The Local SEO Checklist Every Home Services Business Needs
A complete, actionable checklist covering GBP, on-site SEO, citations, reviews, and content - everything required to dominate local search results.
How to Use This Checklist
Local SEO for home service businesses comes down to doing a relatively small number of things consistently well. This checklist covers every major area. Work through it methodically - do not try to do everything at once. Start with the GBP section, then move to on-site, then citations. Review generation and content are ongoing.
Google Business Profile
- Business name matches exactly across website, GBP, and all directories
- Address and phone number verified and consistent
- Primary category is the most specific accurate option
- 3-5 secondary categories added
- All individual services listed with descriptions
- Business description written (750 characters, includes primary keyword and city)
- At least 10 high-quality photos uploaded
- Weekly GBP Posts published
- All Q&A questions answered
- Messaging enabled and monitored
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- Homepage H1 includes primary service + city
- Each service has a dedicated page
- Each city served has a dedicated page (for businesses serving multiple areas)
- Page titles follow format: "[Service] in [City] | [Business Name]"
- Meta descriptions written for every page (under 160 characters)
- LocalBusiness schema markup on homepage
- Service schema on each service page
- Mobile-friendly (test via Google Mobile-Friendly Test)
- PageSpeed score above 60 on mobile
- SSL certificate active (https)
- Internal linking between service pages and location pages
- NAP in website footer matches GBP exactly
Citations
- Yelp profile claimed and complete
- BBB profile verified
- Angi/HomeAdvisor listing active
- Houzz profile complete (for applicable trades)
- Apple Maps listing claimed
- Bing Places listing claimed
- Top 50 data aggregators (Neustar/Localeze, Infogroup, Acxiom) submitted
- Duplicate listings identified and removed
- All citations consistent in NAP format
Reviews
- Post-job review request process in place (text preferred)
- Direct Google review link created and deployed
- Target: 2-4 new reviews per week
- All negative reviews responded to within 24 hours
- All positive reviews acknowledged with a response
- Reviews monitored on Yelp, BBB, and Angi in addition to Google
Content
- Blog publishing cadence established (minimum: 1 post/month)
- Each post targets a specific question or keyword
- FAQ section on service pages addresses common objections
- Case studies or project showcases published
- Location pages include neighborhood-specific content (not templated)
Tracking
- Google Analytics 4 installed and goals configured
- Google Search Console verified and monitored
- Call tracking number in place to attribute calls to marketing source
- GBP Insights reviewed monthly
- Ranking positions tracked for top 10-20 keywords
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