Local SEO (search engine optimisation) gets your business seen by people nearby who are searching for what you do. Someone types "landscapers chesterfield" or "electrician near me". Google answers with a map and three businesses, called the map pack, above the normal website results. Local SEO is how you get into those three places, and into the results underneath.
Traditional SEO is the general kind. It ranks a web page for searches where location doesn't matter, like "how to lay a patio". If your customers come from the towns around you, local SEO comes first, because that's where the phone calls are.
We do local SEO for UK service businesses. Most of the client figures here come from one of them, Coppermill Landscapes in Chesterfield. They're from a ranking check we ran on 29 October 2026 and the business's own Google Business Profile. How Google ranks local results comes from Google's own help page, linked below.
The map pack and the normal results are two separate races
Search for a service and a town, and the results page usually splits in two.
- The map pack sits at the top: a map and three businesses, each with its reviews and star rating. These listings are Google Business Profiles (GBP for short), the free listing a business sets up on Google Maps. So your profile is what shows here, not your website.
- The normal results sit underneath. These are the blue links to websites, ranked on how well each page answers the search.
A business can sit high in one and lower in the other. On 29 October 2026, Coppermill was 1st in the map pack for "landscapers chesterfield" and 4th in the normal results. Same search, two different positions.
Local SEO works on both: your profile for the map pack, your website for the normal results. Traditional SEO only goes after the normal results.
How local SEO is different from traditional SEO
| Local SEO | Traditional SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| What you're trying to win | A place in the map pack, and in the normal results for searches with a town in them | A high place in the normal results, wherever the searcher is |
| Typical searches | "landscapers chesterfield", "dentist near me" | "how to lay a patio", "best lawn mower" |
| What Google looks at | Relevance, distance and prominence (more below) | How well the page answers the search, and links from other sites |
| Where you start | Your Google Business Profile | The pages on your website |
| Who it suits | Businesses that serve an area: landscapers, electricians, dentists, garages, salons | National online shops, publishers, software firms |
Which one your business needs
If your customers come from the towns around you, start with local SEO. A dentist in Nottingham, a garage or a cleaning company gets its work from people nearby. Those people search with a town name or "near me" on the end.
Ranking across the country for a general question rarely does much for a local business. Say a plumber in Mansfield ranks for "how to fix a dripping tap". The readers live all over the UK, and most of them want to fix it themselves.
Traditional SEO earns its place later, for the questions your customers ask before they're ready to book. That's what guides and blog posts are for. You can do both. Start with local, because it's closer to the phone call.
How Google picks the three businesses in the map pack
Google spells this out on its help page, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google. Local results mainly come down to relevance, distance and prominence.
Relevance: does your profile match the search?
This is how well your Business Profile matches what someone typed. Google's advice is to give complete, detailed information about the business. In practice that means the right primary category, every service you offer, and a description that says what you do and where. A profile that only says "landscaping" is a weaker match for "resin driveways" than one that lists it.
Distance: how close are you to the person searching?
Google looks at how far each business is from the searcher. If the searcher hasn't shared a location, Google uses what it already knows about them. You can't move your base, so this is the factor you control least. It's also why the map pack changes from one end of town to the other. So we ran Coppermill's check as a mobile search from Chesterfield itself.
Prominence: how well known is your business?
Google says this is partly about how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have. It also says more reviews and good ratings can help your local ranking. Most of the long-term work lives here: reviews, links from local websites, and a website worth linking to.
The same page says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Ads can appear near the top of the page, but they're labelled as sponsored and they stop when you stop paying.
Coppermill Landscapes: 1st in the map pack, and calls up from 2 to 22
Ross Clark runs Coppermill Landscapes in Chesterfield. We built his website and optimised his Google Business Profile, and the full case study tells the story. On 29 October 2026 we checked his main searches as a mobile search from Chesterfield.
| Search | Google map pack | Normal results |
|---|---|---|
| landscapers chesterfield | 1st | 4th |
| landscaping chesterfield | 1st | 8th |
| landscape gardeners chesterfield | 3rd | 4th |
| porcelain paving chesterfield | 2nd | 28th |
| resin driveways chesterfield | Not shown | Not in the top 30 |
The profile's own figures show what that visibility is worth. From May to September 2026 it sent 22 phone calls, 143 clicks through to the website and 248 requests for directions. Over the same five months of 2025 it sent 2 calls, 22 website clicks and 36 direction requests.
