Key takeaways
Local SEO makes a business visible on searches tied to a place: “plumber Nantes”, “restaurant near me”. Google ranks these results according to three criteria it publishes: relevance, distance and prominence. You work on the Business Profile, the website, reviews and local mentions.
- No payment moves a profile up in local rankings, according to Google.
- The work covers four areas: Business Profile, local pages on the site, customer reviews, local citations and links.
- AI assistants are entering local search: 45% of the US consumers surveyed use them in 2026 (BrightLocal).
What is local SEO?
Local SEO, or local search optimisation, makes a business visible when the user looks for a product or service in a specific area. The query contains a place (“lawyer Lyon 3”), a proximity (“near me”) or nothing at all: Google then infers the local intent from the device’s location.
Local SEO plays out on three surfaces of the results page:
- the local pack and Google Maps, fed by Business Profiles;
- the classic organic results, where the site’s pages rank (city pages, service pages);
- AI-generated answers (AI Overviews and AI Mode), rolled out in France since July 22, 2026 according to Google.
Definition
Local SEO is a branch of organic search. It builds on its foundations: technical, content, popularity. It adds a geographical dimension: the address, the service area, reviews and consistent contact details across the web.
It concerns shops, restaurants, independent professionals, tradespeople and branch networks. It also concerns businesses without a storefront that work at their customers’ premises, provided they declare a service area.
How does Google rank local results?
Google itself describes the three criteria of its local ranking in the Business Profile help:
| Criterion | What Google assesses | Lever |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | How well the profile matches the search | Right category, services, description, site pages |
| Distance | How far the business is from the location of the search | None, apart from the real address and an accurate service area |
| Prominence | The business’s reputation, online and offline | Reviews, links, articles, directories, mentions |
The same page clarifies a point that is often misunderstood. No request and no payment can get you a better local ranking. Local ads exist, but they remain advertising, separate from organic ranking.
What practitioners say
Google does not publish the weight of each signal. Whitespark’s Local Search Ranking Factors report (published on November 6, 2025) gives an expert view: 47 specialists rated 187 factors. Their top 5 for the local pack:
- the profile’s primary category;
- proximity to the point of search;
- keywords in the business name;
- an address in the city searched;
- being open at the time of the search.
Warning
Experts rank keywords in the name among the strong signals. Yet Google’s rules forbid adding anything other than the business’s real name. A profile with an inflated name risks suspension: the ranking gain is not worth that risk.
The four areas of local SEO work
A local SEO plan covers four areas. Each one mainly acts on one of Google’s criteria.
1. The Google Business Profile
It is the first lever for the local pack and Google Maps. A verified, complete and up-to-date profile: exact name, precise primary category, real opening hours, photos, services, links. The details of creating, verifying and optimising it are in our guide to the Google My Business listing.
2. The website and local pages
The website carries relevance in the organic results. Plan one page per service and per area actually covered, with content specific to each city: team, jobs carried out, access. It then answers the local search intent. Duplicated city pages where only the name changes add nothing and dilute the site.
The LocalBusiness markup documented by Google describes the business’s address, opening hours and phone number. It complements the page without replacing it; our page on structured data explains how to set it up.
3. Customer reviews
Reviews feed prominence in Google’s eyes and the customer’s decision. BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 surveyed 1,002 US consumers (published on February 11, 2026). 74% only take into account reviews from the last three months. 89% expect a reply from the business.
The Google Maps policy forbids reviews that are bought or obtained in exchange for something (a discount, a gift). Asking every customer for a review, without conditions, remains allowed and it is the most sustainable method.
4. Local citations and links
A citation mentions the business’s name, address and phone number on another site: directory, chamber of commerce, local media, trade federation. The rule is consistency: the same spelling everywhere. Links from local sites (a sports club you sponsor, the regional press, partners) strengthen prominence; the method belongs to link building.
What role does AI play in local search?
Local search no longer goes only through Google Maps. The BrightLocal 2026 survey measures a sharp rise in the use of AI assistants to find a local business.
45%
of the US consumers surveyed use a generative AI tool to look for a local business, compared with 6% in 2025.
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, 1,002 respondents, published on February 11, 2026.
These figures concern the United States and are self-reported. No equivalent published measurement for France had been found as of September 24, 2026.
In France, Google has displayed AI Overviews and offered AI Mode since July 22, 2026. These answers draw on indexed pages and on the business’s public information. A profile that is inconsistent with the website, or old reviews, end up in the generated answer. Work on the brand entity, described in our page on GEO optimisation, therefore extends local SEO.
How do you measure local SEO results?
Three sources are enough to steer, each with its limits:
- Business Profile performance: views, searches, calls, direction requests, website clicks.
- Google Search Console: impressions and clicks of the site’s local pages in the organic results.
- Geolocated rank tracking: local pack rankings change from one street to the next. A grid-based snapshot gives a more accurate picture than a single position.
Connect these figures to real enquiries: calls, forms, store visits when they can be measured. More views without more contacts often signals a profile that shows up on the wrong queries.
Where do you start a local SEO project?
- Claim and verify the profile: check that only one profile exists per location and that it is tied to the business.
- Fix the basic information: real name, primary category, opening hours, address or service area, phone number, website.
- Align contact details on the website, directories and social media.
- Create or rework the site’s local pages, one per service and per area actually covered.
- Set up a review routine: systematic requests, a reply to every review, positive or negative.
- Measure every month: profile, Search Console, rankings by area, contacts generated.
For an existing site, an SEO audit that includes the local side keeps you from working on the wrong areas. Local SEO remains ongoing work: the profile, reviews and pages evolve with the business.
Frequently asked questions
What is local SEO?
Local SEO is the set of actions that make a business visible on searches tied to a place. It works on the Google Business Profile, the website’s pages, customer reviews and mentions of the business on other sites. Google ranks these results by relevance, distance and prominence.
What are the 3 types of SEO, or the 4 pillars?
Three areas are generally distinguished: technical (crawling, indexing, performance), content (answering search intent) and popularity (links and mentions). Some methods add a fourth pillar, often user experience. These splits are practitioners’ conventions, not Google categories. Local SEO applies these areas to a geographical zone, with the Business Profile and reviews on top.
How much does local SEO cost?
There is no published reference price. The cost depends on the number of locations, the state of the profiles, the local pages to create and the competition in the area. A single-location business can manage its profile and reviews on its own. A branch network usually needs a multi-profile management tool and outside support.
Do you need a physical address to do local SEO?
No. A business that travels to its customers can create a profile by hiding its address and declaring a service area. Google does, however, forbid virtual offices and PO boxes as a business address.
Can you pay Google to rank better locally?
No. Google states that no payment and no request can get you a better local ranking. Local ads are advertising placements separate from local SEO’s organic ranking.
Sources
- Google, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Business Profile Help, undated page. Accessed on September 26, 2026.
- Google, Guidelines for representing your business on Google, undated page. Accessed on September 26, 2026.
- Google Search Central, Local business (LocalBusiness) structured data. Accessed on September 26, 2026.
- Google, Prohibited & restricted content, Maps user-contributed content policy. Accessed on September 26, 2026.
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, 1,002 US consumers, published on February 11, 2026. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
- Whitespark, 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors, 47 experts, published on November 6, 2025. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
- Google France, Lancement des Aperçus IA et du Mode IA dans la Recherche Google en France (in French), published on July 22, 2026. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
