Local SEO makes sure a business appears when someone nearby searches for its service, for example "plumber Frauenfeld" or "dentist near me". It rests on five building blocks: a well-maintained Google Business Profile, a location page for each real location, regular reviews with replies, regional content on the blog, and address details written identically everywhere. Artificial pages for places without a location achieve nothing and breach Google's guidelines.
When someone searches for "electrician Weinfelden", Google shows a map with three businesses at the top, followed by the normal results. Local SEO decides whether your business appears on that map and whether your website shows up below it. Both depend on the same five building blocks. None of them is complicated, but all five need to work together.
Building block 1: The Google Business Profile
The profile is the foundation of the map. Without a profile, there's no entry in Google Maps, no matter how good the website is. According to Google's own documentation, local results are ranked by three criteria: relevance (does the category match the search?), distance (how far is the business from the person searching?) and prominence (how much does Google know about the business from reviews, directories and the website?).
You can influence relevance and prominence. The main category must match your core business exactly, the services are listed, photos are up to date, and opening hours are correct. The individual settings are described in detail under Optimise your Google Business Profile. If you'd rather hand this over, you'll find the relevant offer under Google Business Profile Optimisation.
Building block 2: A location page for each real location
The website needs a dedicated page for each physical location, with address, phone number, opening hours, directions, a contact person and ideally a photo of the building. Link this page in the Business Profile as the location's website address. Add LocalBusiness markup to the page so Google can read the address data automatically; Google describes the format in its documentation on structured data.
A business with one location needs exactly one such page, often the contact page. A trust company with offices in Frauenfeld and Wil needs two.
What isn't a location page
This is where the most common mistake happens. Some agencies create a page for every town in the catchment area: "Painter Kreuzlingen", "Painter Tägerwilen", "Painter Ermatingen", all with the same text and just the place name swapped. Google calls such pages doorway pages and lists them as a violation in its spam policies. At best, Google ignores them; at worst, the whole website loses trust.
| Allowed and sensible | Risky |
|---|---|
| One page per location with address and team | One page per town with no location |
| Describing the catchment area on the location page | Same text with just the place name swapped |
| Blog post about a specific project in a particular place | Twenty "service + place" pages with no original content |
| Service page that mentions regions in the text | Hidden text with lists of places |
How to properly cover a catchment area spanning canton, district and agglomeration without building artificial pages is described under Get found regionally in Switzerland.
Building block 3: Reviews and replies
Reviews influence prominence in the Business Profile and the decision of people searching. Three habits are enough:
- Ask for a review after every completed job, most easily using the direct link from the Business Profile by text message or email.
- Reply to every review within a week, including the positive ones, in two or three sentences referring to the job.
- Reply to negative reviews factually and take the conversation offline. Future customers read the reply, not just the person who wrote it.
Bought or swapped reviews breach the guidelines and are noticeable because they arrive in batches and have no connection to actual jobs.
Building block 4: Regional content on the blog
The website needs to show Google that the business genuinely operates in the region. This isn't achieved with lists of places, but with content that only a local business could write:
- Project reports: "Bathroom renovation in a period property in Arbon: what the building's structure demanded"
- Regional questions: "What funding is available in the canton of Thurgau for heat pumps?" (noting that a specialist body must confirm the details)
- Seasonal content with a local angle: "Checking your heating before winter: our checklist for homeowners in Oberthurgau"
Such posts mention places because that's where they take place, not to fit in a keyword. One post a month with genuine regional relevance works better than twenty place pages.
Building block 5: Consistent address data
Name, address and phone number must be written exactly the same everywhere: on the website, in the Business Profile, on local.ch, search.ch, in the commercial register and on social media profiles. "Müller Sanitär AG, Hauptstrasse 12" and "Mueller Sanitär, Hauptstr. 12" are two mismatched signals as far as Google is concerned, which weakens prominence. Settle on the one correct spelling and check all listings once a year.
How the building blocks work together
The profile gets you onto the map, the location page gives the profile a home, reviews and directory listings strengthen prominence, and the blog continually provides Google with evidence that you're active in the region. If one building block is missing, the others contribute less. A business with a perfect profile but a website with no address and no regional content will lag behind a competitor who has all five parts right.
If you don't know where you stand, the best first step is to check whether Google and AI systems connect your business with the region at all. The free AI check shows in about a minute whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini can find your website. A blog system like BlogPilot can then take care of the fourth building block by picking up on search queries from the region and turning them into posts with a local angle. The other four building blocks remain tasks that no one can take off your hands.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a competitor appear above me in Google Maps even though they're further away?
According to its own documentation, Google ranks local results by relevance, distance and prominence. Distance is just one of the three factors. A competitor with a complete profile, the right main category and more answered reviews can be further away and still rank above you.
Do I need a separate page for every town in my catchment area?
No. One page per genuine location with address, phone number and opening hours makes sense. Thirty near-identical pages for thirty municipalities without an actual location count as doorway pages to Google and can harm the whole website. It's better to describe your catchment area on the location page and in blog posts with a regional angle.
How important are listings in directories such as local.ch or search.ch?
They're one building block among several. What matters is that the address details are written there exactly the same way as on the website and in your business profile. A dozen correct listings in relevant directories is enough; hundreds of listings on random portals bring no measurable benefit.
Does local SEO also help with searches on ChatGPT or Perplexity?
The same signals help there too, because AI systems draw on search results, business profiles and reviews when answering. A business with a complete profile, a clear address and content with a local angle has a better chance of being named as a provider in a region. There's no guarantee.