Service
Local SEO services that win Google and AI search
When someone nearby searches for what you sell, three businesses get the map pack and everyone else gets scraps. We do the work that puts you in that pack, and because AI assistants read the same signals, the same work gets you named in their answers too. Part of our full set of SEO services.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO is the work of making your business rank for searches with local intent ("plumber near me", "dentist in Ottawa") in Google's map pack, local organic results, and AI answers. It covers your Google Business Profile, directory listings, reviews, website content, and technical structure, so engines trust who you are and where you operate.
None of this is guesswork. The industry's reference study, Whitespark's 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors, had 47 working local SEO experts score 187 separate ranking factors. The results are consistent year over year: your Google Business Profile, your reviews, and your website carry most of the weight, in that order. A local SEO company that spreads your budget evenly across everything is ignoring the data. We weight the work the way the rankings are actually decided, and we tell you which lever we are pulling and why.
What does a local SEO company actually do?
A local SEO company optimizes your Google Business Profile, builds consistent listings, grows and answers your reviews, fixes your website's structure and location content, and reports what changed each month. The useful ones weight that work the way ranking studies say rankings are decided: profile first, reviews second, website close behind.
Per Whitespark's 2026 survey, Google Business Profile signals carry roughly 32% of map-pack ranking weight and review signals about 20%: half the decision before Google even looks at your website. On-page signals add roughly 15% for the pack, and considerably more for the local organic results below it. That is why our engagements start with your profile and reviews, not with a pile of blog posts.
| Signal group | Approx. share of weight | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | ~32% | Primary category, services, hours, photos, posts |
| Reviews | ~20% | Volume, recency, ratings, and your replies |
| On-page website signals | ~15% | Location pages, service content, schema markup |
| Links, citations, behaviour | remainder | Local links, consistent listings, engagement |
Is ranking in Google's map pack worth it?
Yes. Industry click studies compiled by Search Engine Land put the local three-pack at roughly 44% of clicks on local results, more than classic organic and paid combined. If you sell to people nearby and you are not in the pack, the largest share of ready-to-buy clicks goes to someone else.
The pack is also the part of the results page a customer can act on without reading anything: call, get directions, check hours, scan reviews. That is why the profile work matters so much: the pack is built from Google Business Profile data, not from your website. Your site earns the local organic positions below the pack and feeds the AI answers; your profile earns the pack itself. You want both, and they reinforce each other.
Do directories and citations still matter for local SEO?
Yes, as a foundation, not a growth lever. Directory pages still make up 31% of local-intent organic results, about three of every top ten, per BrightLocal's listings visibility study. Wrong hours or an old address on them costs you trust and customers. Get the core listings identical everywhere, then move on.
Quality beats volume here. Whitespark's expert panel puts it bluntly: three editorial links from local news sites or chambers of commerce deliver more value than fifty links from generic directories. We build the short list of listings that matter in Canada, make your name, address, and phone identical on each, and then spend the remaining effort where it compounds: reviews, content, and local links. Blasting your business into 300 directories is 2015 thinking, and you should be suspicious of local SEO companies still selling it.
How is Viziblty different from other local SEO companies?
Two ways. First, we optimize for Google and AI assistants as one job, because they read the same signals; most agencies still treat AI as an add-on. Second, we prove the work with monthly reporting from Google's and Bing's own data, not a screenshot of one lucky ranking.
The same clean structure that wins the map pack is what ChatGPT and Perplexity lean on when they name businesses; that side of the work lives in our AI search optimization service. And because rankings without proof are just stories, every engagement includes reporting against your real Google and Bing data, with transparent pricing published on this site. If you want the Ottawa-specific version of this service, it lives at local SEO for Ottawa businesses.
What's included in our local SEO service
Every engagement is scoped to what your market actually requires, but the core is consistent:
- Google Business Profile setup, categories, services, photos, and posting cadence
- Listing and citation cleanup across the Canadian directories that matter
- Review growth strategy and reply templates: asking the right customers at the right moment (see how to get more Google reviews)
- Location and service pages written to answer real buyer questions
- Schema markup so engines can parse your business facts
- Monthly reporting from Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Bing Webmaster Tools
Find out where you stand before you spend a dollar.
Our free audit checks whether search engines and AI crawlers can even read your site, and what your profile and listings look like to them. No card, no call required.