The local SEO work that actually moves the needle

Skip the keyword theatre. Four unglamorous fixes account for most of the ranking gains a local business will ever see.

Claim and fully complete the Google Business Profile. Not partially — every field, real photos, correct categories, accurate hours.

Make your name, address, and phone identical everywhere they appear. Inconsistencies across Yelp, Apple Maps, and Bing quietly suppress rankings.

Ask every satisfied customer for a review, and respond to all of them. Recency and response rate both count.

Everything after that is refinement. Most businesses never finish the first four.