This is the checklist we use when a Washington service business asks us where they stand. It is the actual sequence from our local SEO audits, organized so you can work through it yourself — or at least know exactly what you are paying someone else to do.

Work top to bottom. The early items produce the most movement per hour invested, and each section builds on the one before it.

Google Business Profile

The profile drives the map pack, and the map pack drives phone calls. Start here.

  • Profile is claimed, verified, and owned by an account your business controls — not a former marketing vendor

  • Primary category is the most specific one available for your highest-value work

  • Secondary categories cover the rest of what you do

  • Every service is listed with a real description, not just a name

  • Service area reflects where you actually work — specific cities, not a heroic radius

  • Address is hidden if customers do not visit your location

  • Hours are accurate, including holiday hours

  • Phone number matches your website exactly

  • Photos include real jobs, real people, and real trucks — with something new added at least monthly

  • Every review has a response, including the bad ones

  • Q&A section has been checked — customers ask questions there and Google shows the answers

Reviews

Review velocity — how many and how recently — beats raw count. This section is a process to install, not a task to complete.

  • Every completed job triggers a review request the same day, with a direct link

  • The request is a two-tap experience on a phone, not "find us on Google"

  • Someone owns responding to new reviews within a few days

  • Negative reviews get a calm, factual, professional reply — written for the future customers reading it, not the reviewer

  • Review totals are tracked monthly against your top three competitors

  • Nobody, ever, buys reviews or reviews the business themselves — one filter sweep or suspension costs more than a year of honest asking

Citations and consistency

Google cross-references your business everywhere it appears. Disagreement erodes trust; consistency compounds it.

  • Business name, address, and phone number are written identically everywhere they appear

  • Core directories are correct: Google, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Yelp, Facebook, BBB

  • Trade-relevant directories are covered — licensing boards, supplier locators, association member lists

  • Old listings from moves, rebrands, or previous phone numbers are corrected or removed

  • Your state license number appears on your website and major profiles — customers and AI engines both check

Website fundamentals

Your site supports both the map pack and organic rankings. It does not need to be fancy; it needs to be fast, mobile, and specific.

  • Site loads in under three seconds on a phone

  • Phone number is clickable and visible at the top of every page

  • Each core service has its own page, written in the words customers use

  • Each major city you serve has its own page with content genuinely about serving that area

  • What you do and where you do it are stated in plain text on the homepage — not just in a logo or image

  • License, insurance, and years in business are stated plainly

  • LocalBusiness structured data is present and validates — machine-readable business details for search and AI engines

  • Every page has a unique, descriptive title tag

  • The site works flawlessly on a phone, where most local searches happen

Local authority

The slowest lever and the strongest one. This is what separates page-one businesses in competitive metros like Seattle and Tacoma.

  • Local organizations you already pay — suppliers, associations, chambers — link to your site where they can

  • Sponsorships (teams, events, trade schools) include a link, which most organizations will happily add if asked

  • Completed projects generate content: photos and a short writeup, tied to the city where the work happened

  • Local press mentions and community coverage are pursued when there is a genuine story

  • Nobody is buying link packages — cheap links from irrelevant sites are somewhere between useless and harmful

The AI layer

Increasingly, customers get recommendations from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews without ever seeing traditional results. Everything above feeds those answers too, but two additions matter:

  • You know what the AI engines currently say when someone asks about your services in your city — because you have asked them

  • Structured data goes beyond the basics: services, service areas, credentials, and FAQs marked up so machines can quote you accurately

If both of those are unfamiliar territory, that is the gap our answer engine optimization service covers — and being early to it is a genuine advantage while competitors ignore it.

Monthly upkeep

Local SEO is not a project that ends. The maintenance list is short but relentless:

  • New photos on the profile

  • Review requests going out with every job, responses going back within days

  • One piece of local proof — a project writeup, an updated service page, a new citation

  • Rankings, calls, and leads recorded, so you know whether the line is going up

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the full checklist take?

The profile and website items are a focused week or two of work. Citations take longer to propagate. Reviews and authority are ongoing by nature. Expect meaningful ranking movement in the 90-to-180-day range for competitive Washington markets — faster in smaller ones.

What should I do first if I only have an hour a week?

Reviews. Install the ask-every-customer process and answer what comes in. It is the highest-return hour in local marketing, and it compounds while you sleep.

Does this checklist apply outside the big metros?

Yes — it applies harder. In smaller Washington markets, most competitors have done almost none of this, so completing even the first two sections can put you in the map pack within months.

What does it cost to have all of this handled?

Our local SEO retainers run $750 to $2,500 per month depending on market and trade, covering everything on this list plus the monthly reporting. The audit that tells you where you stand is free either way.

Get your scorecard

If you want to know how your business scores against this checklist — and against the three competitors currently outranking you — we will run the audit for free. You get a plain-English scorecard and a prioritized plan, whether or not you hire us to execute it. Request your free audit.