Local search
For businesses that serve an area, the map pack is its own competition. Affects: SEO
A different results page
Search something like 'plumber near me' and the top of the page is a map with three businesses (the local pack) driven by different signals than the regular results below it: proximity, a complete business profile in map services, consistent name/address/phone (NAP) across the web, and reviews.
For a local business, ranking #1 in the pack routinely matters more than any other digital marketing outcome.
What this site measures
On-site local signals: a visible phone number and street address, LocalBusiness schema with address and hours, and a map link or embed. Sites showing no local signals aren't graded on this category at all; it simply may not apply. Note: your Google Business Profile lives in Google's systems, which a site crawl cannot read; treat it as the other half of local SEO.
How to improve
- Claim and complete your Google Business Profile (free): categories, hours, photos.
- Show name, address and phone in the site footer, identically everywhere.
- Add LocalBusiness JSON-LD with address, geo, phone and openingHours.
- Embed or link your map listing on the contact page.
- Ask genuine customers for reviews and answer them; velocity and recency count.
Common mistakes
Three different phone formats across the site and old directories. An unclaimed Business Profile with wrong hours. Hiding the address because 'we mostly travel to clients'; service-area businesses can say exactly that in their profile.
See where your site stands on this: grade it and every check shows its evidence.
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