Local SEO: how to get found in your city

For local businesses the most important “website” is often not their own — it is the Google Business Profile that appears for “dentist near me” or “electrician Amsterdam”. Whoever sits in the top three results gets the calls. Everyone else does not.

The three ranking factors for local search

Google weighs local results on three criteria:

• Relevance: Does your profile match the search? (categories, services, description)
• Distance: How close are you to the searcher?
• Prominence: Reviews, mentions, links, website authority

You cannot change the distance — but you can do a great deal about the other two.

Step 1: complete your Google Business Profile

It sounds obvious and is rarely done. Complete means: every matching category (not just the primary one), every service listed individually, opening hours including holidays, your own photos instead of stock imagery, and a description that contains your key search terms naturally.

Step 2: build reviews systematically

Reviews are the strongest lever you can influence directly. What matters is a steady flow of new reviews, not a one-off push. What works best is asking personally at the right moment — straight after a successful appointment — combined with a QR code or a short link.

Reply to every review, including the critical ones: Google values it, and future customers read it.

Step 3: anchor your website locally

Your website supports the profile: a dedicated page per service, city and address in the footer, opening hours and directions marked up as structured data (LocalBusiness schema), and content with local context.

Step 4: be consistent everywhere

Name, address and phone number have to be written identically everywhere — website, Google, directories, social media. Inconsistencies cost you trust with Google.

What is realistically achievable

Local SEO works faster than classic SEO: first improvements are often visible after four to eight weeks. For a newly opened dental practice we reached the local top three this way — entirely without an advertising budget. Exactly how, you can read in the Die Dentalerie case.