Local SEO step-by-step. The ten-step guide we actually use.

What this guide assumes

This is a step-by-step walk-through for a single-location or small multi-location Perth or WA business that wants to rank in the map pack and the suburb-level organic results for its core services. It assumes you have a website already (even a basic one), a real physical or service-area presence, and at least one happy customer you can ask for a review. It does not assume any prior SEO knowledge.

If you have not read the Local SEO pillar yet, start there. This chapter is the hands-on process. The pillar covers the why and the framework. For the broader context of why local SEO matters to Australian businesses specifically, the why SEO matters in Australia chapter has the longer argument. For Perth-specific keyword work that sits underneath this guide, see local keyword research.

One last assumption. The ten steps are sequential for a reason. If you skip step three (NAP) and jump straight to step five (citations), you spend a fortnight building citations on a NAP that is about to change, and have to redo half of them. Run the steps in order.

Step 1: Audit the current local footprint

Before you touch anything, map what is already out there. Google your business name and note every listing that comes up: the Google Business Profile, the directory entries, the social profiles, the third-party review sites, the supplier listings. Note the exact name, address, phone and website on each.

What you are looking for: NAP inconsistencies, duplicate Google Business Profiles (very common after a business move or rebrand), abandoned social profiles using an old phone number, directory listings with an old suite number or postcode. Put it all in a spreadsheet with one row per listing. This is the master tracker for the next nine steps.

Common things this audit surfaces for Perth clients: a Google Business Profile that the previous owner or marketing agency claimed years ago and the current owner cannot access; two listings on Yellow Pages with different phone numbers; a True Local listing with an outdated address; a social profile still pointing to a former trading name. Each one is a five-minute fix once you know it exists.

Step 2: Claim and verify Google Business Profile

The Google Business Profile is the single highest-impact local SEO asset. Claim it at business.google.com. If a duplicate profile exists, request a merge through Google support before you start optimising; merging is easier than competing with yourself for the map pack.

Verification takes one of four forms depending on the category and history: postcard (most common, two weeks), video (call from the Google support team), phone, or instant if the business has a verified Search Console property tied to the same domain. Plan for the two-week postcard if you have no prior verification.

Once verified, complete every available field: the primary category (exactly matching the core service), three to five secondary categories (related services, not aspirational), the services list (with descriptions), the attributes (wheelchair access, online appointments, women-owned, etc), the hours (including special hours for public holidays), the business description, the opening date, and the photos. The Google Business Profile chapter walks through every field in detail.

The single biggest mistake on this step: picking a primary category that does not exactly match the core service. A plumber that picks "Bathroom remodeller" because it sounds more premium will rank for fewer plumbing searches than the equivalent business that picks "Plumber". Category accuracy beats category ambition.

Step 3: Lock down the NAP

Pick one canonical format for the business Name, Address and Phone, and write it down. This is what every directory, social profile, schema block and footer must use. Examples of format choices that matter:

• Name: "Acme Plumbing" or "Acme Plumbing Perth" or "Acme Plumbing Pty Ltd"? Pick one. Use it everywhere.
• Address: "Unit 3, 145 Stirling Hwy" or "3/145 Stirling Hwy" or "145 Stirling Highway, Suite 3"? Pick one.
• Phone: "(08) 9123 4567" or "08 9123 4567" or "+61 8 9123 4567" or "0435 462 205"? Pick one (and prefer the format you actually want customers to dial).

The format choice itself does not matter to Google. What matters is that the same format appears identically on every property. Inconsistent NAP fragments local authority across multiple half-confirmed entities. The NAP consistency chapter goes deeper on why partial matches kill rankings and how to audit cleanup progress.

Step 4: Add LocalBusiness schema

Add schema markup to the home page and contact page. The schema type is LocalBusiness (or a more specific sub-type like Plumber, LegalService, HealthAndBeautyBusiness, depending on the category). The schema fields must match the canonical NAP exactly, including the same name spelling, the same address format, and the same phone format.

