Practical guides on Local SEO, AEO, and GEO for London and Home Counties businesses. Every guide is written by the people who do this work day to day.
LLM SEO, GEO, AI search
There are exactly two routes into an AI model's answer (its trained knowledge and its live web search), and you can influence both. The entity work, the quotable page shape, the classic SEO that still gates everything, and how to measure it honestly.
ChatGPT, GEO, AI search
ChatGPT already shortlists tradesmen and agencies for millions of people. Where its recommendations come from, the Bing indexation lever almost no UK business is pulling, and the page and reputation work that earns citations.
Maps, trades, local SEO
The three businesses in the map pack take most of the calls. What Google weighs (relevance, distance, prominence), plus the profile work, review system, photo habit, and geo-grid measurement that move a trade business into the three.
GBP, verification, local SEO
The postcard era is mostly over, and video verification is now the default. Every method still in circulation, what to film so you pass first time (including the service-area trade version), and what to do when verification stalls or fails.
GBP, support, local SEO
There's no phone number to ring, and anyone who rings you claiming to be Google is a scammer. The channels that do exist, how to get from the help centre to a human, and why the community forum often beats the official ticket.
GBP, optimisation, local SEO
Editing now happens directly in Search and Maps, and some edits sail through while others send your profile back into review. Which is which, the editors changing your profile who aren't you, and a maintenance rhythm that compounds.
GBP, listings, local SEO
Deleting the profile doesn't delete the listing, and that surprise catches almost everyone. What each kind of 'delete' does, the right move for closures, moves, rebrands and duplicates, and the delete-and-restart trap to avoid.
GBP, suspensions, local SEO
A suspension means the phone goes quiet overnight, and what you do in the first day largely decides whether reinstatement takes days or months. The exact order of operations, the evidence that works, and the three panic moves to avoid.
GBP, appeals, reinstatement
Google's appeals tool is the only route back from a suspension, and it gives you one good shot. Every step in order, including the short evidence-upload window that decides most appeals and that almost everyone fumbles.
GBP, appeals, reinstatement
A denial ends the easy route, but the profile can still come back. The three escalation channels that still work (fresh evidence, GBP support, and the community forum's Product Experts), plus how to keep leads coming in while the listing is down.
GBP, Google Maps, local SEO
Unverified, suspended, duplicated, miscategorised, outranked, or just too new: a missing Maps listing is always one of eight things. How to diagnose which one is yours in two minutes, and the fix for each.
Local SEO, plumbers, London
Ranking for "plumber London" rarely fills a diary. A page for each borough you cover does a better job. What goes on one, what the numbers look like, and the map pack gap most plumbers miss.
AEO, SEO, voice search
Is AEO replacing SEO? No, but it changes how pages get written. Which one to fund first on a small budget, how much extra work AEO adds, and how to tell whether it's working.
AEO, voice search, London
What answer engine optimisation is, what it involves on a website, how long it takes to show, and how to check whether voice assistants already mention you. Written for owners, not marketers.
GEO, AEO, AI search
AEO goes after the answer a voice assistant reads out, and GEO goes after the citation in an AI-written reply. The two compared side by side, the ground they share, and a practical example using a Hackney solicitor.
The guides above are in date order. If you've arrived with a specific problem, these are the orders I'd read them in.
Read the suspension guide first, because the first day matters most. Then work through the appeals tool step by step. If the appeal comes back denied, the denial guide covers the routes that are still open.
Start with the diagnosis guide, which narrows it down to one of eight causes. If the cause turns out to be verification, the verification guide is next. If you're listed but sitting low, the map pack guide covers what moves a profile up.
The plain-English AEO guide explains the idea. GEO vs AEO separates the two jobs. After that, LLM SEO and the ChatGPT guide cover the practical steps, including the Bing setup most UK businesses skip.
The editing guide shows which changes go through quietly and which send a profile back into review. For closures, moves and duplicates, read the deletion guide before pressing anything. If you're stuck, the support guide explains how to reach a person at Google.
Reading about SEO is useful. Knowing where your own business stands is more useful. Our free SEO audit, the Visibility Snapshot, covers your website, your Google Business Profile, where you rank today for your three main searches and whether ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention you. Within one working day I'll email you, in plain English, the one thing I'd fix first.
Get Your Free SEO AuditFree · No call required
Our free SEO audit, the Visibility Snapshot, is a manual look at what anyone can see of your business online today. I check four things from public data and email you one written document within one working day. No sales call, and I don't need any logins.
Rather talk it through? Call +44 7513 852234.
Delivered within one working day
Tell me your website and where you work. I'll send back a written document on where you stand today and the one thing I'd fix first.
A snapshot of where you stand today. Doesn't include backlink audits, ranking history or reviews of another agency's work.
Manual review · no sales call · reply within one working day
Google-reviewed · read our Google reviews
Client Reviews
Shared from our Google reviews. You can read them all on our profile.
"Highly recommend RankLocal. I was apprehensive at first as had been let down with a previous agency I used, but went with the Growth Engine and the level of insight, professional development and web exposure obtained from this was way above my expectation. Dan is clearly very knowledgeable in this field and extremely proactive."
Elliot Boorman
"Recently used Rank Local to redesign my website. Really happy with the finished product and the company were a professional outfit throughout the process."
Maximillian
Local Guide
"Thanks Rank Local — recently redone my website, very pleased with it, great work. Was a pleasure dealing with Daniel. We had our new site up and running within 3 weeks."
Daniel Byatt
"I had a site for my 1 man company for years that never really gained much traction so I decided to bring it up to date. Rank Local rebuilt the site and it looks so much better — modern and easier to navigate. I've already been contacted by people from the site so whatever they did, they did it right. Thanks again Dan."
Chevy Roach
"Excellent service and great people to work with. Sorted all our SEO ranking for 247 Cars with Google and we are on first page for all our service areas."
Andy Johnson
"Great service from Rank Local Agency. They redone my site — now I appear in AI search results for my business in Richmond. Using them for my social media management, all going well, nothing to fault. Recommended them to a friend also."
Daniel Brewster