Ross has 24 Google reviews, and every one is five stars.
The table also shows what isn't working yet. The broad searches came good first, and the individual service pages don't rank on their own. Porcelain paving is 2nd in the map pack but 28th in the normal results. For resin driveways, three driveway and surfacing firms hold the map pack and Coppermill isn't in the top 30. A service page only ranks for its job once it's the best answer in town. That means real photos of the work and straight answers to what people ask. That's the next piece of work.
What actually moves a local business up
This is the order we'd work in, starting with the free listing and ending with links.
- Verify your Google Business Profile and fill in every field. Name, primary category, services, areas, hours, phone number and website. Pick the category that matches the work you want most. Verification is the step people get stuck on most, so we've written up how to get through it, video check included.
- Set your service area to where you really work. If you go to the customer, you can hide your address and list the towns you cover. Distance still counts from your base, so expect to rank best close to home.
- Ask every happy customer for a Google review, and reply to each one. Reviews count towards prominence, and Google says good replies help you stand out. Ask when the job's done and the customer's still pleased. Our guide to getting Google reviews shows the routine we set up for clients.
- Add your own photos of real jobs. Google's tips include adding photos and videos. Your own finished work does far more than stock images for someone deciding whether to ring.
- Give every service its own page on your website, and your main towns too. Put the job and the place in the first heading, show your own photos, and answer the questions people ask before they book.
- Keep your name, address and phone number the same everywhere. Your website, your profile, Yell, Checkatrade, Facebook. One business, written one way, so nobody has to wonder whether they're looking at two.
- Earn links from other local websites. Google says prominence is partly how many websites link to you. Think suppliers, a local club you sponsor, the body you're registered with, or a local news story about a job. A few real links beat hundreds from directories nobody reads.
If you'd rather hand it over, that's what our local SEO service is for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I do local SEO and traditional SEO at the same time?
Yes. For a local service business the usual order is local first: your Google Business Profile, your reviews, and a page for each service and town. Then add guides and blog posts that answer the wider questions your customers ask. Doing everything from day one splits your effort, so start where the calls come from.
How long does local SEO take to work?
Months, not weeks, and it depends on how much competition you have. MIW Patios in Derby started with no website and no Google Business Profile, and got its first enquiry from Google search inside 90 days. Coppermill Landscapes' clicks from Google search went from 17 in August 2025 to 113 in March 2026. Anyone promising page one in a fortnight is guessing. There's more in our guide to how long SEO takes.
Do I still need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?
You can get calls from a profile on its own, especially in a quiet area. But plenty of people want to see your work before they ring. From May to September 2026, Coppermill Landscapes' profile sent 143 people through to the website and 22 straight to the phone. You also need a website to show in the normal results under the map pack, and to give other sites something to link to.
Can I rank in the map pack without a shop or office?
Yes. Google calls this a service-area business. You hide your address and list the areas you cover, and you can still show in the map pack for them. Landscapers, electricians, cleaners and most businesses that go to the customer work this way. Distance still counts from where you're based, so you'll usually rank best near home.
Why has my business dropped out of the map pack?
Check where you're searching from first. The map pack changes with the searcher's location, so you might still be in it a mile away. Real drops usually come from a suspended or unverified profile, a competitor overtaking you on reviews, or a change to your business category. Look at your Google Business Profile dashboard before assuming the worst.
Can I pay Google to get higher in the map pack?
No. Google's own help page says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Ads are a separate thing. They're labelled as sponsored, and they stop showing when you stop paying.
How much does local SEO cost in the UK?
UK agencies usually charge from about £400 a month for a local business. In busy areas it can be over £1,500, depending on your competition and the state of your website. Be wary of anything much cheaper. It's usually automated directory submissions that do very little. Our guide to SEO costs breaks the ranges down.
