A local SEO checklist for home service businesses

Before you start: take a baseline

Every item on this list is easier to judge if you know where you stand first. Search your main service from one spot and you see one result. Search it from 50 points across your service area and you see the real picture, because Google ranks local results partly on how far each business is from the person searching (Google Business Profile Help).

That's why our local SEO services start with a geo-grid scan, and we run the same grid every month at the same time so the numbers compare fairly. If you've never read one, our guide on how to read a Google Maps rank grid walks through it. Write down your top 3 share and your average rank for your two or three most valuable services before you change anything.

Local SEO checklist part 1: your Google Business Profile

1. Verify the profile. Google says "Only verified businesses can show their business info on Maps and Search" (Google Business Profile Help). See Google Business Profile verification if you're stuck.
2. Use your real business name. Google's profile guidelines ban service descriptions, taglines, phone numbers and location details in the name.
3. Pick the most specific primary category. Google asks for as few categories as possible, chosen to describe what the business is, not what it has. Our guide to Google Business Profile categories covers how to choose.
4. Set the service area properly. If customers don't come to you, hide the address. Google says the area shouldn't extend farther than about 2 hours of driving from your base.
5. Keep hours, services and attributes current. Google lists up-to-date information as one of its own ranking tips.
6. Add real photos of jobs, crew and trucks. Google also lists photos and videos in those tips.

Part 2: your website

1. One page per main service. If you want calls for water heater replacement, have a page about water heater replacement, linked from your homepage and your profile.
2. One clear H1 on every page. It tells people and Google what the page is about.
3. LocalBusiness structured data. Google's documentation lists name and address as required and recommends checking the markup in the Rich Results Test (Google Search Central). Our local business schema guide has a template.
4. Location pages that are actually local. Our rule: no two town pages may share more than half their main text, and each needs at least 3 genuinely local details. More in location pages SEO.
5. Name, address and phone that match the profile exactly. Footer, contact page and schema.

This part is often where the biggest gains are. For a Salem, Oregon chimney company, pages with business or Service schema went from 0 to 24 and content pages with no H1 went from 16 to 1. Alongside profile fixes, its Maps top 3 share for "chimney cleaning" went from 5% to 74% in nine weeks.

Part 3: reviews, listings and mentions

1. Ask every happy customer for a review, with a direct link, soon after the job. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews has text you can copy.
2. Reply to every review. Google names responding to reviews as one of its ranking tips. See how to respond to Google reviews.
3. Fix your main listings on Apple, Bing, Facebook, Yelp and your trade directories so they match your profile. Our local citations guide lists which come first.
4. Earn local mentions and links from suppliers, the chamber, sponsorships and local news. Google says prominence comes partly from links to your business and from reviews.

Part 4: measure and decide what's next

Run the same grid again after four to six weeks, then monthly. Then use the result to choose the next job on the list. The test we use: compare your top 3 share with the market leader's. Below roughly 25% to 50% of the leader's share, build topical content around the service. Above it, build pages for the neighborhoods where you rank 4th to 6th.

Be honest about what didn't move. A Grand Rapids general contractor went from 24% to 68% Maps top 3 coverage, and grid points ranked 11th or worse went from 63% to 0%. The south edge of its grid still ranks 6th to 9th, so that's the next item on its list, not a footnote.

What to leave off your local SEO checklist

• Keywords in the business name. Google's guidelines say this could result in suspension.
• A second profile for the same business. Google allows one profile per business, or one per staffed location.
• A virtual office or PO box as your address. Neither is eligible under the guidelines.
• Geotagged photos. Tests found no ranking gain. Details in do geotagged photos help your rankings.
• Hundreds of directory submissions. Accuracy on the main sites matters far more than volume.