Local SEO and generic SEO are different games. Generic SEO is a content fight against the whole internet. Local SEO is a proximity fight against the dozen businesses inside your suburb that look like yours. Different signals, different tools, different tactics.
Why local SEO is its own discipline
Google's local pack — the three businesses with the map at the top — uses a different algorithm from organic results. Proximity, relevance and prominence drive it. Of the three, proximity is fixed (your location is what it is). Relevance and prominence are where the work goes.
Technique 1 — the GBP cleanup most agencies skip
Audit every field in your Google Business Profile against what's on your website. Inconsistent business name, abbreviated address, wrong phone format, outdated hours — every one of those is a small downvote. Forty fields to check; an hour the first time, then 15 minutes a quarter to keep it clean.
Technique 2 — review velocity, properly systemised
Two to four new reviews a week, with replies inside 72 hours, beats 50 reviews in a single burst. Google reads the cadence. A spike followed by silence triggers spam filters; a steady stream signals a living business.
Set up a text message that fires 48 hours after invoice (once, never twice) with the direct GBP review link. Reply to every review by name, mention the job. That's the system. We won't recommend incentivised reviews (Google bans them) or paid review services (Google bans them harder).
Technique 3 — service-area pages without doorway-page risk
One page per suburb you really service. Each with unique content — local landmarks, councils, streets, photos, testimonials from customers in that suburb. Three real suburb pages outperform 30 templated ones every time. Google's spam filter is good at this now.
Technique 4 — AU-specific citations worth doing
The five Australian directories that still move rankings in 2026:
- Google Business Profile : the only one that matters most.
- Bing Places : 4% of search but a free citation that takes 20 minutes.
- Apple Maps : iPhone users; same effort, similar return.
- True Local : Australian directory with real Google indexation.
- Yellow Pages Australia : free listing only — never pay for the upsells.
Anyone selling you "200 directory submissions" is selling you spam. We won't recommend it, paid or free.
Technique 5 — internal linking that hub-spokes around your strongest service
Pick the service that earns you the most money. Make a hub page for it. Link from every related blog post, every adjacent service page, every relevant suburb page back to that hub. Google passes equity along internal links, and a well-built hub concentrates it where it earns. The tradies post sketches the four-move foundation; this technique sits on top of that.
What 90 days looks like in measurable terms
For a single-location service business doing the five techniques properly: 20–35% growth in GBP impressions, 50–80% growth in calls from local search, first new suburb ranking by week 8. These aren't promises — the rate depends on competition and starting state — but they're the median outcome we see on our own accounts. The shape of it lands in the monthly report.
The takeaway
Local SEO rewards patient repetition more than tactical sophistication. Five techniques, run for 90 days without skipping a week, will move you. The SEO offer is built around exactly this rhythm.