Local SEO Expert: How I Approach Local SEO for a Business
How Abhijeet Saxena works as a local SEO expert: what he checks first, the order of work, what he won't do, how results are measured and how to get in touch.
Contents
I'm Abhijeet Saxena, a local search expert and the founder of The GBP Agency. Local SEO is one of my core specialisms. This page explains how I approach it: what I check first, the order I work in, what I won't do and how I measure whether it's working. Use it to decide whether my way of working fits your business.
If you want the discipline itself explained first, read what is local SEO?.
What local SEO covers in my work
| Area | What I look at | Where I explain it |
|---|---|---|
| Business facts | Name, address or service area, phone, hours and categories, on Google and everywhere else they appear | What a local search expert does |
| Google Business Profile | Primary and additional categories, services, description, photos, verification, duplicates, unwanted edits | Optimizing a Business Profile |
| The website | One useful page per core service, the area served stated plainly, contact details, structured data | Local SEO vs SEO |
| Reviews | A steady, policy-compliant way of asking every customer, and a reply to every review | Reviews strategy |
| Prominence | Genuine local links and mentions: associations, sponsorships, local press | Local SEO ranking factors |
| AI search | How assistants describe the business, and whether the facts they use are consistent | AEO and GEO for local businesses |
| Measurement | Calls, direction requests, bookings, enquiries, and visibility across the service area | Below |
How I approach a local SEO project
The order matters more than any single tactic. Fixing the foundations first stops later work from being wasted.
- Baseline. Record where the business stands before anything changes: visibility from several points across the service area, profile calls and direction requests, website enquiries, review count and recency. Without a baseline, nobody can tell what worked.
- Facts and guidelines. Check the profile against Google's guidelines, find duplicates, and make the core details identical across Google, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places and key directories.
- Find the constraint. Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Distance can't be changed, so the question is which of the other two holds the business back. The 30-minute diagnosis is how I start.
- Relevance. The right primary category, complete services, and website pages that match what customers actually search.
- Prominence. A review routine that lasts, plus local links and mentions the business has genuinely earned.
- Measure and adjust. Compare against the baseline every month, report in plain language, and pick the next most useful piece of work.
What I won't do
- Promise a ranking position, on Maps or anywhere else
- Add keywords or a city to a business name that isn't part of the real name
- Buy, swap or filter reviews, or ask only happy customers
- Create profiles for addresses where the business doesn't genuinely operate
- Take primary ownership of a client's Business Profile
Each of these conflicts with Google's guidelines or puts the profile at risk. More on the warning signs in how to choose a Google Business Profile expert.
How the work is delivered
I work remotely with businesses worldwide. You can work with me directly, or through The GBP Agency, the specialist agency I founded. If you're not sure which suits you, tell me what you need and I'll say honestly which route fits. The agency's local SEO service describes what an engagement there includes. This website is where I write in my own name, so you can see how I think about the work before you talk to anyone.
How to judge whether I'm the right fit
- Read how I reason. The guides linked above are written by me, and they cite Google's own documentation where it exists.
- Check my certifications. The About page lists them.
- Ask direct questions. What I'd check first on your profile, which ranking factor I think limits you, and how I'd measure success. You should get a specific answer to each.
The same criteria apply to any local SEO expert you consider, and the local search expert guide has a fuller checklist.
Get in touch
Email hi@abhijeetsaxena.com or message me on WhatsApp (link in the footer). Tell me the business, its main services and the area it serves, and what has changed recently, if anything.
Frequently asked questions
Can a local SEO expert guarantee first place on Google Maps?
No. Google doesn't sell or guarantee local positions, and results change with the searcher's location. What can be promised is an honest diagnosis, work that follows Google's guidelines and clear measurement.
What do you need from a business to start?
Manager access to the Google Business Profile (the business stays the primary owner), access to Google Search Console and analytics if they exist, and a short conversation about which services and areas matter most.
How long does local SEO take to show results?
It depends on the starting point and the competition. Fixing wrong information or a poor primary category can show within weeks. Reviews and prominence build over months. A baseline at the start makes progress visible either way.
Do you work with businesses outside your own country?
Yes. I work remotely with businesses worldwide. Local SEO doesn't need someone on site: the Business Profile, website, listings and reviews are all managed online, and visibility is checked from the business's own service area with geo-grid tools.
Is a local SEO expert the same as a local SEO consultant or specialist?
In practice, yes. The titles are used interchangeably. 'Consultant' tends to mean advice and planning, 'specialist' or 'expert' hands-on work. I do both: diagnosis and planning as a consultant, and the work itself, directly or through The GBP Agency.
Is a local SEO expert the same as a Google Business Profile expert?
They overlap. A Google Business Profile expert focuses on the profile itself; local SEO also covers the website, listings, reviews and local links. I work across both.