When someone's water heater breaks or their office needs cleaning, they search, tap one of the first few results and call. If you run a service business, local search is often where most of your new customers come from. Here is how to show up.
How local results work
For local searches, Google shows a map with a handful of businesses, then the regular results below. Three things decide who appears: how relevant you are to the search, how close you are to the searcher or the area they name, and how prominent you are, which includes your reviews and your reputation across the web.
1. Set up your Google Business Profile properly
- Choose the most accurate primary category. It is one of the strongest local signals.
- If customers do not come to you, set it up as a service-area business, hide your address and list the cities or ZIP codes you serve.
- Add every service with a short description, your hours, photos of real jobs and a link to your website.
- Keep your business name exactly as it is on your signage and paperwork. Adding keywords breaks Google's rules.
2. Get reviews, steadily
Ask every happy customer, ideally right after the job, and send them your direct review link by text or email. Reply to every review. A steady stream of recent, genuine reviews beats a burst of old ones. Never buy reviews or offer rewards for positive ones.
3. Keep your details identical everywhere
Your name, phone number and website should match across Google, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, Angi, Nextdoor and any industry directories. Mismatched details confuse both customers and search engines.
4. Build pages for your services and areas
- One page per main service, explaining what you do, how it works, what it costs or what affects the price, and how to book.
- Pages for your most important service areas, with genuinely local content: neighborhoods you cover, typical jobs there, local reviews and photos. Do not just copy one page and swap the city name; Google treats that as low quality.
5. Make your website work on a phone
Most local searches happen on phones, often in a hurry. Your site should load fast, show your phone number at the top, have a tap-to-call button and a short quote form.
6. Show you are real and trusted
Licenses, insurance, certifications, years in business, team photos and before-and-after pictures all build trust, with customers and with Google.
7. Track the calls, not just the clicks
Use your Google Business Profile insights and call tracking to see how many calls, direction requests and form fills each source brings in. That tells you where to spend more time and money.
How we help
We set up and manage Google Business Profiles, build service and area pages, and run review and citation campaigns for service businesses across the US. Get in touch for a quick local SEO check.