What Is Local SEO? A Plain-English Explainer

Local SEO is the practice of making a business visible in search results for the geographic markets it serves. If you have ever searched for a plumber, a dentist, or a restaurant 'near me' and seen a map with three businesses at the top, you have seen local SEO in action. This explainer is the plain-English starting point for the rest of our Local SEO category.

How it differs from general SEO

General SEO optimizes a site to rank for queries regardless of where the searcher is. Local SEO adds geography: Google considers how close a business is to the searcher (or the place they searched for), how well the listing matches the query, and how prominent the business is. Proximity is something you cannot fully control, so local SEO work focuses on relevance and prominence.

The assets involved

• A website with service and location pages.
• A Google Business Profile.
• Citations — consistent name, address, and phone across the web.
• Reviews, which affect prominence and trust.

Who it is for

Local SEO serves any business that serves customers in a defined area: service-area businesses (plumbers, electricians), storefronts (restaurants, clinics), multi-location brands, and the agencies and freelancers who manage them. For the full operating model, read The Local SEO Operating System.