SEO
When someone searches Google for a business, a product or a service in a specific area, they expect precise, relevant results. Without Local SEO consultancy, a company may not appear among those results and may not be considered at all, however good its offering.
Local SEO is the branch of SEO that focuses on a brand’s visibility in geographically targeted searches.
It covers all the on-site and off-site work that allows a company to be found by potential customers in its own geographical area.
With our consultancy we work on the website, on the Google Business Profile and on maps to improve your company’s online reputation and the consistency of its information, and to strengthen the presence of the business in local searches.
The underlying principle is the same as in traditional SEO: increasing organic visibility and reaching interested users. What changes is the context, the audience and the way users engage with the results.
| Traditional SEO | Local SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Context | Searches not centred on a specific geographical area. | Searches limited to one or more particular geographical areas. |
| Focus | Website, backlinks and content. | Google Business Profile, Maps and the website from a local perspective. |
| Audience | Users interested in services or products at national or global level. | An audience interested in products or services in a defined place. |
| Objective | Increasing online visibility by capturing questions, needs and qualified traffic. | Increasing visibility at local level and generating offline actions (calls, drive-to-store). |
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business)
Maps
Website
Reputation
The aim is to build a coherent ecosystem of signals that allows Google to recognise the business correctly and give it due weight in the local context.
The three factors underlying local search are proximity to the user, the relevance of the business to the search, and the weight that business carries in the local area.
Working on these factors means acting on several fronts at once: making the geographical location clear, describing the services offered fully and consistently, and building a solid reputation over time through reviews, online presence and trust signals.
Google treats as local both explicit searches, such as “law firm Milan”, and implicit ones, such as “law firm”, using the user’s location as a key signal. For this reason the company’s presence needs to be reinforced consistently across every digital channel: the website, NAP signals (Name, Address, Phone) and business listings.
In local searches, Google displays opening hours, contact details, reviews, services and Q&As directly. Search results become the first place where users compare the alternatives. If the data is incomplete or out of date, the company loses credibility and opportunities for contact.
The Google Business Profile is the listing through which a business presents itself in local searches and on Google Maps. Making the information as complete as possible and keeping the content up to date increases visibility in local searches. The direct results are more enquiries, more calls and more visits.
Maps are one of the main channels through which customers find local businesses. Our Local SEO consultancy does not stop at the Google Business Profile: we also optimise your presence on platforms such as Apple Maps, Waze and Bing Places, to make the business more visible and more consistent in local searches.
Local search has changed with the adoption of large language models (LLMs), which allow more conversational and more specific queries to be framed. Ask Maps, the AI that brings this logic to Google Maps, belongs to that shift. A Local SEO strategy therefore becomes necessary in order to make company data reliable and relevant for AI systems.
A Local SEO strategy does not simply generate traffic. It reaches an audience already engaged in an active search, with a concrete intention to buy.
In Google results and on maps for searches in the area your business covers.
People searching for a business locally often have an action-oriented intent — calls, enquiries, visits to the premises.
Local relevance is measurable. A well-optimised company can compete with larger, more established organisations, whatever its size.
Reviews, a consistent presence and up-to-date information make the business more trustworthy in users’ eyes.
We start from an analysis of the starting context. We define the objectives with the client, then build a coherent path. This approach lets us avoid off-the-shelf solutions and act where there is genuine room for improvement.
We analyse visibility on Google and Maps, rankings in local results, competitors and geographical coverage. The aim is to identify concrete gaps and opportunities to act on.
Through advanced keyword analysis, we study queries with local intent, including implicit variants, geographically targeted keywords and conversational searches. This allows us to capture real demand, not just the most obvious part of it.
We optimise the categories, description, attributes, images and content of the listing. The aim is to improve the relevance, the completeness and the performance of the business in local results.
We measure visibility, interactions and the actions generated, such as clicks, calls and requests for directions. We analyse the data over time in order to refine the strategy and consolidate results.
We have worked on Local SEO projects in a variety of settings, supporting established companies with several locations and local businesses with specific needs in terms of visibility, consistency and performance.
In most cases, yes. Local SEO is based on a presence in a precise geographical area. That said, even for services delivered at the customer’s address — with no premises open to the public — it is possible to work locally by stating the geographical area covered.
Yes. We manage local presence across several geographical areas, building a coherent structure: dedicated local pages and a credible presence for each area. We avoid duplication or generic content, which would harm overall visibility.
It is one of the central elements of Local SEO. It allows the business to appear on Google and Maps at the moment when users are looking for a product or service in the area. An up-to-date, complete listing — with reviews, photos, opening hours and accurate information — has a direct bearing on the user’s final choice.
It is not compulsory, but it is strongly recommended. The Google Business Profile remains central, but the website contributes to visibility in organic results and strengthens the brand’s authority online.
Contact our experts for further details
Get in touch to define the most suitable path together. We assess the starting context and identify the strategy geared to your objectives.