Plain-English SEO tips for local business owners
Short, honest notes on the small things that decide whether people find your business online — and pick it. No jargon, no upsell. Each one is a single afternoon-sized job you can do yourself, in order, whenever you have a spare half hour.
I manage this for the businesses on my plan, but none of it is secret. If you would rather do it yourself, here is exactly how — the same checklist I work from, written plainly.
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The padlock is not optional
Check that your site loads with a padlock. No padlock is a problem to fix today.
Security -
Don't say the same thing twice
Find any near-duplicate pages. Give each a real reason to exist, or combine them.
Site structure -
Answer the questions out loud
Write down the five questions you're asked most. Put the answers on your site.
Content -
Write the thing only you can write
Write one piece answering a question your clients actually ask. Make it the best answer online.
Content -
Compress before you upload
Pick a free image compressor and bookmark it. Compress every image before it goes on the site, from now on.
Photos -
Real photos beat stock every time
Replace one stock photo with a real one this week. Start with the most important page.
Photos -
Match the question behind the search
Pick one phrase you want to rank for. Ask: what does this person actually want? Does your page give it to them?
Copywriting -
Keyword stuffing reads like a liar
Read your homepage out loud. If any sentence sounds like it was written for a machine, rewrite it for a human.
Copywriting -
Readable web addresses
Look at your page URLs. If they're gibberish, that's a fix worth making.
URLs -
Get listed where your town gets listed
List three local organizations or directories you should be on. Get on the first one this week.
Local citations -
A current site outranks a stale one
Check your hours, prices, and any dates on your site. Fix the first thing that's out of date.
Freshness -
Tell Google what kind of business you are
If you're a local business or restaurant, this is worth doing properly — it's part of how I build.
Structured data -
Ask for the review, then answer it
Ask your next three happy customers for a Google review. Reply to every review you already have.
Reviews -
Put the town in the words
Add your town to your homepage headline and your contact page, if it isn't already there.
Local keywords -
One headline per page
Check that each page has one clear main headline, and that it reads like a sentence a human wrote.
Headlines -
Link your own pages to each other
Find one place on your homepage where you mention a service, and link the words to that service's page.
Internal links -
Describe your own photos
Add alt text to your three most important images. "Wood-fired sourdough on a cooling rack," not "IMG_4032."
Images -
Assume they're on a phone
Pull up your site on your phone right now. Can you book, call, or read without pinching to zoom?
Mobile -
Speed is a feature
Check your slowest page at pagespeed.web.dev. If images are the culprit, compress them.
Speed -
The meta description is your handbill
Write a 150-character description for your homepage that says what you do and why someone should pick you.
Meta description -
One page, one job
List your services. Any page covering more than one? That's tomorrow's project.
Site structure -
Write your title tag for a person, not a robot
Rewrite your homepage title as "[What you do] in [your town] — [Business name]."
Titles -
Your name, address, and phone should match everywhere
Write your name, address, and phone exactly once. Paste that everywhere from now on.
Consistency -
Claim the profile you already have
Search your business name on Google, look for "Own this business?", and claim it today.
Local search