The Local SEO Checklist: 15 Steps to the Map Pack

Roughly half of Google searches carry local intent, and when they do, the map pack — those three pinned businesses above the organic results — takes most of the clicks and nearly all of the calls. Here is the exact 15-step order we run for local service clients, from a standing start to defending a three-pack seat.

Profile: steps 1–6

1. Claim and verify your Google Business Profile. Sounds basic; unclaimed and half-claimed profiles are still everywhere. Verification unlocks everything else.
2. Choose your primary category with care. It's the strongest relevance signal you control. Pick the category a customer would say out loud ("Plumber", not the brand of your CRM's suggestion).
3. Add secondary categories and every service. Each service gets a name, a 2–3 sentence description written in customer language, and — where relevant — its own pricing note.
4. Complete hours, attributes, and service areas. Inconsistencies here quietly suppress rankings and annoy customers who show up at 5:55.
5. Load real photos. Exterior, team, work-in-progress. Geotagged, recent, and refreshed monthly — profiles with fresh photos measurably get more actions.
6. Seed the Q&A section. Ask and answer the six questions customers actually message you (parking, warranty, emergency availability). Most owners leave this board blank.

Reviews: steps 7–8

7. Build a review engine, not a review hope. A post-job SMS or email with a direct review link, sent within an hour of completion. Ask every time; volume and recency are both ranking inputs and conversion copy.
8. Respond to every review, including the painful ones. Calm, specific, no template-robot replies. Responses are ranking-relevant content and your best sales copy for the next customer reading them.

Citations: steps 9–10

9. Audit your citations on the top 40 directories. Name, address, and phone must be character-identical everywhere. Duplicates and old addresses are silent ranking leaks.
10. Pursue the niche directories that matter in your trade. Industry associations, local chambers, and the two or three vertical directories your competitors' links come from.

Website: steps 11–13

11. Build a landing page per service area or city you serve. Genuine local content — jobs done, landmarks, specifics — not door pages with the town name swapped. Thin door pages are a filter trigger, not a strategy.
12. Add LocalBusiness schema to your contact page with the exact NAP, hours, and geo coordinates, matching your profile character for character.
13. Make speed a local weapon. Local searchers are on phones, often urgent. If your page takes six seconds, the map pack win evaporates at the tap.

Tracking and defense: steps 14–15

14. Track map-pack positions monthly for your money keywords, at grid level — not just from your office. Rankings vary block by block in local search.
15. Fight spam, politely but relentlessly. Competitors with fake addresses or keyword-stuffed names can be reported through the profile. Cleaner results help you and the ecosystem alike.