Local SEO mistakes (SEO Guy)

Every time I audit a local business I find the same mistakes over and over.

Meta title says Home. Change it to your keyword plus city. Took me 30 seconds to fix this for a plastic surgeon and their rankings shot up overnight.

No address in the website footer. Google wants to see where you are located on your actual site. Add it. Watch what happens.

H1 tag says Welcome to Our Company. Nobody searches welcome to our company. Put your service plus your city in there. AC Repair San Diego. Roofer Fort Worth. Plumber Gilbert.

GBP category is wrong. You are a kitchen remodeler but your category says contractor. Search your keyword. Match what the top 3 have. This alone can double your calls.

No photos uploaded in 6 months. Google thinks you are dead. Upload weekly. Job site photos. Team photos. Truck photos. Anything that shows you have a pulse.

Review responses are generic. “Thank you for your review.” That does nothing. Put keywords in your responses. “We love serving customers in the Austin area for all their plumbing needs.” Feed the algorithm.

Citations have wrong phone number. Your old number is still on YellowPages and Yelp and 40 other sites. Inconsistent NAP is killing you. Fix it everywhere.

No location pages. You serve 15 cities but have one homepage. Build a page for each city. Each page targets that city plus your service. Stop making Google guess.

Blogs about topics nobody searches. The history of air conditioning is not getting you leads. Build pages that target buyers.

Not asking employees to use Google Maps directions when they drive to work. Engagement signals matter. Every time someone navigates to your address Google notices.

No GBP posts in 3 months. Weekly updates with photos and keywords. Takes 5 minutes. Shows Google you exist.

Only one GBP when you could have three. Get offices in different parts of your metro. Triple your coverage.

Relying on a service area business when every competitor has a physical pin. You cannot win that fight. Get a real address.

Not tracking calls. You have no idea how many leads you get or where they come from. Install call tracking today. Stop guessing.

Website loads in 8 seconds on mobile. People bounce before they see anything. Fix your page speed or your rankings mean nothing.

No schema markup telling Google your business name address and hours. Easy win that most people skip.

Backlinks from the same garbage sites as everyone else. Get local links. Sponsor a little league team. Join the chamber. Guest on a local podcast.

Ignoring Reddit. Your city subreddit has people asking for recommendations every day. Be helpful. Build trust.

Not listed on niche directories for your industry. Plumbers need plumber directories. HVAC needs HVAC directories.