Local SEO is a simple idea buried under a lot of jargon: when someone near you searches for what you do, Google should show you. For a contractor that means two places — the map pack (the three listings with the map) and the regular results underneath. Here’s everything that affects both, as a checklist, in the order that tends to move rankings fastest.

1. Google Business Profile (the biggest lever)

  • Claimed, verified, exact legal name.
  • Specific primary category (“Roofing contractor”, “Kitchen remodeler”).
  • Service area set to the towns you actually work in.
  • 20+ real photos, a few added every month.
  • Services listed with descriptions.
  • A weekly post.

We wrote the full 30-minute setup guide; if you haven’t done it, stop here and do that first.

2. Reviews, steadily

Volume, recency and replies all count. Two reviews a month, every month, beats twenty in one week and then nothing. Ask the day the job finishes, by text, with the direct review link. Reply to all of them. Mention the town and the service in your replies (“Thanks, Sarah — glad the Apex roof replacement went smoothly”) because Google reads those too.

3. One page per service

Each service you want to rank for needs its own page with real content: what’s included, photos of your jobs, a price range or calculator, FAQs, reviews for that service. “Services” as a single page ranks for nothing.

4. Town pages — a few good ones

Pick the six to ten towns that matter most. For each, write a genuine page: jobs you’ve done there (with photos), the neighborhoods, anything local (hail patterns, HOA rules, permit quirks), and a map. Do not generate fifty pages that swap the town name — Google has been ignoring those for years, and they make the site look like spam.

5. Name, address, phone — identical everywhere

Your business name, address (or service area) and phone number must match exactly across your website, Google profile, Facebook, Yelp, the BBB, Angi, HomeAdvisor, Houzz, your state license lookup and the trade directories. Inconsistencies confuse Google about which listings are yours. Fix the big ones by hand; a citation service (BrightLocal, Whitespark) can do the long tail for a modest fee.

6. The website basics

  • Fast on mobile (under three seconds — test at PageSpeed Insights).
  • Your city and primary service in the homepage title tag (“Roofing Contractor in Raleigh, NC | Summit Roofing”).
  • A proper contact page with the address/service area, hours, phone, and an embedded map.
  • Structured data (LocalBusiness schema) so Google can read your details — Yoast SEO does most of this on WordPress.
  • Click-to-call in the header.

7. Links from places that make sense

Links from other websites still matter, and for a contractor the good ones are obvious: your supplier’s “certified installer” page, the local chamber of commerce, the trade association, the sponsorship page of the youth team you support, a local news piece about a project. A handful of those beats hundreds of junk directory links. Never buy “link packages.”

The overlooked link source. A free tool that other contractors embed on their sites carries a credit link back to its maker — that’s how our free calculators and slider earn links for us. The same idea works in miniature for you: a useful downloadable checklist or a local cost guide that neighbourhood sites and suppliers will link to.

8. Track it

Free Google Search Console shows which searches you appear for and where you rank; Google Analytics shows what visitors do; your Business Profile shows calls and direction requests. Check all three monthly. If the numbers move, keep doing what you did; if they don’t, the list above is in priority order.

How long it takes

Business Profile changes show within days. Service and town pages take one to three months to settle. Reviews and links compound over six to twelve months. It’s slower than ads and much cheaper, and unlike ads it doesn’t stop when you stop paying.

This is what our local SEO service does for contractors month to month, on top of a site built for it. If you’d rather do it yourself, this checklist is the whole job — there’s no secret beyond doing it consistently.