To be found by people searching near you, three things need to work together: a well-kept Google Business Profile listing, a website with pages that say clearly what you do and where you do it, and consistent details across the whole web. Reviews then build on these foundations, and they carry a lot of weight when someone is choosing a local service. Local SEO is the sum of these efforts.
When someone types “beauty salon near me” or “estate agent Bologna”, Google tries to answer with real, nearby, trustworthy businesses, and often shows them on a map with a few listings highlighted. Appearing there means getting calls, requests for directions and visits without the person even opening your website. But to appear, Google has to understand who you are, where you are and why you deserve to be recommended.
What a well-kept listing looks like
- Name, address and phone number the same everywhere
- Right category and services listed
- Genuine reviews, with replies
What Google looks at when it decides who to show
Google says it relies on three criteria: relevance, meaning how well your business matches what the person is searching for; distance between the searcher and your premises; and prominence, which depends on how well known you are online, reviews included. There is little you can do about distance: the rest depends on the work you put into your listing, your website and your reputation.
The Google Business Profile listing
This is the free listing that appears on the map and to the right of the results when you search for a business name. If you have never claimed yours, search for it and make sure you are the owner: Google asks for confirmation, usually with a code sent by post or phone. Once you are in, check these elements carefully:
- Primary category. Choose the one that best describes what you really do: it is one of the strongest signals. Add secondary categories only if they are true.
- Name, address and phone number. They must be identical to those on your website and other online profiles, with no different abbreviations.
- Opening hours. Including holiday hours: a wrong opening time produces avoidable negative reviews.
- Services and description. Say simply what you offer and to whom.
- Genuine photos. The entrance, the interior, the team, your work. Generic images convince no one.
- Service area. If you work at people’s homes, like a plumber or an electrician, list the areas you genuinely cover.
The website: one page per service and per area
The listing alone is not enough. Your website has to give Google concrete proof of your business in that area. The home page should say who you are, what you do and where; service pages should cover one service at a time, with the place mentioned naturally in the text, the title tag and the heading. A bicycle shop in Padua might have a page on repairs, one on e-bikes and one on hire, each with practical directions on how to reach the shop.
If you serve several towns, a page for each one can make sense only if it contains different, useful information: how the service works in that area, timings, examples of work carried out. Repeating the same text and just changing the name of the town doesn’t work, and Google recognises it as duplicate content.
Remember to put your address, phone number and opening hours on the site in a readable way, usually in the footer and on a contact page, with an embedded map. The phone number should be tappable on a mobile: most people searching “near me” do so from a smartphone.
It also helps a lot to show a real connection with the area. An estate agency can describe the neighbourhoods it works in, nearby amenities and its sales experience in that area; a restaurant can explain how to get there and where to park; a tradesperson can list the towns they cover and the kinds of jobs they do. This is information customers look for and that Google reads as a sign of real activity, far more than a list of towns at the bottom of the page.
Consistent details: the name always written the same way
Industry directories, online yellow pages, category portals and social profiles all carry your business details. If in one place you are “Bianchi Physiotherapy Clinic” and in another “Bianchi Physio”, with an old address or a changed phone number, Google struggles to tell whether it is the same business. Go round your main online presences and correct every discrepancy. If you have moved, this work matters even more.
Reviews and replies
Reviews matter to Google and, above all, to the people reading them. Ask for them regularly from satisfied customers, sending the direct link to your listing, and reply to all of them, negative ones included, calmly and with specifics. Don’t pay for reviews or offer discounts in exchange for them: the platform’s rules forbid it and you risk seeing them removed.
How to check what your customers see
Test it as a customer would: search for your service with the name of your town, then search for the business name on its own, ideally from a phone and in a private window, so the results are not influenced by your past searches. See whether you appear on the map, what information is shown and what the reviews say. In Search Console, under queries, check which searches that include a place name are already bringing visits. If you want a check repeated over time on how Google and AI assistants see your site, Trovavio runs it every week so you don’t have to remember.
Where to start tomorrow
Search for your business name on Google and check that you can edit the listing. Correct the category, opening hours, phone number and description. Add a few genuine photos taken in the last few days. Then open your website and check that the address, phone number and town appear on the home page and the contact page, written as they are in the listing. Finally, draft the message you will use to ask your next satisfied customers for a review. These are simple steps, but done in the right order they build the base on which content and local pages can then work.
