Local SEO glossary

Local SEO

Local SEO is the practice of optimizing a business's online presence so it appears prominently in geographically relevant search results, including Google Maps and the local pack.

Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile (GBP) is a free listing that controls how your business appears in Google Search and Google Maps, including your name, address, hours, photos, and customer reviews.

NAP Consistency

NAP consistency refers to having your business Name, Address, and Phone number identical across every online listing, directory, and web page where your business appears.

AI Search Visibility

AI search visibility is the likelihood that AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews mention or recommend your business when a user asks a local question.

Citations

Citations are online mentions of your business's name, address, and phone number on directories, review sites, data aggregators, and local websites — with or without a link.

Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites pointing to your site, and they act as votes of authority that help search engines determine how trustworthy and relevant your content is.

GEO Audit

A GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) audit evaluates how accurately and consistently your business information appears across the sources that AI search tools use to generate answers.

Review Signals

Review signals are the quantity, recency, rating, and sentiment of customer reviews on Google and other platforms, and they directly influence local search rankings and customer conversion.