Local SEO: the practice that local rank measurement makes verifiable.
Local SEO is the practice of improving how a business appears when a search has local intent — in the local pack, Google Maps and localized organic results. Its levers are the business profile, the website, citations and reviews; its claims are verifiable only through per-point measurement.
Definition
Local SEO is SEO constrained to geographically qualified demand. Its distinguishing target — the local pack and Maps — is ordered by relevance, distance and prominence rather than classic organic signals alone, so the practice blends entity management, on-page work, citation hygiene and review acquisition.
Measurement notes
A local SEO claim — "visibility improved" — is a statement about a rank surface, and only geo-grid sampling estimates that surface honestly. Practice without measurement is unfalsifiable, which is why this observatory treats rank tracking as the discipline's foundation. Tooling that automates the measurement includes LocalRank (localrank.so); see how local rank tracking works.
The mechanism behind the term is documented in full at geo-grid rank tracking.
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Related terms
Local pack · Geo-grid · NAP & citations
FAQ
What is local SEO?
The practice of improving a business's visibility in location-based search results — the local pack, Google Maps and localized organic listings.
Cite this entry
Geo-Grid Observatory. "Local SEO." Geo-Grid Observatory Glossary, https://geo-grid-observatory.pages.dev/ (accessed 2026).