How are you ranking local businesses in competitive cities now?

[SEO_COMPANY]

Local SEO feels more competitive than ever. I would like to hear what strategies are helping you rank local businesses in difficult markets. Are you focusing more on GBP optimization local citations reviews or content

 

[lewis_martin]

Local SEO is definitely more competitive now I focus first on Google Business Profile optimization making sure all details are complete accurate and regularly updated reviews also play a huge role so I try to get consistent real feedback from customers.

After that I build strong local citations and keep the NAP details consistent everywhere content still matters but it works best when it is locally focused and answers real local search intent instead of just generic SEO pages

 

[roydan]

Good citations, NAP consistency, and GBP and websites that resemble each other. Also, a lot of traffic coming from AI chats which is great.

 

[umutgelisim]

Improve your reviews and local search results.

 

[Hetneo]

GBP, citations, reviews -> that's the entry fee, not the strategy. In a competitive city every serious competitor has those dialed in too, so they cancel out.

What separates page one from the map-pack graveyard is boring old authority. We look after a plumber in Ottawa: DR 43, 39 keywords in the top 3, around 1,800 organic visits a month, in a market where every plumber has tidy reviews and a polished profile. The difference is real links from sites in the same topical and geo lane, drip-fed over years, not a citation blast in month one.

So in a hard market, assume the basics are table stakes and ask what you can build that competitors won't grind out. It's almost always links.

 

[Nikolaos]

Local SEO feels more competitive than ever. I would like to hear what strategies are helping you rank local businesses in difficult markets. Are you focusing more on GBP optimization local citations reviews or content

Getting good reviews from my clients rank my local businesses well.

 

[Alowecare]

Reviews go a long way.

 

[kayonsontaryn]

reviews and hard work

 

[BidNomad]

For tough local niches I usually split it into two buckets: trust signals and proof of relevance. GBP/reviews/citations are needed, but like @Hetneo said, they won't save you if everyone else has same setup. What still moves the needle for me is local/topical links, proper service area pages that don't read like spun garbage, and getting activity around the GBP consistently... photos, posts, Q&A, fresh reviews with service keywords naturally in them. Also don't sleep on internal linking from location pages to service pages, lot of local sites are a mess there.

 

[Baby Boss]

In competitive cities, I think consistency matters most. Keeping the GBP updated and improving local content has worked better than relying on citations alone.

 

[Hetneo]

internal linking from location pages to service pages, lot of local sites are a mess there

Agreed, though on most local sites it's worse than messy, it's invisible. Those location-to-service links do nothing because the location pages are near-duplicate templates with the town name swapped in, so Google folds them into one thin page and a link from something it's already discounting carries almost no weight. The internal linking only wakes up once each location page is genuinely its own thing: real local detail, its own photos, a reason to exist past the {city} token. Fix the pages first and the links you're describing suddenly have something to pass. Do it the other way round and you're just linking thin to thin.

 

[Thunder Digitals]

Keyword-rich reviews have become the most important factor in local SEO. That's what you should do after setting up the website and GBP properly.

 

[bsmrmb]

When people leave reviews and someone does local SEO work all the time local SEO really helps in cities that are very competitive.

 

[iFreelancer]

Service area targeted pages
Social Signals
Local Backlinks
Keyword stuffed Reviews (Hard to get but plays a crucial role)

 

[Yellowflash]

Local contents that are meaningful and genuine customer reviews are still effective.

 

[drew2]

Do you all pay for links for local SEO?

 

[s666chez]

Agreed, though on most local sites it's worse than messy, it's invisible. Those location-to-service links do nothing because the location pages are near-duplicate templates with the town name swapped in, so Google folds them into one thin page and a link from something it's already discounting carries almost no weight. The internal linking only wakes up once each location page is genuinely its own thing: real local detail, its own photos, a reason to exist past the {city} token. Fix the pages first and the links you're describing suddenly have something to pass. Do it the other way round and you're just linking thin to thin.

Hey @Hetneo how would you retarget multiple cities for a client that has 30 copy paste location URLS changing the name?

Focusing on getting strong local signals from each city you want to rank in Im guessing and just forgetting the ones you cant get them from?

Most of these copy paste pages are never ranking for the cities they mention anyway, guess having a "areas" URL might help too?

Service area targeted pages
Social Signals
Local Backlinks
Keyword stuffed Reviews (Hard to get but plays a crucial role)

Is it safe and really worth it to have this kind of stuffing as it is supposed not to come from the owner? How many KW do you aim for?

And by the way, I guess you try to include 1 KW for each reply in a natural way but DONT stuff these, right?

@iFreelancer
@Thunder Digitals

 

[iFreelancer]

Is it safe and really worth it to have this kind of stuffing as it is supposed not to come from the owner?

Overdoing is what put you into trouble. This is where the true master arrives - The content (writer). If he/she writes the content after intaking the pain point, people's queries, and practical solutions, along with keywords, it will reward you in the long term. When it comes to services pages/blogs, give the title to the writer along with the keywords you found on Google Search Console. It will make his job easy as well, and you will end up getting a gold worth content, as it really addresses the real people's queries. Eventually Google will reward you for that with consistent traffic and leads.

 

[pandanan1922]

I have had success by maintaining my profiles and getting proper local reviewss