The complete 90-day agency playbook for local business dominance. GBP optimization, entity markup, citations, reviews, and behavioral signals — every step documented.
Run a $27 Audit First GBP Fix GuideBefore starting the playbook, make sure these baseline items are in place. If any are missing, fix them first.
Your GBP is the single most important ranking factor for the Local Pack. Get this wrong and nothing else matters.
| Task | Why It Matters | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Complete every GBP field Business name, address, phone, hours, categories, description, services, products, attributes |
Google ranks complete profiles higher. Empty fields signal neglect to the algorithm. | Critical |
| Choose the right primary category Match your core serviceGoogle allows one primary category and multiple secondary categories. The primary category has the most weight. Use the most specific category available (e.g., "Tree Service" not "Landscaper"). |
The primary category determines which searches trigger your listing. Wrong category = wrong audience. | Critical |
| Add 3–5 secondary categories Cover related services without diluting the primary signal |
Expands the queries you can appear for. More categories = more visibility. | High |
| Upload 25+ high-quality photos Storefront, interior, team, work samples, before/after shots |
Listings with 25+ photos get 35% more clicks. Google prioritizes visual-rich profiles. | High |
| Write the business description (750 chars) Include primary keyword, city, and core services naturally |
Not a direct ranking factor, but affects click-through rate and AI understanding of your business. | Medium |
| Add services with descriptions Every service your business offers, with a 1–2 sentence description and price ranges |
Services appear in GBP and help Google match you to specific service queries. | High |
| Set up GBP Posts schedule Post weekly updates, offers, or events |
Active posting signals a live, engaged business. Google rewards recency. | Medium |
| Enable messaging & Q&A Turn on GBP messaging, seed 5+ Q&A pairs |
Engagement features improve profile completeness score and reduce friction for prospects. | Medium |
Your website must confirm and reinforce everything GBP tells Google. Schema markup, bot access, and content alignment create the entity signal that AI models use to understand your business.
| Task | Why It Matters | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Add LocalBusiness schemaJSON-LD structured data that tells Google your business name, address, phone, hours, and services in machine-readable format. This is the single most impactful technical SEO fix for local businesses. Full JSON-LD with NAP, hours, geo, services, area served |
15 points in the AI Visibility Score. Required for Rich Results. Without it, you’re invisible to AI crawlers. | Critical |
| Add FAQ schema 10+ questions with detailed answers targeting “People Also Ask” queries |
10 points in AI Visibility Score. FAQ schema drives featured snippets and PAA boxes. | Critical |
| Allow AI bot accessGPTBot (ChatGPT), ClaudeBot (Anthropic Claude), and other AI crawlers check your robots.txt before indexing your content. If they’re blocked, AI will never recommend your business. Check your robots.txt file. Unblock GPTBot and ClaudeBot in robots.txt |
12 points in the AI Visibility Score. If bots are blocked, AI assistants will never know you exist. | Critical |
| Create llms.txtA plain text file at /llms.txt that describes your business, services, and location in natural language for AI models. Think of it as a cover letter for AI crawlers. Learn more at llmstxt.org. Business description in natural language for AI crawlers |
3 points in AI Visibility Score. Tells AI models who you are, what you do, and where you operate. | High |
| Fix page speed Target ≤2 seconds load time. Compress images, enable caching, minimize render-blocking resources |
20 points in AI Visibility Score. Slow sites lose 50%+ of mobile visitors and rank lower. | High |
| Fix SEO basics Title tag, meta description, H1, viewport meta, XML sitemap |
25 points in AI Visibility Score. These are table stakes — missing any means points left on the table. | High |
| Add security headers HTTPS + Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, Strict-Transport-Security, etc. |
Displayed in scan results. Missing headers signal an insecure site to both users and search engines. | Medium |
| Ensure NAP matches GBP exactly Name, Address, Phone on website footer and schema must be character-for-character identical to GBP |
Any mismatch confuses Google and weakens your entity signal. NAP guide → | Critical |
Citations confirm your entity across the web. Reviews build trust signals. Together they create a compounding authority flywheel that’s nearly impossible for competitors to replicate quickly.
| Task | Why It Matters | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Build core citationsCitations are mentions of your business NAP on third-party directories. Core citations include: Google, Yelp, Facebook, BBB, Yellow Pages, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Foursquare, and industry-specific directories. Top 15 directories: Google, Yelp, Facebook, BBB, Apple Maps, Bing Places, etc. |
Each consistent citation reinforces your entity with Google. Inconsistent citations hurt rankings. | Critical |
| Clean up inconsistent citations Find and fix old addresses, phone numbers, or business names on directories |
Phone/address residue across directories confuses Google’s entity understanding. See residue guide → | High |
| Build industry-specific citations Niche directories relevant to your industry (e.g., HomeAdvisor for contractors, Healthgrades for medical) |
Industry-specific directories carry more weight than general directories for relevance signals. | High |
| Launch a review generation campaign Ask every customer for a Google review. Follow up within 24–48 hours of service. |
Reviews are a top 3 local ranking factor. Volume, velocity, and diversity all matter. | Critical |
| Respond to every review Thank positive reviewers by name. Address negative reviews professionally within 24 hours. |
Response rate signals engagement. Professional negative-review responses build trust. | High |
| Claim social profiles Facebook Business, Instagram Business, LinkedIn Company, YouTube channel |
Social profiles are citations too. They reinforce the entity and create sameAs links for schema. Social guide → |
High |
Content feeds AI models. Behavioral signals prove user satisfaction. This is where rankings compound — each piece of content attracts traffic, which generates engagement signals, which pushes rankings higher.
| Task | Why It Matters | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Publish PAA-targeted content"People Also Ask" boxes appear in 65%+ of Google searches. Writing content that directly answers PAA questions is the fastest way to earn featured snippets and AI citations. Our Voice of Customer tool shows you the exact PAA questions for your niche. Write blog posts that answer the top 10 “People Also Ask” questions for your niche + city |
PAA content feeds both Google featured snippets AND AI recommendation engines. See PAA guide → | Critical |
| Create location pages One page per service area with unique content, embedded map, local testimonials |
Local pages targeting “[service] in [city]” capture long-tail local searches. | High |
| Build service pages with schema Dedicated page for each service with Service schema, FAQ schema, and pricing |
Service pages rank for specific queries. Schema on each page multiplies Rich Results opportunities. | High |
| Weekly social posting Share GBP posts, blog content, and customer stories across all social platforms |
Consistent social activity creates backlinks, engagement signals, and brand search volume. | Medium |
| Encourage brand searches Include your business name in social CTAs, email signatures, print marketing |
Brand search volume is a ranking signal. If people search for you by name, Google assumes relevance. | Medium |
| Monitor & iterate Re-scan monthly. Track ranking positions. Adjust strategy based on data. |
What gets measured gets improved. Monthly scans catch regressions before they hurt rankings. | High |
Phases overlap intentionally. Start Phase 2 while finishing Phase 1. Momentum compounds.
Know exactly where you stand before you start fixing. Our scan checks every signal in this playbook in under 30 seconds.
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