"Restaurant near me", "marketing agency in Palma", "physiotherapist in Pollença". Local searches carry the highest purchase intent there is: whoever searches like that is hours — sometimes minutes — away from spending. And they're decided in a very specific place: the map with three results Google paints at the top. Local SEO is the discipline of being on that map.
Your Google profile: your second website
The heart of local SEO is your Google Business Profile. For many businesses it gets more visits than the website itself — and yet it's usually half-finished. What separates an abandoned listing from a working one:
- Well-chosen categories — the primary one defines who you compete against; secondary ones widen the searches you appear in.
- Complete, living information — opening hours (holidays too), services, attributes, booking link. Google rewards profiles that stay updated.
- Recent, real photos — listings with fresh photos get significantly more clicks. Stock images show, and they subtract.
- Regular posts — news, offers, events. Few businesses use them: an advantage for those who do.
Reviews: the factor that moves rankings most
Reviews are a ranking signal and a sales argument at once. What works: asking systematically (at the moment of peak satisfaction, with a QR code or a direct link), answering every single one — the bad ones too, with craft: a well-handled criticism sells more than ten silent five-stars — and encouraging natural mentions of the service and the area ("the best rice in Port de Pollença" is gold).
Your website plays too
The map feeds on your listing, but local ranking leans on your website: a page per relevant service and area, your address and phone visible and consistent with the listing (the famous NAP), local business structured data (schema.org) and mentions in directories and local press. Consistency across all sources is what earns Google's trust — and, increasingly, the trust of the AIs that recommend businesses.
The classic mistake: set it and forget it
Local SEO isn't a configuration, it's a habit: new photos every month, reviews requested every week, hours kept current, questions answered. A well-spent half hour a week beats the perfect listing nobody has touched since 2023.
For multi-location businesses
Every location needs its own listing and its own page on the website, with specific content — not the same description with the town name swapped. It's more work, and that's exactly why it works: most won't do it.
At staycreative, local SEO is part of our SEO & Paid Media work — especially for restaurants, hotels and service businesses in Mallorca. If your listing hasn't been touched in months, drop us a line and we'll give it a spin.
