National SEO doesn't matter much if you're a Canterbury accountant. What matters is appearing when someone nearby types what you do. Here's what actually moves the needle for a local business.
Your Google Business Profile is the priority
Before your website ranking, most local searches show a map. Claiming and completing your profile — accurate hours, categories, services, and real photographs — is the single highest-return thing a local business can do online. It costs nothing.
Reviews, asked for properly
Reviews move local results more than almost anything else you can do. The trick is making it natural to ask: a short message at the point where someone's already told you they were happy. Sending a link is easy; remembering to send it at the right moment is the actual work.
Be consistent everywhere you're listed
Your business name, phone number and address should match exactly wherever they appear — directories, social accounts, old listings, that leaflet someone typed in years ago. Mismatches are one of the most common reasons local rankings stay low for no obvious reason.
A page for each town you work in
If you cover Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay, that's three different searches. Genuinely useful pages for each — naming what you actually do there — tend to win them, where one page with the town name swapped around does not.
Ask for reviews on the right days
The best time is after the customer has told you they were happy, before they've left the building. Not a month later by email, when they've forgotten. That single change to when you ask does more for local rankings than anything else on this list.