Local SEO Checklist: 30 Points to Rank on Maps and in AI Answers (2026)

Quick quiz

How should you get more local customers from Google?

Question 1 of 425%

Is your Google Business Profile complete?

No, or I don't know what it isPartlyYes, with photos and reviews

Google Maps is used by more than 2 billion people a month and lists around 250 million businesses and places, according to Google's own figures (February 2025). To stand out in that crowd, a business needs a local SEO checklist it can run once at launch, then again every quarter. This one groups 30 actions by area, gives each area a priority, and adds what most checklists skip: how AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity choose the local businesses they recommend.

If the subject is new to you, start with the definition of local SEO. This guide assumes you know what the local pack is: the block of three businesses shown with a map at the top of local results.

How does Google rank local businesses?

Google's help page Tips to improve your local ranking on Google names three factors:

• Relevance: how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. Complete, detailed information improves it.
• Distance: how far the business is from the person searching, or from the place named in the search.
• Prominence: how well known the business is. Google says this also depends on the links pointing to your site and on the number of reviews you have.

The same page states that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Every point of this checklist therefore works on relevance (complete, precise information) or on prominence (reviews, mentions, links). Distance stays fixed, except that declaring the real areas you serve keeps you eligible for searches made there.

The checklist at a glance

Google Business Profile checklist (points 1 to 8)

The Google Business Profile is the free listing shown in Google Maps and in the local pack. It feeds most local results, so it comes first.

1. Claim and verify the profile. Google says verification tells it you are authorised to represent the business, which makes the profile more likely to appear. The methods (video, phone, mail) and common failures are covered in our guide to verifying a Google Business Profile.
2. Use your real-world name. Google's guidelines for representing your business require the name used on your storefront and forbid adding taglines, keywords or phone numbers. A stuffed name is a frequent cause of suspension.
3. Pick the most precise primary category. It is the strongest relevance signal on the profile. Google asks for as few categories as possible, so add secondary ones only for services you really sell.
4. Set the address or service area. A business that receives customers shows its address. A service-area business (plumber, cleaner, mobile hairdresser) hides it and lists the towns it covers. P.O. boxes and virtual offices are not eligible.
5. Fill in hours. Include special hours too. Wrong hours lead to wasted trips and angry reviews. Add special hours before every public holiday and closure.
6. List services or products. Each entry, with a short description, adds the words that match real searches.
7. Add real photos. Then keep adding them: storefront, team, premises, finished work. Customers compare photos before calling; stock images tell them nothing.
8. Complete the description and attributes. Payment methods, accessibility, parking, languages spoken: these details answer filtered searches and give AI assistants precise facts to repeat.

Check the profile once a month. Users and Google can suggest edits, and an accepted wrong edit (new hours, a closed status, a moved pin) can cost calls for weeks before anyone notices.

How do you get and manage reviews? (points 9 to 13)

Reviews count toward prominence, and they are the first thing customers compare in the map pack. The goal is a steady flow of genuine reviews, not a burst once a year.

1. Create a review link. Turn it into a QR code as well. Send the link right after the service, by text message or email. Our method to get more Google reviews includes message templates.
2. Ask every customer. Google's policy on prohibited and restricted content forbids selectively soliciting positive reviews, discouraging negative ones, and offering payment, discounts or free services in exchange for a review.
3. Reply to every review. Do it within a few days. Google notes that replying shows customers you value their feedback. Answer negative reviews calmly, with facts and without personal data.
4. Build a second review source. Depending on your trade: Facebook, Yelp, Tripadvisor, Trustpilot or a professional directory. AI assistants cross-check several sources before recommending a business.
5. Flag fake reviews. Report them from the profile instead of arguing in a reply; reviews that break the policy can be removed.

A business with recent reviews that mention its services and its town gives both Google and AI assistants the words they need to match it to a query.

