Local Search Best Practices.
8 Pillars. 50+ Rules. Fredericton-Tested.

Google Business Profile

• +Pick a primary category that exactly matches your core business (not a broader parent category)
• +Add up to 9 secondary categories -- Google uses these to match you to more search variations
• +Fill every field, including attributes, services, highlights, and opening date
• +Upload 20+ photos and add new ones every 2 weeks
• +Post weekly to GBP (offers, updates, events, FAQs all count)
• +Answer Q&A yourself -- don't let competitors or trolls control the conversation
• +Keep hours accurate, especially around holidays (stale hours kill ranking)

NAP Consistency

• +Your Name, Address, and Phone must match character-for-character across every directory
• +Pick one official spelling of your business name and use it everywhere
• +Use the same phone number across all listings (not a tracking number)
• +If you moved, update every directory -- stale addresses trigger trust penalties
• +Audit NAP monthly with Moz Local, BrightLocal, or Whitespark
• +Do not use a PO Box or virtual office address -- grounds for GBP suspension

Citations and Directories

• +Prioritize authoritative directories: Google, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Facebook, Foursquare
• +Add industry-specific directories (Canadian Bar for lawyers, RateMDs for health, TripAdvisor for hospitality)
• +For Atlantic Canada: include DiscoverSaintJohn, Tourism NB business listings where applicable
• +Target 40-50 high-quality citations, not 500 junk citations
• +Remove or correct duplicate listings -- they confuse Google and dilute ranking signal

Review Velocity

• +Aim for 2-5 new reviews per month, consistently (velocity matters more than total count)
• +Respond to every review within 48 hours, positive or negative
• +Use Google's short review link -- send it via SMS after service completion
• +Never pay for reviews or use review-swap schemes (suspension + legal risk)
• +Never gate reviews ('are you happy? leave a review! are you unhappy? email us instead' violates Google policy)
• +Use your business name and services naturally in your review responses -- helps keyword relevance

On-Page SEO

• +Every page needs a unique title tag under 60 characters with the city name where it makes sense
• +Every page needs a unique meta description under 160 characters
• +Use one H1 per page, descriptive and keyword-aware
• +Write content for humans first -- then optimize headings and internal links after
• +Build dedicated service pages for each offering, and location pages for each neighborhood you serve
• +Internal link from high-authority pages to the pages you want to rank

Schema Markup

• +Add LocalBusiness schema with full NAP, hours, geoCoordinates, and sameAs links
• +Add FAQPage schema to pages with FAQs -- eligible for rich snippet
• +Add Service schema to each service page
• +Add BreadcrumbList schema sitewide
• +Add Organization schema for multi-location businesses
• +Validate all schema with Google's Rich Results Test before going live

Technical SEO

• +Page speed: target Core Web Vitals in the 'Good' range (LCP under 2.5s, CLS under 0.1)
• +Mobile-friendly: 70%+ of Fredericton local search happens on mobile
• +HTTPS everywhere, with valid SSL certificate
• +XML sitemap submitted to Google Search Console, kept current
• +robots.txt allows AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended)
• +No duplicate content across pages (unique H1s, unique body copy)

AI Discoverability

• +Add an llms.txt file to your domain root (like robots.txt but for AI systems)
• +Structure content with clear headings, Q&A format, and list formats AI can cite
• +Explicitly state your service areas and business facts in natural language
• +Get cited in third-party content (reviews, press, partner sites) -- AI systems cross-reference
• +Test regularly: ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini questions your business should answer for
• +If AI cites you wrong, correct the source on your site first, then wait for re-indexing

Do all these best practices apply if I'm a one-person business?

Yes, but you can implement them at a slower pace. Focus on Google Business Profile, NAP consistency, and 2-3 reviews per month. Schema and AI discoverability can come in year two if resources are tight.

How often do these best practices change?

Core fundamentals (GBP, NAP, reviews, schema) have been stable for years. The new additions -- AI discoverability, Core Web Vitals, llms.txt -- emerged in 2024-2026 and are still evolving. Refresh your understanding every 6 months.

What's the #1 thing most Fredericton businesses skip that hurts them most?

Review velocity. Most Fredericton businesses have 3-15 Google reviews total. A competitor with 40+ reviews dominates the map pack even if their on-page SEO is weaker. Reviews are the single highest-leverage practice in local SEO.