Service · Local SEO

Consistency across the web is how Google knows you're real.

Your business name, address, and phone need to match everywhere — Google Business Profile, your website, Yelp, BBB, HomeStars, every directory you're listed on. Inconsistency is the single most common reason established trades businesses underperform in the map results, and it's almost always invisible to the owner.

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What it is

Local SEO is the work that wins the map results.

When someone in Calgary searches "furnace repair near me," the three businesses that appear above the organic results — the "map pack" or "local pack" — get the overwhelming majority of the clicks and the calls. Local SEO is the practice of getting your business into those three spots and keeping it there.

The ranking factors for the local pack are different from the ones for organic search. Distance from the searcher matters. Reviews matter enormously. But the foundation of all of it is: does Google believe this business actually exists, at this address, with this phone number, in this category? That belief is built from consistency across hundreds of data sources — and broken by the smallest mismatch.

What we do

  • Google Business Profile optimization. Most trades GBPs are claimed but bare. We complete every field: services list with descriptions, photos with proper geotagging, business hours including holidays, products if applicable, and the Q&A section pre-seeded with the questions customers actually ask.
  • NAP audit and cleanup. NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone. We pull your listing from every major directory (Yelp, BBB, HomeStars, YellowPages, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Facebook, ServiceMaster, plus 30+ industry-specific) and flag every variant — different suite numbers, abbreviated street names, old phone numbers from before you rebranded. We then submit corrections to each one.
  • Citation building. Where you should be listed but aren't. We build out the missing citations on the directories that actually pass authority to your local pack ranking.
  • Neighbourhood pages. One page per service area you cover, written for that area specifically — local landmarks, common housing types, neighbourhood-specific service notes. These compete for hyperlocal searches that the homepage can't.
  • Google Maps category and attribute selection. Choosing the wrong primary category in GBP can cap your local-pack visibility. We audit and reset.
  • Review velocity and recency. Local pack ranking weights recent reviews more than old ones. We coordinate with the review-generation playbook to keep the velocity up year-round.

Why this is the work most agencies skip

NAP cleanup is unglamorous. There's no creative deliverable to show in a presentation. It involves spreadsheets, manual submissions, and waiting for directories to process changes. Most agencies skip it because it doesn't demo well — but it's often the single biggest unlock for established trades businesses with 10+ years of accumulated inconsistencies.

The sequence

For a typical engagement: week one is the GBP audit and optimization (immediate impact). Weeks two through four are the NAP audit and corrections submission (impact rolls in over 60 days as directories process). Weeks four onward are neighbourhood page builds and ongoing citation maintenance. Most clients see local-pack visibility improvements in 30 to 60 days, and ranking gains compound from month three forward.

Common questions

Local SEO, answered.

Does local SEO matter if I'm not on Google Maps?

If you're a service business in any Canadian city, you should be on Google Maps. Even service-area businesses with no walk-in storefront can have a GBP — Google has specific configurations for this. If you're not there, you're invisible to the customers using "near me" searches.

How is this different from "regular" SEO?

Regular (organic) SEO is about ranking your website pages in the blue links. Local SEO is about ranking your business in the map pack. They overlap — both matter for trades businesses — but the ranking factors are different. Local SEO weights review profile and citation consistency much more heavily.

Can I clean up my NAP listings myself?

Technically yes. Practically: there are 40+ directories, each with its own claim flow, verification process, and edit interface. It's a 30–40 hour project to do right, and many directories require ongoing re-submissions when listings drift. We use both manual submissions and aggregator services where appropriate.

What if I changed my business name or address?

This is the single most common cause of NAP inconsistency. Old listings persist on directories you forgot existed. We handle the migration end-to-end, including 301 redirects from any old domain, GBP merging if you had multiple listings, and a 90-day verification cycle to ensure nothing reverts.

Free Audit · 48 hr turnaround

Find out where your local listings disagree.

The audit pulls every directory listing for your business and flags every NAP mismatch — plus the missing citations that should be there.

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