The local SEO checklist for contractors, in 20 steps

Local search for a contractor comes down to two places: the map results and your own website. Google's local ranking help page says results depend on relevance, distance and prominence, and that a better local position can't be bought or requested. So the work is a checklist, done carefully and kept up. Go through these in order and tick each one off. If you want the reasoning behind the list, our guide to local SEO for contractors explains how the pieces fit.

1. Claim and verify your Business Profile

Search for your company on Google Maps. If a profile exists, claim it; if not, create one. Then finish verification, which Google lists first among its local ranking tips: it tells Google you're authorized to represent the business, which Google says makes the profile more likely to show up in search results. Make your company email the primary owner and give any employee or vendor manager access only, so you can always remove them later.

2. Use your real business name, nothing added

Google's profile guidelines say the profile name should be the name customers know you by, used the same way on your storefront, website and stationery, and should not add marketing taglines, service descriptions or location details. "Smith Roofing" is fine. "Smith Roofing Best Roof Repair Springfield" breaks Google's rules, and Google warns that unnecessary information in the name could get the profile suspended. The name on the profile should match the one on your trucks, invoices and website.

3. Set up as a service-area business

If customers don't come to your location, Google says to hide your address and list the areas you serve instead. Its guidelines say a service area generally shouldn't extend beyond roughly two hours' driving time from your location, though Google allows larger areas for some businesses. List the towns and ZIP codes you actually want work in, not every place you would go for a big enough job. P.O. boxes and remote mailboxes aren't accepted as addresses.

4. Pick the most specific primary category

Your primary category tells Google what kind of business you are. Google's guidelines say to use as few categories as possible and to choose ones as specific as possible while still representing your main business. A gutter company should pick a gutter category over a general contractor one. Add a secondary category only for work you actively sell. Check what categories your best-ranked local competitors use for ideas, then decide what is accurate for you.

5. List every service you sell

Inside the profile, add each service by name, and write a sentence or two about each in customer language: "dryer vent cleaning," "drain cleaning," "stump grinding." Google's tips note that complete information helps it match your profile to searches. Keep the list honest. If you stopped doing a service, remove it, so you don't get calls for work you turn down.

6. Put a local number you control on the profile

Google's guidelines ask for a phone number that connects to your business, preferably local, and under your direct control. Use the same main number on your website, your profile and your directory listings. A business phone system lets you route that one number to whoever is free. Avoid swapping that number later, since old listings, signs and saved contacts keep calling it for years.

7. Link the profile to the right page and tag it

Point the website link on your profile to your home page or main service page, not a landing page on someone else's domain. Google's guidelines say the website should represent your business and not redirect elsewhere. Add tracking tags to the link so your analytics can separate profile visits from regular search visits. The lead source tracking guide shows the exact tags to use.

8. Add real job photos every month

Google's local ranking tips recommend adding photos to your profile. Upload real ones: finished jobs, the crew, the trucks with your logo, before and after shots. Skip stock images. A steady trickle of new photos shows customers the business is active. Set a monthly reminder and have the crew text their best shots to one person who uploads them. Name each file with the job and town before uploading.

9. Ask every customer for a review

Google counts your number of reviews toward prominence and says a higher count and better ratings can help your local ranking. Use the review link or QR code from your profile and send it right after each job. Ask everyone, since selectively soliciting positive reviews is against Google's Maps content policy. Google also forbids rewarding reviews with discounts, free work or cash, and a federal rule the FTC announced in August 2024 bans offering compensation or other incentives that depend on a review being positive or negative. Our reviews guide has the wording.

10. Reply to every review

Google's tips say to respond to reviews. Thank happy customers and mention the job they had done, instead of pasting the same line each time. For a bad review, reply once, calmly, with the facts and an offer to make it right offline. Future customers read the replies to judge how you handle problems. Never argue, and never post a customer's private details.

11. Build one website page per core service

A single "Services" page listing everything gives Google little to match against a specific search. Give each core service its own page: what it includes, how you price it, how long it takes, what customers ask, and real photos. That page becomes the place to send the profile link for that service and the target for ads, emails and hangers about it.

12. Add town pages with real local content

For the towns that bring you the most work, write a page per town with jobs you've done there, neighborhood details, typical house types and local rules that affect the work. A town page that only swaps the name is thin and helps nobody. For what makes a town page worth indexing, read service area pages that rank. Start with the two or three towns you most want more work in.

13. Keep name, address and phone identical everywhere

Your business name, address (if shown) and phone number should read exactly the same on your site footer, your Business Profile, Bing, Apple, Yelp, Facebook and industry directories. Search a few times a year for old numbers and old addresses and correct any listing that is out of date. Mismatched details send callers to dead numbers and give search engines conflicting information about one business.

14. Add LocalBusiness structured data

Google's LocalBusiness documentation says this markup lets you tell Google about your hours and other business details. Name and address are required properties; phone, URL and opening hours are recommended. Put it on your home page, then check it in the Rich Results Test, which Google recommends before you publish. Fix any errors it reports. If your site runs on a builder or plugin, check that it outputs the markup instead of assuming it does.

15. Verify Search Console and submit the sitemap

Verify your domain in Google Search Console, then submit your sitemap in the Sitemaps report, which Google's sitemap documentation says lets you see when Googlebot read it and any processing errors. You can also add a Sitemap line to robots.txt. Check the indexing report for service and town pages that Google hasn't picked up yet. Then look at the queries report to see which services and towns already earn impressions.

16. Claim Bing Places and Bing Webmaster Tools

Microsoft says Bing Places for Business is free and feeds Bing search and Bing Maps, and it can import your existing Google listing. On the website side, Bing Webmaster Tools will pull in sites you already verified with Google. Both take minutes once Google is done, and some of your customers search with Bing instead of Google. Check the imported listing for categories or hours that didn't come across correctly.

17. Claim your Apple Maps listing

In March 2026, Apple announced that a free service called Apple Business would replace Apple Business Connect starting April 14. It lets you manage your location details on Apple Maps, including photos and hours, and Apple says it helps businesses reach local customers across Maps, Siri and other Apple apps. Claim it, match it to your Google profile and check it twice a year. Use the same photos and hours you used on Google so the listings match.

18. Make the site fast on a phone, with HTTPS

Run your home page and top service pages through Google's PageSpeed Insights on mobile. It reports the Core Web Vitals and suggests fixes. Oversized images, heavy page builders and stacks of plugins often slow pages down. Make sure every page loads over HTTPS, and that the phone number is a tap-to-call link at the top of every page. Our website builds start from that baseline.

19. Earn mentions from local organizations

Prominence, in Google's words, is how well-known a business is, and Google ties it to signals like the number of websites linking to you and your review count. For contractors, the natural sources are local: your suppliers' dealer pages, trade associations, the chamber of commerce, a youth team you sponsor, a neighborhood association newsletter. Ask each one to list you with your exact name and website. Skip paid link schemes.

20. Check the results monthly

Once a month, look at the Business Profile performance numbers, Search Console queries, and calls and forms by source in your CRM. Note which services and towns are growing and which aren't, and choose one page or profile fix for the next month. Local SEO is slow and cumulative, so the monthly habit matters more than any single change. Our local SEO service runs this routine for owners who don't have the time.

Where to start

If you can do only three things this month, do these. Get the Business Profile claimed and verified under your real name and a specific primary category (items 1, 2 and 4). Send your review link after every job (item 9). Build a proper page for your most profitable service (item 11). Everything else on the list makes those three stronger, so work through the rest in order over the following months.

Frequently asked questions