Local SEO rewards disciplined execution of unglamorous fundamentals. This checklist is the core of what we audit for clients, in a form any business owner can work through. Google's local results run on three families of signals — relevance, distance, and prominence — and every item below feeds one of them.
You can't change your distance from the searcher, so this list concentrates on the two you control: relevance (how clearly Google understands what you do and where) and prominence (how much verifiable evidence exists that you're good at it).
1. Google Business Profile
Your profile is the engine of local visibility. Claim and verify it at the official Google Business Profile site, then complete every field honestly.
- Exact business name — no keywords stuffed in (a guidelines violation that invites suspension)
- Primary category chosen precisely; secondary categories for real services only
- Services and products listed with descriptions
- Accurate hours, including holidays; attributes completed
- Real photos of your work, space, and team — added regularly
- Google Posts used for genuine updates and offers
2. Citations and NAP consistency
Your name, address, and phone number must be identical everywhere they appear online.
- Audit existing listings (search your business name + phone number)
- Fix mismatched addresses, old phone numbers, duplicate listings
- Ensure the core platforms are correct: Google, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp, Facebook
- Add the directories that matter for your category and for LA specifically
3. Reviews
Count, rating, recency, and content all matter — to rankings and to the customer deciding whether to call.
- Build the ask into your workflow at the moment of customer satisfaction
- Never buy, incentivize, or gate reviews (policy violations with real penalties)
- Respond to every review, positive and negative, like a human
- Watch for review keywords — they teach Google what you should rank for
4. Website local signals
Your site confirms and amplifies what your profile claims.
- A dedicated, substantive page per core service
- Genuinely distinct pages for each real service area — never duplicated city templates
- Name, address, phone consistent with your profile (once confirmed), ideally with LocalBusiness structured data
- Fast on mobile — local searches are overwhelmingly mobile
- Embed or link your Google profile; make tap-to-call effortless
5. Measure like it matters
Set up Google Search Console and check it monthly: which queries show your site, where you rank, what gets clicks. Inside your Business Profile, review the performance data — calls, direction requests, website clicks. Local SEO without measurement is superstition.
If you work through this list and visibility still lags, the gap is usually competitive — someone is simply doing more of this, better. That's the point where an audit earns its keep.