaurant, not FoodEstablishment
• AutoRepair, not LocalBusiness

Quick win: Add LocalBusiness schema to your homepage and all location pages. Use Google's Rich Results Test to validate.

7. Proximity & Relevance

Two ranking factors you can influence indirectly:

Proximity: How close your business is to the searcher. You can't change your physical location, but you can:

• Ensure your address is correctly pinned on Google Maps
• Create content targeting neighborhoods within your service area
• Build citations that confirm your exact location

Relevance: How well your listing matches the search query. Improve by:

• Using specific, accurate categories on GBP
• Having keyword-rich (but natural) business description
• Posting regular Google Posts (weekly minimum)
• Adding products/services to your GBP listing
• Ensuring your website content matches your GBP categories

Common Local SEO Mistakes

1. Keyword-stuffing your business name — "Best Dentist Copenhagen Cheap Teeth" will get you suspended
2. Using a virtual office address — Google detects and penalizes this
3. Ignoring negative reviews — Silence signals you don't care
4. Inconsistent hours — Customers who find you closed when Google says "Open" will leave 1-star reviews
5. No photos — Listings with photos get 42% more direction requests
6. Serving from outside your listed area — Only list areas you genuinely serve

Your Local SEO Checklist

• [ ] Google Business Profile is claimed, verified, and fully optimized
• [ ] NAP is identical across all platforms (audit with a tool or manually)
• [ ] Listed in top 5-10 local directories for your country
• [ ] Review strategy in place (asking customers, responding to all)
• [ ] Local landing pages for each service area (if multi-location)
• [ ] LocalBusiness schema on homepage and location pages
• [ ] Google Posts published weekly (offers, updates, events)
• [ ] Photos updated quarterly (minimum 10 on GBP)
• [ ] Competitors monitored in Local Pack for your top keywords

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What's Next?

Step 13: E-commerce SEO — Product pages, category structure, shopping feeds, and the schema that turns search results into storefronts.

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This guide is part of LANGR's 13-step SEO education series. Run a free audit to see where your site stands across all 13 disciplines.