Local SEO for Small Businesses: Google Business Profile, Map Pack and Directories, Checked for You

What local search does

People find a plumber, a clinic or a hotel on the map and in its Google Business Profile as well as in the regular results. Local search keeps an eye on that side for you, on a schedule, and tells you what to fix in plain steps. Everything runs by itself while your plan is active; the one thing worth checking is the list of places you serve.

Who it's for, decided for you

Local search is built for businesses that customers visit, or that work in named places. BlogAmplify decides from your business type, your main market, the places you serve and what your site shows (a street address in its structured data, or a Google Business Profile that links to your site or shares its phone number), and gives the reason in one sentence.

• Apart from trades, places you serve count only when your main market is one country: a business that sells worldwide has no map results to win.
• When one lookup could settle it, such as an online shop that may also have a showroom, the business is looked up in Google Maps once every 90 days, and local search switches on if a listing for your site turns up.
• The decision is never final. Switch local search on or off yourself, and BlogAmplify follows your choice.

Businesses that go to the customer are tracked place by place: up to 10 places you serve, the first 2 used for map searches. Businesses people visit are tracked where they are.

The Google Business Profile check

BlogAmplify doesn't need access to your profile account. Once a month it searches Google Maps for your business the way a customer would and recognises your listing by its website, else its phone, else every distinctive word of your name among the first three results. If your listing goes by another name, give it the words to search for.

Each problem comes with fix steps, usually in your profile at business.google.com. After you change something, "Check again" reads the listing at once, up to 3 times a day.

Weekly map rankings and the map pack

Local search tracks up to 6 searches people in your places would type, such as "ac repair phoenix az": a service plus a place, with its state or region when you gave one, so the search finds the right town. They never include your business's name, and they are chosen again when your services, your places or your listing's category change.

Every 7 days, each search is checked in Google Maps:

• the first 20 listings are read, ads left out;
• your position, if you are among them;
• whether you are in the map pack, which we count as positions 1 to 3;
• the first 3 other businesses shown, with their rating and reviews;
• 12 weeks of history for each search.

LocalBusiness code to paste

Local search gives you LocalBusiness structured data filled in with your details, ready to copy into your site. It starts from the structured data already on your pages, else from your map listing, and adds the places you serve for a business that goes to the customer and a link to your map listing when one is found. Its shape, with placeholders where your details go:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "Your business name",
  "url": "https://www.example.com",
  "telephone": "Your main phone number",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "Your street",
    "addressLocality": "Your town",
    "postalCode": "Your postal code"
  },
  "areaServed": ["A place you serve", "Another place you serve"],
  "hasMap": "Your Google Maps listing"
}
</script>

The type is your own kind of business when your pages already name one, such as Plumber or Dentist, else LocalBusiness. To write structured data for other pages, try the free schema markup generator.

Local checks in the site audit

While local search is on, Site Health adds five checks to its audit, judged from your pages as the nightly crawl reads them. Each comes with why it matters and fix steps for Shopify, WordPress and other platforms.

Directories by country

Every 30 days, BlogAmplify searches Google for your business's name and town and looks for your profile on each directory that suits your country and kind of business. A result counts only when its title carries your business's name, so a "best plumbers in town" list on the same directory isn't mistaken for your profile. Mark any directory "I'm listed" or "Not for me" yourself.

Directories with a kind in brackets are shown only to businesses of that kind. Outside these countries, the ones listed for everywhere apply.

Local best-of pages for Get listed

Each month, up to 3 "best <service> in <place>" searches are read. The lists among their top 10 results, on sites that aren't competitors, vendors or platforms, join your Get listed board with the search and the position they had, ready for a pitch you send from your own email.

What local search doesn't do

• It doesn't sign in to or change your Google Business Profile. You make the changes; the fix steps say where.
• It doesn't create directory profiles or submit your business anywhere. Each row links to where you add yourself.
• It never asks for, buys or writes reviews. The fix steps say how to ask customers, and never to pay for reviews.
• It doesn't change your site's code. The LocalBusiness code is for you to paste.
• It doesn't run for software, publications, marketplaces or online-only shops unless you switch it on.
• It doesn't promise map positions. It measures them every week, so you can see what your changes did.

Blog topics for a local business still come from the content planner, which plans local formats such as local guides alongside the rest.

With the assistant and connected AI apps

The in-app assistant reads your local search status (the profile, map rankings, directories and the LocalBusiness code), checks your profile again and marks a directory for you, with Undo. AI apps you connect to BlogAmplify, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, use the same tools, and their Local search check-up prompt tells you what to fix first. See connecting AI apps.

Local search is part of Growth, Growth + AI Visibility and extra websites, for every website it applies to. Prices are on the pricing page, and every feature is on the features page.