Search for "accountant near me" or "landscaper Nottingham" and look at what Google shows first: a map with three businesses. That's the local pack, and for local service businesses it's the most valuable real estate on the internet. Here's how to earn your way in.
1. Take your Google Business Profile seriously
Your Google Business Profile (the old "Google My Business") is the single biggest local ranking factor. Most businesses set it up once and forget it. Instead: fill in every field, choose categories precisely, add photos monthly, post updates, and answer every question. Google rewards profiles that look alive.
2. Reviews — quantity, recency and replies
Reviews are both a ranking factor and the thing customers actually read. Build a simple habit: ask every happy customer, make it one click easy (a QR code or direct link), and reply to every review — including the awkward ones. A steady trickle of recent reviews beats a burst of old ones.
3. Get your NAP consistent
Your Name, Address and Phone number should be identical everywhere they appear — your website, directories, social profiles. Inconsistencies make Google trust your listing less. It's boring work that quietly moves rankings.
4. Build location relevance into your website
Google connects your profile to your website, so the website needs to say where you work. That means your service area on the homepage, a proper contact page with your location, and — if you serve multiple towns — genuinely useful pages for each area, not thin copy-paste pages with the town name swapped.
5. Earn local mentions
Links and mentions from other Nottingham organisations — suppliers, chambers of commerce, local press, sponsorships, community groups — tell Google you're a real local business. One genuine local link is worth more than fifty spammy directory listings.
The compounding effect
None of this works overnight, and all of it compounds. The businesses winning the map pack in Nottingham right now are mostly just the ones who've done the boring things consistently for the longest. Start now, and in six months you're the incumbent.
Want to know where you currently stand? Ask us for a free local SEO review — we'll show you exactly what's holding your ranking back.
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