What local SEO services include
Local SEO is the part of search engine optimization that decides whether you show up when someone searches "dentist near me", "roofer Hamilton" or "family lawyer Ottawa". Those results combine a map pack with ordinary listings, and they are driven by different signals than national rankings.
Our local SEO work covers five areas:
- Google Business Profile optimization, for every real location or service area.
- Business details that match everywhere: name, address, phone, hours and website.
- Location and service pages on your website that give Google and people real local substance.
- Reviews: a simple, honest process to ask happy customers, and to respond well to everyone.
- Local authority: mentions and links from local associations, suppliers, sponsors and media.
How Google ranks local results
Google is open about the three main factors: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher or the location in the query) and prominence (how well known and well regarded you are, including reviews and links). You can read this in Google's own guidance on improving your local ranking.
Distance is mostly out of your control. Relevance and prominence are where local SEO does its work. That is also why a business with a weaker location can outrank a closer competitor: a complete profile, a strong website and a steady flow of genuine reviews carry real weight.
Google Business Profile optimization
Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a local customer sees, before your website. We treat it as a page that needs the same care.
What we set up and maintain
- The right primary category and a small number of accurate secondary categories.
- Services and products described in the words your customers use.
- Correct hours, including holiday hours, so nobody arrives at a closed door.
- Real photos of your team, premises, vehicles and work. No stock images.
- A link to the most relevant page on your site, not always the homepage.
- Regular updates and posts when there is something worth saying.
What we will not do
We do not add keywords to your business name, create listings at virtual offices or mailboxes, or set up profiles for locations where you do not serve customers. All three break Google's guidelines for representing your business and can lead to suspension.
NAP consistency and local citations
NAP stands for name, address and phone number. When these details differ across your website, your profile, directories and social accounts, it creates doubt about which version is correct. Moves, rebrands, old tracking numbers and acquisitions are the usual causes.
We audit where your business is listed, correct the details that matter, and close duplicates. We focus on the listings people actually use and those relevant to your sector, such as industry directories, professional bodies and your local chamber of commerce, rather than paying for hundreds of low-value directory submissions.
Multiple cities and provinces
Canada is large, and many growing businesses serve several cities or provinces. That raises questions a single-location business never faces.
- One profile per real location. Each staffed office or clinic can have its own profile and its own page. A phone number with a local area code is not a location.
- Service-area businesses. Contractors and mobile services can hide their address and list the areas they serve instead.
- Location pages with substance. A page for your Calgary office should say something a page for your Edmonton office does not: the team, the address, local projects, parking, the neighbourhoods you serve. Swapping only the city name produces doorway pages.
- Market research per city. We look at each city's map results separately. Competition in Toronto or Vancouver looks very different from Halifax or Victoria, and the plan should reflect that.
We are a Netherlands-based studio working remotely, so we do this research deliberately for every market rather than relying on assumptions.
Bilingual local SEO for Quebec-facing businesses
If you serve customers in Quebec, the Ottawa–Gatineau region, New Brunswick or francophone communities elsewhere, French is not a translation task to leave for later. People search in the language they think in, and French searches often use different terms, not just translated ones.
- Separate English and French pages, each written properly for its audience, with language versions linked using hreflang annotations.
- Keyword research in French, because the way people search for a service in Montréal differs from a literal translation of the English term.
- A decision per location on which language leads on the profile and in replies to reviews.
- Attention to Quebec's French-language requirements for commercial content. We flag these, but confirm the legal side with your own advisor.
Reviews: real reviews only
Reviews influence both rankings and the decision to call you. They only help if they are genuine.
We help you build a simple routine: ask every satisfied customer at the right moment, make leaving a review easy with a direct link, and reply to every review, including the critical ones, calmly and specifically. We do not buy reviews, write them, offer rewards in exchange for positive ones, or filter out unhappy customers before asking. Google removes fake engagement under its content policies, and misleading reviews can also raise concerns under Canadian advertising and competition law.
Local SEO tasks at a glance
A quick overview of the main elements, what good looks like, and the mistakes we see most often.
| Element | What we do | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Accurate categories, services, hours, real photos, relevant landing page | Keywords stuffed into the business name |
| Business details (NAP) | One correct version, duplicates closed, key directories updated | Old addresses and tracking numbers left online |
| Location pages | One page per real location with unique local content | Copied city pages with only the name changed |
| Reviews | Ask every happy customer, reply to all reviews | Buying reviews or only asking satisfied customers after screening |
| Local links | Associations, partners, sponsorships, local media | Paid directory bundles with no real audience |
| Language | Proper French pages where customers search in French | Machine-translated pages without French keyword research |
How we measure local SEO
We track what moves your business: calls, direction requests, website visits and enquiries from your profile, plus your map visibility across the neighbourhoods and suburbs you serve, not only from one spot downtown. We also check whether AI assistants mention you for local questions, which is covered on our AI SEO page.
Local results can improve faster than national rankings once the basics are right, but it still takes months of consistent work in competitive markets. For trades and service-area businesses, see our guide to SEO for contractors; clinics will find specifics in dental SEO.