Minimum fields: name, address (with street, locality, region, postcode, country), telephone, url, openingHoursSpecification, and geo (latitude and longitude). If the business has reviews, add aggregateRating referencing your verifiable review count and average. Do not invent ratings; structured-data spam policies catch this.

For multi-location businesses, each location gets its own schema block on its own location page. Do not stuff multiple addresses into one schema block on the home page. The multi-location strategy chapter covers the per-location schema setup. For the broader schema-markup primer, see the E-E-A-T chapter, which has a section on entity schema as a trust signal, and the canonical tags chapter for how schema sits alongside canonicals.

Step 5: Build the citation foundation

List the business on the top ten Australian directories for the category, plus the two or three industry-specific directories. The starting list for most Perth businesses:

• Yellow Pages, True Local, Hotfrog, Yelp Australia, Brownbook, Cylex, StartLocal, Aussie Web, Local Search and Business Listings.
• One or two industry-specific directories. For trades, that might be ServiceSeeking or HiPages. For legal, the Law Society or LawPath. For healthcare, HealthEngine or HotDoc. The Australian citations chapter has the full per-industry list.

Every listing must use the canonical NAP from step three. Identical name format, identical address format, identical phone format. The point of this exercise is corroboration: Google sees the same business identity appearing on twelve to fifteen independent Australian sources and consolidates them into a single verified entity.

Avoid mass-citation services that promise 200 directories for $99. Most of those directories are low-quality aggregators that will damage your NAP audit later. Quality over quantity, every time.

Step 6: Build genuine suburb pages

Create one page per suburb the business actually services and where there is real local search demand. For most Perth service businesses, that is between six and fifteen suburb pages.

Each suburb page must contain genuine local content. Not the same templated copy with the suburb name swapped in. The suburb page should answer the question: "What is different about working in this suburb?" Examples of genuine local content:

• Real landmarks the business has worked near (a plumber that mentions specific shopping centres, schools or estates).
• Case studies from actual jobs in the suburb (with permission, with photos, with first-name client references).
• Notes about the local context that affect the service (heritage rules in Fremantle, large-block housing in suburbs like Mount Pleasant, FIFO scheduling for regional callouts).
• The travel cost or response time the business commits to for that suburb.
• The team members who cover that suburb if applicable.

The rule of thumb: if you cannot honestly write 400 words of unique local content about the suburb, do not build the page. The Helpful Content systems will detect templated doorway pages and demote them. Build six excellent suburb pages instead of forty bad ones. For the Perth-specific keyword research that informs which suburbs are worth pages, see local keyword research. For the URL structure best practice, the URL structure chapter covers the choice between /seo-fremantle and /services/fremantle-style patterns.

Step 7: Set up the review request system

Reviews are half ranking signal, half conversion asset. The goal is a steady drip of genuine reviews, not a one-off batch. The system has three parts:

1. The trigger. A CRM event (job marked complete, invoice paid) that fires a review request within 24 to 48 hours, while the experience is fresh.
2. The request. A short message asking for a review, with a direct link to your Google review page. Two sentences max. Personalised with the customer's first name and the work that was done.
3. The follow-up. One polite reminder a week later for customers who did not click. After that, drop it.

Do not pressure customers, do not bribe with discounts (Google's review policy bans this), do not write reviews on customers' behalf. Genuine reviews compound over time. Fake reviews get filtered or trigger a policy violation that can permanently flag the listing. The getting reviews chapter goes deep on the request scripts and the policy boundaries.

For the trust-signal side of why reviews matter beyond raw count, see E-E-A-T explained and brand mentions as a ranking signal.

Step 8: Post to Google Business Profile

The Posts feature inside Google Business Profile gets very little user traffic directly. What it does provide is an "active business" signal that correlates with map-pack stability. Inactive Profiles drift down the pack over time.

Aim for one post per fortnight. Mix the format:

• Photo updates from recent jobs, with the suburb mentioned in the caption.
• Offers or seasonal promotions if relevant to the category.
• Events if you run open days, free quotes weekends, or similar.
• Updates on new services, certifications or team additions.

