Local SEO determines whether your contracting business shows up when someone searches for a service provider in their area. The local pack — the map and three listings at the top of local search results — captures the majority of clicks for local service queries. If you are not in the local pack, you are invisible to most potential customers.
The fundamentals are straightforward: claim and optimize your Google Business Profile, ensure consistent NAP (name, address, phone) everywhere online, collect authentic reviews, and build service area pages for each community you serve.
Google Business Profile: The Foundation of Local Visibility
Your GBP is the single most important local SEO asset. It controls the local map pack, knowledge panel, and Google Maps information. A fully optimized profile with many reviews ranks dramatically better than a bare-bones listing.
Complete every field. Choose the most specific primary category. Add all relevant secondary categories. Write a thorough business description with service areas and specialties. Add photos of your work, team, vehicles, and location.
Post updates weekly. Share completed project photos, seasonal tips, and service announcements. Each post provides a relevance signal. It takes 5 minutes per week and costs nothing.
1. Verify ownership and complete all fields
2. Select specific primary category + secondaries
3. Write thorough description with service areas
4. Add 25+ high-quality photos
5. Post weekly updates with project photos
6. Respond to every review within 48 hours
7. Add services list with descriptions
Local SEO Foundry
Plan and track your local SEO strategy. Manage business citations, review profiles, NAP consistency, and Google Business Profile optimization for contractors and local service businesses.
NAP Consistency Across the Web
NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone Number. Google cross-references your information across directories and citation sources to verify accuracy. Inconsistencies confuse the algorithm and reduce your ranking.
Audit your existing citations first. Search for your business name, phone number, and address on Google. Fix any listing where NAP does not exactly match your GBP.
Build citations systematically starting with major data aggregators that feed hundreds of smaller directories. Then manually claim the top 20 citation sources for your industry.
Review Generation and Response Strategy
Reviews are the second most important local ranking factor. Both quantity and quality matter. A business with many reviews and high ratings outranks one with few perfect reviews because Google values the larger sample size.
Ask every satisfied customer for a review within 24 hours of completing the job with a direct link. Contractors who systematically ask get 5 to 10 times more reviews than those who wait for spontaneous reviews.
Respond to every review within 48 hours. For positive reviews, thank the customer and mention the work performed. For negative reviews, respond professionally and offer to resolve offline.
Service Area Pages for Geographic Reach
Create individual pages for each major community you serve. A page targeting a specific city and service performs better than a generic service areas page. Each page needs unique content, not the same text with city name swapped.
Effective pages include: headline with city and service, 500+ words with local references, customer testimonials from that area, and a clear call to action with your phone number.
Do not create thin duplicate pages for every zip code. Google penalizes doorway pages. Focus on 5 to 15 communities where you do the most business. Quality over quantity.
1. Copy-pasting with city name swapped (doorway pages)
2. Creating pages for areas you do not serve
3. Keyword stuffing city names
4. Missing NAP and calls to action
5. No unique testimonials or local references