Local SEO checklist for small businesses

By Mintinaj team · Updated October 11, 2026 · 3 min read

1. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile

• Choose the most precise primary category, then add secondary ones.
• Add opening hours, holiday hours, services, photos and a link to your site.
• Write a short, factual description of what you do and where.
• Post updates and answer questions from time to time.

2. Keep name, address and phone identical everywhere

Search engines compare your details across your site, maps and directories. Use exactly the same format everywhere, including abbreviations and the way you write the phone number.

3. List your business on other maps

• Bing Places for Business.
• Apple Business Connect, for Apple Maps.
• Relevant local and industry directories in your country.

4. Make your website local

• Put your city or area and your main service in the page title and the first heading, naturally.
• Create a section or page for each main service.
• Show your address, phone and opening hours, and link to a map.
• Add LocalBusiness structured data with the same details.
• If you serve several towns, describe the work you do there; do not copy the same page with only the town name changed.

5. Speed and phones

Most local searches happen on phones. Make sure pages load quickly, text is readable without zooming and the phone number is a tap-to-call link.

6. Reviews, the honest way

• Ask happy customers for a review soon after the visit, with a direct link.
• Reply to reviews, including negative ones, politely and briefly.
• Never buy reviews or write your own. Platforms remove them, and in many countries fake reviews are illegal.

7. Track a few things every month

• Calls, direction requests and website clicks from your Google Business Profile.
• Searches and clicks in Google Search Console.
• Your position for a handful of key searches, such as “[service] in [city]”.
• Whether AI answer engines mention you for the same questions. See our GEO basics guide.

With Mintinaj

Every site we build has clean titles, structured data and a sitemap. Our optional SEO & Google growth add-on (from $49 a month) adds a Google Business Profile checklist with your details ready to copy, weekly technical checks, keyword tracking and a monthly report. No guaranteed rankings, no link buying, no fake reviews. See the SEO plans.

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