Two minutes of work, every fortnight. Skipping it is the most common reason Profiles slip out of the pack after a strong start.

Step 9: Track the map pack from a grid

Standard rank trackers report your position from a single location, typically a default city centroid. The map pack is proximity-weighted, which means your rank from one point is not your rank from another. You can be ranked one for "plumber Fremantle" measured from your office in Fremantle, and ranked twelve for the same query measured from Cockburn five kilometres south.

Use a grid-rank tool (Local Falcon, BrightLocal grid view, GeoRanker) that scans your map-pack position from a grid of 7x7 or 9x9 points around your service area. A heatmap emerges showing where you rank well and where you do not. That is the map of where to focus the next round of work: which suburb pages to expand, where to push for more local reviews, and where the gaps are.

For the broader ranking-data view that complements the grid, the SERP performance chapter (in the Measurement pillar) covers how to read the data, and GSC Performance gives you the organic-side numbers.

Step 10: Iterate quarterly

Local SEO is not a set-and-forget project. Every quarter, run the same review:

1. Check Google Business Profile Insights: searches that surfaced the listing, calls, direction requests, photo views. Compare to the previous quarter.
2. Check Search Console Performance: suburb-modified queries gaining or losing impressions and clicks.
3. Check the grid-rank heatmap: where rankings improved, where they slipped.
4. Check review velocity: are you still getting two or more reviews per month?
5. Check the NAP audit: any new directory listings that drifted into inconsistency?

From that quarterly review, the next round of work writes itself. New suburb pages where the grid shows opportunity. Refreshed photos and posts. Adjusted GBP categories if Google has added relevant new ones. The point of the iteration is that local SEO compounds: every quarter the foundation gets a little stronger, the citations a little more consistent, the review base a little larger.

Common mistakes

Tools and checklist

The minimum tool stack to run this guide:

• Google Business Profile dashboard (free).
• Google Search Console (free).
• A NAP audit spreadsheet (template in the NAP consistency chapter).
• A grid-rank tool with a free trial (Local Falcon, BrightLocal).
• A review request trigger (built into most CRMs, or a $30 to $80 a month dedicated tool).
• A simple local rank tracker (spreadsheet or paid tool).

For a fast baseline of where the site currently sits before you start the ten steps, our free SEO audit reports on the local-SEO signals alongside the technical and on-page check. For the broader hands-on toolkit, the free keyword tools chapter covers the keyword-research side.

Perth and WA context

Three things worth knowing about running this guide in WA specifically.

First, the regional cities reward local SEO disproportionately. Operators in Bunbury, Busselton, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Karratha and Port Hedland often see faster map-pack movement than Perth metro businesses, because the local SERPs are less crowded. If the business covers a regional area, prioritise the regional GBP and suburb pages early. See SEO Bunbury, SEO Kalgoorlie, SEO Karratha, SEO Port Hedland, SEO Busselton and SEO Esperance for the location-specific service pages.

Second, Perth metro has a clear inside-versus-outside-the-river split that affects suburb-page planning. South-of-the-river businesses serving Fremantle, Cockburn, Mandurah and Rockingham often do better with a regional cluster page (covering "south of the river") in addition to individual suburb pages. North-of-the-river businesses covering Joondalup, Wanneroo and Midland have the same pattern. See SEO Fremantle, SEO Cockburn, SEO Mandurah, SEO Rockingham and SEO Joondalup for the relevant service pages.

Third, trades and mining categories have different review-velocity benchmarks than retail or healthcare. A Perth tradie that gets one Google review a month is doing fine. A healthcare practice with the same rate is undershooting. Calibrate the review target to the category. For industry-specific local SEO patterns, see trades SEO, mining SEO, healthcare SEO, legal SEO and real estate SEO.

For the Perth-specific local service we run for clients, see Local SEO Perth. For the metro overview, Services Perth. For the case studies of Perth businesses we have worked with, case studies.