Get found nearby, without paying for the click.
This is the ongoing work behind showing up in the map pack and in "near me" searches: your Google Business Profile, your listings, your reviews, your local pages and the schema underneath them. Here is what it actually is and how I measure whether it's working.
Updated by Carter Chillman
What is local SEO from Automation Solutions Co.? It is the ongoing work that makes a business findable nearby without paying for every click: a Google Business Profile that is filled in and kept current, your name, address and phone number matching everywhere they appear, a simple review flow, local landing pages that actually answer what someone typed, and the schema markup that lets Google read your address and service area cleanly. This is a marketing service based in Uxbridge, Ontario, not a page about any one town. I work with businesses across Durham Region, including Uxbridge and Port Perry specifically, and the rest of Ontario. Despite the word "automation" in the name, this is a marketing agency, not an industrial-automation or SCADA company.
Five things, done properly and kept current.
None of this is a one-time setup. Each of these needs checking, not just building.
Filled in properly, the right categories, verified, and kept current instead of set up once and forgotten.
Your name, address and phone number matching, word for word, everywhere they appear online. A mismatch anywhere is a small tax on every other signal.
A simple, consistent ask after the job is done, and a plan for responding when reviews land, good or bad.
A page that actually answers what someone nearby typed, loads fast, and works on a phone, because a slow or generic page undoes everything else.
Markup that states your address, hours and service area in a form Google can read cleanly, not just display.
Calls, direction requests and form sends. Not rankings.
A ranking position is not a number I will report to you, because it moves with the searcher, their location and their own history, and no two people see the same result at the same moment. What I track instead is what actually happens because someone found you: a phone call, a request for directions from your Google Business Profile, a form filled in and actually delivered.
- Calls
- Tracked from the number on your Google Business Profile and your site, so a call is counted as a call, not lost.
- Direction requests
- People who looked at the map and decided to come. A real, countable signal that has nothing to do with a keyword position.
- Form sends
- The same form-tracking discipline I use on paid ads, applied here: a send is recorded when it actually reaches you, not assumed.
These are the same categories of signal I already track for paid ads, applied to organic and local traffic instead of paid clicks.
Getting named when someone asks an AI.
More people now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Mode "who should I hire near me" instead of scrolling a list of links. Those tools build their answer from the same places this page is already about: your Google Business Profile, your reviews, directory listings like Yelp and the Better Business Bureau, and pages on your own site that answer the question directly.
So the AI side of local SEO is mostly the local work done thoroughly, plus two additions:
Wider listings. AI tools lean on directories more than people expect, so your details need to match on Yelp, Bing, Apple Maps and the directories for your trade, not just Google.
A monthly check. I ask the AI tools the questions your customers would ask, in a clean session, and record whether you're named, who is named instead, and what source they used.
What I won't do is promise you a mention. Nobody controls what an AI answer says. What I can show you is the work, the monthly check, and any calls or form sends that come from AI tools.
Based in Uxbridge, working across Durham Region and Ontario.
Two of these towns have their own page, because the work reads differently once it's written for a specific place.
I serve businesses across Uxbridge, Port Perry, Scugog and the rest of Durham Region, plus clients elsewhere in Ontario who do not need a physical service area named at all. Two towns have pages written specifically for them, and Uxbridge has two, split by what someone is actually searching for:
One way to start, not a second check built for this page.
I don't run a separate scored local check on top of the free look I already offer for a website. Send me your website and I tell you plainly what I see, including the local side of it: whether your profile is filled in, whether your listings agree with each other, and what I'd fix first. That's the same starting point whether the work turns out to be tracking, ads, local SEO or something else entirely. If you would rather look yourself first, I wrote up the seven checks I would start with, no tool needed.
Whatever we end up doing, the same terms apply everywhere I work: the accounts, the data and the finished work are yours, in your name, and it's month to month, so the work has to keep earning its place.
A few things people ask before hiring me for this.
What does local SEO actually change?
It changes whether you show up when someone nearby searches for what you do: the map pack, the "near me" results, the local pack on a plain search. It touches your Google Business Profile, how consistent your listings are, your reviews, your local pages and the schema behind them. It does not touch anything about paid ads.
How long before anything moves?
Longer than a paid campaign. Some of this, like fixing a listing mismatch, can matter within weeks. Reviews and rankings build slower and compound over months. I will not put a firm number on a page like this because it depends on your category, your competition and your starting point.
Can you promise a spot in the map pack?
No, and anyone who promises you a specific ranking position has not looked at your account, your competitors or Google's own behaviour. What I can promise is that the fundamentals get fixed and I tell you honestly what is moving and what is not.
What does a Google Business Profile actually need?
The right categories, complete and accurate hours, a description that says plainly what you do, photos that are actually yours, and someone checking it regularly instead of leaving it as it was set up on day one. Most of the profiles I open are missing some of those.
Which towns do you serve?
Based in Uxbridge, Ontario, working across Durham Region: Uxbridge, Port Perry, Scugog and the surrounding towns, plus the rest of Ontario for clients who do not need a physical service area at all.
Is there a separate local check to start with?
No. It is the same first look I give every website: send me yours and I tell you what I see and the first thing I would fix, the local side included. I do not run a second, separate local check on top of it.
Can you get my business recommended by ChatGPT?
Nobody can guarantee it, and anyone who does is guessing. What raises the odds is the same groundwork as local SEO: a complete Google Business Profile, real reviews, listings that agree with each other on sites like Yelp and Bing, and pages that answer the question a customer actually asks. I check monthly whether the AI tools name you and who they name instead.
Is "AI SEO" different from local SEO?
For a local business, mostly not. The AI tools pull from your profile, your reviews, directories and your site, which is local SEO's territory. The differences are a wider set of listings and a monthly check of what the AI tools actually say. If someone quotes you a large separate fee for "AI SEO", ask what they change each month that local SEO doesn't already cover.
Do I need an llms.txt file or special code for AI search?
No. Google has said its search doesn't use llms.txt, and a large test by Ahrefs found adding schema markup made no measurable difference to AI citations. Basic local schema is still worth having so search engines read your details cleanly, but it's housekeeping, not the lever.
Want a free look at what's holding you back locally?
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