A practical, no-fluff list of what actually moves a local business's search visibility, in the order most businesses should tackle it.
Most local SEO advice is either too generic to act on or written for a marketing team with time nobody running a business actually has. This is the condensed version: the items that consistently make the biggest difference, in the order most businesses should tackle them.
A checklist tells you what to do once. Search engines change what they reward every few months. That's the part most small businesses don't have time to track, which is exactly what a Sitework monthly plan does for you, trade by trade, so you're not the one still running last year's advice while a competitor updates first.
See plans →Most businesses see meaningful movement within 2-4 months of consistently fixing the basics above, though Google Business Profile changes (category, photos, reviews) often show up faster than website or citation changes.
No. Everything on this checklist can be done without a developer or an agency retainer. A few items, like site speed or page structure, benefit from technical help if you're not comfortable editing your site directly.
For most local searches, your Google Business Profile carries more weight day-to-day, since it's what shows up directly in the map pack and in AI answers. Your website still matters for searches that go beyond a quick local check, like comparing services or reading detailed reviews.
This guide covers the general version. A Sitework plan does local-seo-checklist specifically, every month.
The same fundamentals covered in every Sitework monthly plan.