How SEO for local businesses helps you win more customers

Improve your local businesses visibility with effective SEO strategies helps you win more customers. Discover actionable tips to enhance your online presence, optimize your Google Business Profile, and attract more customers. Read our comprehensive guide now!

Explains: How SEO for local businesses helps you win more customers

Most people turn to Google before choosing a local product or service. Whether they are searching for a plumber nearby, an internet provider that services their city, or the best café in town, being visible in search results is what drives customers to your door.

This article explains why SEO for local businesses matters, shows five practical ways you can improve it, and gives you a real-world case study showing results in action. 

At the end, I’ve shared a quick-win checklist you can use straight away.

Why SEO matters for local businesses

If your business relies on local customers, search visibility is a must-have. 

A survey by BrightLocal found that 98% of consumers use Google to evaluate local businesses. This means if you are not showing up in search results, you are likely losing enquiries to competitors.

Paid ads can bring clicks but often at a steep price. For instance, competitive local service industries like legal or trade businesses can see cost-per-click rates of $15–$40. SEO provides a sustainable way to attract customers over the long term, without paying for every visit.

Local SEO levels the playing field, giving small businesses the chance to compete with larger players by appearing in Google’s map pack, local results, and relevant searches.

Optimise your Google Business Profile

One of the most powerful tools for local SEO is your Google Business Profile. It helps you appear in map listings and the local three-pack.

Practical steps to improve your profile include:

• Claim and verify your listing
• Add accurate details (name, address, phone, website, hours)
• Upload quality photos of your premises, products, or team
• Post updates or offers regularly
• Ask customers to leave genuine reviews

Profiles that are complete and regularly updated are far more likely to appear in local searches.

Create service and location pages

For good SEO for local businesses, it is important that your pages clearly explain what you do and where you do it.

Instead of one generic services page, publish dedicated pages for each service and suburb you serve. For example:

‘Plumbing repairs in Marrickville’

or

‘1000 Mbps NBN in Adelaide’

This makes it easier for Google to connect your site with the exact searches your customers are making. Each page should include clear information, answers to common questions, and a call to action such as ‘Call now’ or ‘Book online’.

Improve your user experience

Search engines pay close attention to how visitors interact with your website. If your site loads slowly, is hard to use on a phone, or buries key details, you risk losing both visitors and rankings.

Focus on:

• Fast loading times (compress images, use reliable hosting)
• Mobile-friendly layouts
• Clear navigation and easy-to-read copy
• Prominent calls to action
• Click-to-call buttons for mobile users

Even small changes, such as choosing a more readable font, can significantly improve conversions.

Publish content that builds authority

Customers often have questions before contacting a business. By publishing blog posts or FAQs that answer these, you can appear in more searches and build trust at the same time.

Examples of useful content include:

• ‘How to improve your internet speed’
• ‘What to check before hiring a tradesperson’
• ‘How long does it take to settle a property in Sydney?’

This type of content is also good for getting you into Featured Snippets, which are the boxed answers at the top of Google. Appearing here gives you a double advantage: visibility in traditional results and in AI-driven search summaries.

Gain trusted backlinks and reviews

Google treats backlinks and reviews as signals of trust. For local businesses, the best opportunities are often close to home.

Suggestions include:

• Build referral links with partners (accountants, brokers, allied professionals)
• Ask local associations or chambers of commerce to list your business
• Sponsor community or sporting clubs in exchange for a website mention
• Encourage customers to leave honest reviews and respond to them promptly

According to a Yext study of 8.7 million search results, review engagement was the ‘most consistent driver of local pack visibility’ across industries. 

Essentially that means regular reviews and, importantly, replies can give you a real edge.

SEO for local businesses in action

A strong SEO for local businesses campaign can produce measurable results. 

Case study: Swoop is now ranking for the nbn® speed upgrade.

When the Australian nationwide nbn® speed upgrades were announced in 2025, Swoop wanted to make sure their website capitalised on the surge in search demand. 

Competing against much larger telcos, the challenge was to quickly create a page that would not only explain the changes clearly to customers but also rank prominently in search results.

This is what we did.

Content optimisation

We built out a long-form NBN speed upgrade landing page with clear messaging, structured sections, and FAQs written to target high-intent queries such as ‘nbn 250 upgrade’, ‘nbn 500 plan’, and ‘nbn 1000 upload speed’.

FAQ expansion

The page was designed to answer common customer questions in a direct, snippet-friendly format. This helped Swoop gain visibility in Google’s Featured Snippets and AI Overview results.

Keyword targeting

We mapped existing search demand around legacy terms (nbn 250 plans) and redirected this traffic to the new uplifted plans (nbn 750). This meant Swoop didn’t lose visibility for older terms while building relevance for new ones.

On-page SEO

Titles, headings, and metadata were optimised for high-volume keywords, and internal linking was set up across other nbn® plan pages to reinforce authority.

The results

Within weeks of publishing, the page began ranking strongly and has now secured a page 1 position for competitive keywords like nbn speed upgrade. Today, Swoop is consistently listed as one of the top providers for this term, sitting alongside the largest telcos in the country.

Thoughts

SEO for local businesses is one of the most cost-effective ways for you to attract steady enquiries and build long-term visibility. By optimising your online presence, publishing helpful content, and engaging with customers through reviews, you can stand out in search results.

Use my checklist below to get started and remember that small actions now can lead to big results in the months ahead.

Quick-win checklist for local SEO

If you’re short on time, I suggest starting with these steps:

• Claim and optimise your Google Business Profile
• Publish service pages with suburb-based keywords
• Add location references naturally in your website content
• Collect and respond to customer reviews
• Build backlinks from referral partners and associations
• Improve website user experience

Marshall Thurlow is Director and Founder of Orion Marketing Pty Ltd. He is a digital marketer with expertise in SEO, website design, content marketing, and project management.