Google publishes three local ranking factors and no weighting between them. One of the three does not move at all. These pieces start there, because it decides whether the rest is worth doing.
Local SEO is a second ranking system, not SEO with a city in the title. Google's three factors, quoted, and the only one that takes instructions.
September 2, 2026LocalThe three factors Google actually publishes, the weightings it does not, and where the percentages you will read really come from.
August 19, 2026LocalHow a suspended Google Business Profile is reinstated: the appeals tool, the 60-minute evidence window, the documents that count, and the cases no appeal fixes.
October 17, 2026LocalGoogle removes reviews only when they break a named policy. The report, the three statuses, the one-time appeal, and what the FTC rule of October 2024 prohibits.
October 17, 2026LocalDistance is measured to a verified address and no budget moves it. What Google lets a law firm register, per attorney and per office, and what it will not accept.
October 16, 2026LocalA local SEO audit orders findings by what they block, not by severity. What to measure first, which evidence expires, and what no field can move.
October 14, 2026LocalThree choices made during the first ten minutes decide whether the listing ever appears: the category, whether to show an address, and how you verify.
September 17, 2026LocalOnly one of the three factors is fully in your hands. What Google publishes, what it does not, and the sentence that settles most vendor arguments.
September 7, 2026LocalA local SEO checklist split the way the work actually behaves: one-time setup versus recurring cadence, and the items only the ecosystem controls.
September 2, 2026LocalCitations are hygiene, not growth: a one-time cleanup plus maintenance. Which platforms matter in the US, and when a citation package is worth paying.
September 2, 2026LocalThree causes you can change and one you cannot, because ranking is recalculated for each person searching.
August 26, 2026LocalIncentives are prohibited and so is screening for satisfaction first. How to ask the permitted way, and why flow matters more than the total.
August 22, 2026LocalThe three factors, the line that rules out paid map rankings, and why only one of the three is fully in your hands.
August 21, 2026LocalYou are not ranking in several cities, you are running separate local contests. Distance is a documented factor and it does not scale with effort.
August 20, 2026LocalA real seven-month curve from my own local service business, including the metric that went backwards during the best quarter and the month that got worse.
August 13, 2026