Local SEO is how you get found in maps and AI answers.

Before a search engine or an AI assistant recommends a local business, it checks your profile, your reviews and your listings.

Local SEO 30% of your score

The practice of making a business visible in geographic searches: the map pack, “near me” queries, and now the local recommendations AI assistants make. It’s built on your Google Business Profile, your reviews, and one consistent name, address and phone across your own pages.

Why Local SEO matters for AI answers

AI uses the same signals as the map pack

When an assistant picks a name for “best plumber near me,” it leans on profiles, reviews and consistent listings. Those are the same trust signals the map pack runs on.

Reviews shape what AI says about you

Review volume, velocity and recency all count. Assistants also summarize sentiment and quote specifics, so what customers write now works as marketing copy.

Small listing mismatches add up

An old address in one directory and a mismatched phone in another pile up without anyone noticing. Each one makes search engines and AI less sure you are who you say you are.

What Speak Local checks

Every scan measures and scores these, sorts them by priority, and re-checks them on schedule. See the full platform for how the pillars combine.

Google Business Profile: every review across every office in one inbox, refreshed every six hours

Review signals: every Google review in one inbox, with your replies posted back

NAP consistency: one name, address and phone across every listing that search engines and AI assistants read

Local pack tracking: where you stand on the map results that matter

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Common questions

What is NAP consistency?

NAP is your business Name, Address, and Phone number. Search engines and AI assistants cross-check them across your website, Google Business Profile, and directories. When the details disagree, they lose confidence in who you are, and that costs you both map rankings and AI recommendations. Speak Local flags every mismatch it finds.

How do reviews affect AI recommendations?

Beyond your star rating, AI assistants summarize review content and patterns. Recency and velocity matter (a business with steady recent reviews beats a higher-rated one that went quiet), and specific praise gets quoted in answers. Your reviews shape the answers you appear in.

What is the local pack?

The map with three business listings that Google shows for local-intent searches. It runs on proximity, relevance, and prominence, with profile quality and reviews counting most. It also feeds the local recommendations that appear in AI Overviews.

Your map ranking depends on where the search happens.

We run the same map search from up to 49 points across your service area and plot where you ranked at each point. You can see the blocks where you lead and the blocks where you drop out.

out 20 14 11 9 12 out 18 12 8 5 6 9 15 11 7 4 2 3 6 10 9 5 2 1 1 4 8 12 8 3 1 2 5 11 13 9 6 4 9 16 19 15 10 8 14

Top 3
Top 10
Top 20
Outside 20
No answer
Not sampled

3×3, 5×5 or 7×7 grids at 1, 2, 5 or 10 miles, checking the top twenty results at every point. A point we couldn’t sample is drawn as a hole, never as a zero. A cell marked out means outside the top twenty from that point, not invisible.