Your Google Business Profile, the pages Google can actually read, and the reviews that decide the map. Local search first, because that is where a customer with a card in their hand starts.
The parts of search that move a local business.
Business Profile
What the map shows
Verified
Hours match the site and the door
Categories: the right three, in order
Photos updated this month
Every review answered within a day
Checked weeklyMost customers never leave the map
Your Business Profile, kept right
Most of your customers pick from the map and never open a website. Hours that match the door, the right categories, current photos, and every review answered within a day. Checked weekly, because Google changes what it shows.
What Google readsAll passing
Structured dataLocalBusiness, hours, address
Sitemap and canonicalsone address per page
Titles and descriptionsunique on every page
Readable without JavaScriptcrawlers, and AI answers
Ships on every site we build, on day one
Pages Google can read
Structured data for who you are, where you are and when you are open. A sitemap, one address per page, a real title and description on each. Every site we build ships with all of it on day one, and it is the layer most sites are missing.
Reviews, last 90 days
31
All from real visits
Askedafter the visit
Left oneby text link
Repliedwithin a day
Never bought, never written by us
Reviews from real visits, asked for and answered
The review count is what moves the map. We ask every customer after the visit, by text, with a link. We answer every review within a day, including the bad ones. Nothing is bought and nothing is written by us.
Where you show up
Map pack
Your town, not the country
Your namefirst, every time
Near metop three
Trade + townpage one
Read monthly, in plain language
Aimed at what you can actually win
Your own name, near-me searches, and your trade plus your town. That is where a local business wins, and it is where the customers are. National terms belong to directories and we will tell you so rather than sell you a year of chasing them.
The tools, so you can see everything we see.
Where you are listed
Google Business ProfileApple MapsBing PlacesYelp
What we measure with
Search ConsoleGA4Plausible
What the site ships
Schema.orgJSON-LDSitemapsCanonicals
Reviews
GoogleText requestsReply within a dayAnd more, just ask
Four ways to get found.
Brevity
An SEO agency
A listings service
Doing it yourself
Starts with the map, not the blog
✓
Sometimes
✓
✓
The technical layer on the site
✓
Depends
✕
Rarely
Reviews from real customers only
✓
Usually
✕
✓
Answers reviews within a day
✓
Extra
✕
When you can
Tells you what you cannot win
In writing
Rarely
✕
You find out
Monthly read in plain language
✓
✓
✕
✕
Cost as you add locations
Flat
Per location
Per listing
Your evenings
Send us your business name. We’ll tell you where you stand.