5 Tips for Local SEO That Actually Work

If you run a small business, you’ve probably heard someone say you need to “do SEO.” Maybe you nodded along and then immediately forgot about it because you had three jobs to finish that week.

Here’s the thing though… SEO isn’t brain surgery. It’s really just making sure that when someone locally searches “electrician near me” or “best plumber in SLO County,” your business actually shows up. That’s it. And the good news is, most of your competitors aren’t doing any of this. So a little effort goes a long way.

Here are five things you can do right now that will make a real difference.

1. Claim and Complete Your Google Business Profile

This is the single most important thing you can do for local SEO, and it’s completely free. Your Google Business Profile is what shows up in that map section when someone searches for a service around them. If you haven’t claimed yours yet, you’re invisible in the one place that matters most.

Fill out every single field. Your business name, address, phone number, hours, service area… all of it. Add photos of your work, your truck, your team. Businesses with complete profiles get 7x more clicks than those with incomplete ones.

2. Get Your Name, Address, and Phone Number Consistent Everywhere

Search engines like Google cross-reference your business information across the internet. If your website says one address, your Yelp page says another, and your Facebook has an old phone number, Google gets confused. And confused Google means lower rankings.

Pick one version of your business name, address, and phone number and use it everywhere. Your website, your Google Business Profile, your Yelp listing, your Chamber of Commerce page — make them all match exactly. This sounds boring, but it works.

3. Ask Your Happy Customers for Google Reviews

Reviews are rocket fuel for SEO. You can go from zero to 50 Google reviews in six months just by sending a quick text after each job with a link to their Google review page. You don’t need to be pushy about it. Just make it easy. Send a direct link right after you finish a job, when the customer is happiest. Most people are glad to help — they just need a nudge and a link.

4. Put Your Location on Your Website — Everywhere

This one’s simple but so many businesses miss it. If you’re a contractor serving SLO County, Templeton, Atascadero, and San Luis Obispo, those city names need to be on your website. Not buried in the footer — actually in your page content.

Your homepage should mention Paso Robles and SLO County. Your services page should mention the specific areas you cover on the Central Coast. If you do different work in different areas, call that out. Google can’t rank you for “plumber in San Luis Obispo” if those words aren’t anywhere on your site.

5. Make Sure Your Website Loads Fast on Phones

Over 60% of local searches happen on mobile devices. If your website takes more than three seconds to load on a phone, most people will hit the back button and call someone else. Google knows this too, and they factor page speed into rankings.

A fast, mobile-friendly website isn’t just nice to have — it directly affects whether you show up in search results. Compress your images, keep your design clean, and skip the fancy animations. Your customers want your phone number, not a light show.

The Bottom Line

Local SEO isn’t about gaming the system or spending thousands on ads. It’s about showing up where your customers are already looking. For plumbers, electricians, roofers, landscapers, and every other tradesperson in SLO County, these five steps are the foundation.

You don’t need to do everything at once. Start with your Google Business Profile this week. Clean up your listings next week. Ask for a couple of reviews. Small, consistent steps add up fast — and on the Central Coast, where a lot of businesses still aren’t doing any of this, you’ll stand out quickly.

If you want help getting your website and local SEO dialed in, that’s exactly what we do. We build fast, clean websites for tradespeople in SLO County and the surrounding area, and we make sure Google can actually find them.