Local SEO checklist for Leeds businesses

Google’s help page on local ranking puts it in one line: “Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity.” ^[1] Relevance is how well your profile matches the search. Distance is how far you are from the person searching, or from the place they name. The third is how well known your business is, which Google says draws on information such as how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have. ^[1]

It also says plainly: “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.” ^[1] You cannot change where you are, so local SEO is the work of improving the other two.

For most local searches the map results appear above everything else, and they come from Google Business Profiles. Start here.

• Verify the profile. Google says verifying tells it you are authorised to represent the business, “so it’s more likely to show up in search results”. ^[1]
• Use your real-world business name, exactly as it appears on your signage, website and stationery. Google’s guidelines say the name should reflect your real-world name. ^[2] Google says including unnecessary information in the name “isn’t permitted, and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile”, so leave out “Leeds” or a list of services unless they really are part of it. ^[2]
• Choose the main category that best describes what you are, then add any others that genuinely apply.
• Fill in your hours, including special opening hours over bank holidays, and keep them right. Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show in local results. ^[1]
• Add real photos of your premises, your team and your work, and keep adding them.
• List your services with a sentence or two on each.

This is where many Leeds trades go wrong. If customers come to you, show your address. If you go to them, as a plumber, cleaner or mobile mechanic does, Google’s guidelines say you should set a service area and hide your address. ^[2]

Google also says a service-area business “can’t list a ‘virtual’ office unless that office is staffed during opening hours”, and that the service area “shouldn’t extend farther than about two hours of driving time” from where you are based. ^[2] Setting up extra profiles at addresses you do not really work from, to appear in more towns, risks having them removed.

For a Leeds business, a sensible service area lists the places you really cover: perhaps Leeds itself plus Bradford, Wakefield or Harrogate if you regularly work there.

Your business name, address and phone number should read the same on your website, your Business Profile, your social media and any directories you are listed in. Small differences, an old phone number on one site or a former address on another, make it harder for Google and customers to be sure they have the right business.

• Search for your business name and old phone numbers, and note every listing you find.
• Update or close listings with old details, starting with the ones that appear first.
• Put your name, address and phone number in the footer of your website, as text rather than an image.

Relevance starts with your website. A page that clearly describes one service, says where you offer it and answers the questions customers ask about it gives Google something specific to match to a search. A single page listing everything you do rarely does.

Write for the way people in Leeds search. Someone looking for a builder in Headingley or a dentist near LS6 is telling you how they think about where they live. Mention the areas you genuinely serve where it is natural, on the service page and on any project write-ups, rather than creating thin copies of the same page for every district.

Google’s SEO Starter Guide covers the basics that apply to every page: a unique, descriptive title, a useful description and content written for people first. ^[4]

Google says positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. ^[1] That makes a simple, steady routine for asking worthwhile.

Its rules on reviews are strict. Google’s Maps content policy says businesses may not “offer incentives – such as payment, discounts, free of cost goods and/or services – in exchange for posting any review”, and reviews posted because of an incentive will be removed. ^[3] Asking every customer, happy or not, is fine; paying or rewarding them is not.

• Ask at the moment the job is finished and the customer is pleased, with a direct link to your review form.
• Reply to every review, briefly and politely, including the poor ones.
• Never write reviews for yourself or ask staff and family to, and never review competitors.

Google says prominence draws on information such as how many websites link to your business. ^[1] The links that help a local business most are usually ones it has already earned in real life.

• Suppliers, trade bodies and associations that list their members.
• Local organisations, clubs and events you sponsor or support.
• Local news coverage of something genuinely newsworthy you have done.
• Businesses you work alongside, where a mutual mention makes sense to customers.

Local SEO only matters if it brings in work, so measure that rather than rankings alone.

• Connect Google Search Console to your website and check which searches show your pages.
• Check your Business Profile’s performance figures for calls, direction requests and website clicks.
• Ask every new customer how they found you, and keep a simple tally.
• Review once a month, and give any change a few weeks before judging it. Google’s own advice is to wait a few weeks before assessing an SEO change. ^[4]

If you would rather hand this over, local SEO is a large part of what we do for SEO in Leeds, from tidying your Business Profile to writing the service pages. For the wider county see SEO in Yorkshire, and for how long to give it, read how long SEO takes.