Local SEO is the work of being found by people in your own town rather than across the whole country. For a hairdresser, a clinic, a tradesperson or a restaurant, it isn't a part of SEO. It is all of SEO.

Nobody googles "hairdresser Denmark". They google "hairdresser near me" or "hairdresser Hjørring", and they choose within a minute.

The three things it comes down to

1. Your Google Business Profile

The single most important thing, and it's free. It decides whether you show up on the map and in the top three results most people click on.

It has to be verified and have a precise primary category, correct opening hours, real photos and replies to reviews. "Restaurant" is too broad when you're a burger bar. "Beauty clinic" is too broad when you do permanent makeup.

2. Your details have to match everywhere

Name, address and phone number have to be identical on your website, Google, Facebook and in directories. If there are three different phone numbers, Google loses trust and picks a competitor.

It sounds trivial. It's the most common problem I find. At a chain with 16 locations, ten of them had conflicting phone numbers between their own page and the contact page.

3. Pages written for the town you're in

The town's name belongs in the title, the heading and the text, because that's what people type. Not as a list of keywords, but because the page is actually about that place.

If you have several locations, each one needs its own page with its own address and its own opening hours. Writing "we also have a location in Vejle" somewhere in the body text barely counts.

What the AI answer has changed

When someone asks ChatGPT for a hairdresser in their town, the model gathers information from several sources and gives one answer with three to five suggestions. There are fewer places to compete for than in a search result with ten links.

That part is decided almost entirely by whether your data is consistent and machine-readable. If your address is written into structured data, the model knows where you are. If it only sits as text in a footer, it has to guess.

The Google Business Profile is still the key to local AI visibility. It's the most cited source when someone asks an AI about a local business.

What I found on 57 Danish websites

I did redesigns of 57 websites in 34 days. On the local businesses, the same things kept coming up:

  • No structured data, so neither Google nor ChatGPT could read the address or opening hours
  • The language attribute set to English on a Danish site, so the site was filtered out of Danish searches
  • Opening hours that contradicted each other between two pages
  • Treatments and services listed in a PDF or an image instead of as text
  • Booking systems that show a blank page to search engines

Typical score before: 20 to 40. After: above 90.

How to get started

1. Search for yourself in incognito mode. What does the search result say about you? Is it something you wrote?
2. Clean up your Google Business Profile. Category, opening hours, photos, replies to reviews
3. Check your details in four places: website, Google, Facebook, Krak. Are they identical?
4. Put the town's name in the title and heading of the pages that sell something
5. Get structured data in place, so address, services and opening hours are machine-readable
6. Ask for reviews with a bit of text in them, not just stars

You can do the first five yourself in an afternoon.

Frequently asked questions

What is local SEO?

Local SEO is the work of being found by people in your own area. It consists of your Google Business Profile, consistent name, address and phone details, and pages written for the town you're in.

How much does local SEO cost?

With me, 75 USD a month for ongoing work. The clean-up itself is often a one-off job that's included in the price of a new website from 450 USD.

How long does it take before local SEO works?

Fixes to your Google Business Profile can kick in within a few days. Rankings in the local map results typically take four to eight weeks.

Is the Google Business Profile free?

Yes, completely. It only costs time to keep it updated, and it's the cheapest visibility there is for a local business.

Does local SEO work if I only sell online?

Less so. If you sell to the whole country without a physical address, you should work with regular SEO instead. Local SEO only makes sense when the customer has to show up somewhere.

Finally

I don't do brand awareness. I do revenue, rankings and websites that sell. Search for your own business name in incognito mode today and see what it says about you. That's what your customers see.