Local SEO is about making sure your business shows up when someone nearby searches for what you do — searches like 'plumber near me' or 'hairdresser Scarborough.' It involves your Google Business Profile, your reviews, your business listings across the internet, and location signals on your website. For most service-based and retail businesses in Australia, local SEO drives more enquiries than regular SEO.

Setting up a Google Business Profile is free and takes about an hour. Go to business.google.com, enter your business details, choose your category, add your service area, and verify — usually by video or postcard. Once verified, add your hours, photos, services, and a description. It's the single most important thing you can do for local visibility, and it's completely free.

Google ranks businesses on Maps using three main factors: relevance (how well your listing matches the search), distance (how close you are to the person searching), and prominence (how well-known and trusted your business is online). You can improve your ranking by completing every section of your Google Business Profile, choosing the right business categories, collecting recent reviews, and making sure your business details are consistent across the web.

The five GBP mistakes that hurt local visibility most are: an incomplete profile, wrong or too-broad business categories, inconsistent business information across the web, not responding to reviews, and ignoring the features Google gives you for free — posts, products, services, and Q&A.

The businesses with lots of reviews have a process — they ask consistently, make it easy, and time the request well. The best approach is to ask shortly after delivering a positive result, send a direct link to your Google review page, and follow up once if they don't leave one. Automate the ask where possible so it happens every time without you thinking about it.

Keep it short, personal, and make it easy. Send a message within a day or two of completing the work, mention something specific about their project, include a direct link to your Google review page, and don't overthink the wording. I've included email, SMS, and in-person templates you can copy and customise.

Yes. Google reviews directly influence your local search rankings. More reviews, higher average ratings, and recent reviews all help your business appear higher in the map pack. Reviews also increase click-through rates — people are more likely to choose a business with 40 reviews at 4.8 stars than one with 3 reviews at 5 stars. They're one of the most effective things you can do for local SEO.

If you get a fake Google review, don't panic and don't react emotionally. Report it through your Google Business Profile by clicking the three dots and selecting 'Report review.' Respond calmly and professionally — even to the fake ones. Never buy positive reviews to push it down, and never pay an extortionist. Your best long-term defence is volume: a steady flow of genuine reviews makes the occasional fake one irrelevant.

Regular SEO helps your website rank in Google's main search results for any location. Local SEO helps your business appear in the map pack and location-based results when someone nearby searches for what you do. If someone searches 'how to fix a leaking tap,' that's regular SEO. If they search 'plumber near me,' that's local SEO. Most small service businesses benefit more from local SEO.