How do you keep your NAP and citations consistent? (points 14 to 18)

NAP stands for name, address and phone number. Google, Bing, Apple Maps, directories and AI assistants compare these details across sources: when they match, the business looks reliable; when they differ, each source weakens the others.

1. Write one reference version of your name, address, phone, website and hours, with the same street spelling and phone format everywhere.
2. Claim the main platforms beyond Google: Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Facebook, and the leading directories of your country and trade.
3. Audit your existing citations. Search your business name and phone number to find every local citation; old addresses and former phone numbers are the usual errors after a move.
4. Remove or merge duplicates. Google allows one profile per business. Two listings for one place split reviews and confuse ranking.
5. Update every listing on the same day. When hours, phone or address change, a listing management routine avoids months of mismatched data.

What should your website include for local SEO? (points 19 to 24)

The profile wins the map. The website wins the organic results below it, supports the profile's relevance, and gives AI assistants a page they can cite.

1. Research local keywords first. Combine services, places and modifiers (near me, emergency, open now, cheap) and check what Google shows for each. Our method for local keyword research goes step by step.
2. One page per main service. A single Services page listing everything ranks for nothing in particular.
3. One page per location or main area served, with unique content: team, access, local projects, prices or delays specific to the area. Our guide to local landing pages shows how to avoid near-duplicate city pages.
4. Localise titles, H1 and meta descriptions. "Boiler Repair in Bristol" states the service and the place in four words. One place per page, no list of towns in the title.
5. Show the NAP on every page (usually in the footer), make the phone number clickable on mobile, and embed a map on the contact or location page.
6. Answer local questions in plain text: prices, delays, areas covered, guarantees, emergency service. These short passages are what AI assistants extract when someone asks who repairs boilers on a Sunday in Bristol.

Which structured data and technical checks matter? (points 25 to 27)

1. Add LocalBusiness structured data in JSON-LD, on the home page for a single location or on each location page. Google's LocalBusiness documentation requires only name and address, and recommends telephone, url, geo coordinates, opening hours and the most specific subtype (Plumber, Dentist, Restaurant). A full example is in our article on local business schema.
2. Check mobile display and speed. Local searches are often made on a phone, on the move: test your contact and service pages on a mobile connection and fix what delays the display.
3. Check indexing. Make sure your pages are indexed and readable by crawlers: check the page indexing report in Search Console, and make sure robots.txt does not block GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot if you want to be cited by AI assistants.

Validate the markup with Google's Rich Results Test before publishing, and keep the hours in the markup identical to those on the profile.

Links, tracking and AI visibility (points 28 to 30)

1. Earn local links from suppliers, partners, local press, sponsorships, trade associations and chambers of commerce. Links count toward prominence; more ideas in our guide to local link building.
2. Track rankings by location. Map positions change from one street to the next, so one national rank means little. See how local rank tracking works, and estimate what a gain is worth with the local SEO ROI calculator.
3. Check AI answers. See what AI assistants say about you: ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity for the best [service] in [city] and note whether you are cited, and who is cited instead.

How does local SEO work in AI answers?

When someone asks an AI assistant for a plumber or a dentist nearby, the answer draws on map data, review platforms, directories and business websites. Our study of directories in AI answers looks at which listings get cited. The checklist above already covers the signals these answers rely on: consistent data, genuine reviews and pages that say clearly what you do and where.

The missing piece is measurement, because Search Console does not show AI answers. Sorank's AI mention tracking runs your questions on ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini every week (plus Perplexity and Grok from the Pro plan) and shows whether your business is cited and who appears in its place.

Where should you start?

With one day available, do points 1 to 13: a verified, complete profile and a steady flow of genuine reviews. Fix your NAP, build service and location pages and add structured data during the first month. Local SEO rewards consistency more than any single action: run this checklist again every quarter, and every time you move, change phone number or add a service.

For the website part, Sorank's keyword research finds the local queries worth a page, then Sorank writes and publishes the matching articles in autopilot, with internal links and sources, so your pages keep answering what customers ask Google and AI assistants.