What Is Local SEO and How It Gets You to the Top of Google

Local SEO is the work that helps customers in your city find you on Google. When someone types “plumber Rijeka” or “aesthetic clinic Zagreb”, Google first shows a few local businesses with ratings, an address and a call button. Local SEO decides whether you are one of them.

What local SEO is

Local SEO, or local search engine optimization, is a set of actions that show Google you are the right business for a given service in a given place. Unlike regular SEO, which competes for searches across a whole country, local SEO targets people looking for a service in your area, who are usually ready to call straight away.

What Google looks at in local results

Google’s guidelines name three main factors for local results:

1. Relevance. How well your profile and website match what someone searched for. Accurate categories, service descriptions and website content matter here.
2. Distance. How close you are to the person searching or the place named in the search.
3. Prominence. How well known the business is: number and rating of reviews, mentions on other sites and the strength of your website.

You cannot change distance, but you can improve relevance and prominence, and that is exactly what local SEO does.

What local SEO includes

• Google Business Profile. Accurate categories, services, opening hours, photos and regular posts.
• Reviews. A steady flow of new reviews and a reply to each one. More in the guide how to get Google reviews.
• Website. Pages for each main service and city, with clear headings and contact details.
• Business data on other sites. The same name, address and phone number in directories and portals.
• Tracking. Rankings by city and calls and enquiries from the profile, so you see what works.

How long local SEO takes

Google usually reflects the first profile changes within a few weeks. Stable top positions in a city most often take two to four months, and longer in strong competition. A real example: a plumber from Rijeka moved from 12th to 1st place in 79 days, with 35% more calls.

When it pays off

Local SEO pays off for any business whose customers come from a specific area: dental practices, clinics, real estate agencies, service businesses, joiners and contractors. Unlike ads, a position you build once keeps bringing calls even when you are not paying for clicks.

If you want an analysis of your business as it is today and what we can improve so you get more clients, see the local SEO service or book a free call.