The local SEO guide for small businesses in Quebec

Local SEO covers everything that makes a business show up when a client searches for a product or service near them. It involves the Google Business Profile, the pages on your website, online directories and reviews. This guide explains how each of them weighs in the ranking, in the order worth tackling them.

What local SEO covers

A local search shows two kinds of results on the same page. At the top, a map block usually shows three businesses, with their rating, their hours and a button to call. Below it come the organic results, which are web pages.

The two areas are not won the same way. The map ranks Google Business Profiles. The organic results rank website pages. Local SEO works on both, because a business that appears on the map and in the results below takes up far more of the client’s field of view.

A search becomes local as soon as Google detects an intent of proximity. A city name is enough, and so is “near me”. Many searches with no place in them trigger the map too: someone who types “emergency plumber” wants a plumber who can come to them, and Google understands that.

AI search assistants, such as Google’s AI Overviews, also rely on this information when asked to recommend a business. A complete profile and contact details that match from one site to the next are part of what they check.

Google’s three local ranking criteria

Google itself explains how it ranks local results. Three criteria come up: proximity, relevance and prominence.

Proximity is the one you have little control over, since it depends on where the person searching is. That is why a business well established in one neighbourhood often dominates the map around its address and disappears a few kilometres further on.

Relevance and prominence can be worked on. A complete profile, accurate categories and website pages that describe your services precisely improve relevance. Reviews, mentions of your business elsewhere on the web and the quality of your site build prominence.

Optimizing your Google Business Profile

The Google Business Profile, formerly called Google My Business, is the starting point. It is what appears on the map and in Google Maps, and it is often what a client looks at before even visiting your site.

The primary category matters more than anything else

The primary category tells Google which searches your profile is relevant for. Pick the most precise one that describes your main activity, then add secondary categories for your other services. A category that is too broad puts you up against everyone. One that is too narrow makes you miss searches. To decide, look at the categories used by the profiles that rank ahead of you on your main searches: they show what Google associates with those queries.

A profile name that matches your sign

Adding keywords to the profile name, as in “Tremblay Garage Auto Repair Laval”, breaks Google’s rules and puts the profile at risk of suspension. The name shown should be the one your clients see on your sign and your invoices.

Address or service area

A business that welcomes clients shows its address. A business that travels to them hides its address and declares a service area. In both cases Google requires a real address where the business can be reached: virtual offices and PO boxes are not accepted.

Real photos and detailed services

Real photos of your premises, your team and your work reassure clients and show Google the profile is active. A list of services, each with a short description, helps the profile appear for more specific searches. Posts are for announcing something new, a promotion or an event.

Finding your local SEO keywords

A local keyword almost always combines a service and a place. The simplest method is to cross the list of your services with the list of cities and areas you serve, then check which of those combinations people actually search for.

Pay attention to your clients’ vocabulary. They do not always search with the terms of your trade: a client with a leak searches for “roof leaking” and often has no idea what the repair is technically called. The questions clients ask you on the phone are an excellent source of keywords.

Each keyword you keep then needs a home: in the services on your profile, in the title and content of a page on your site, or in both.

Local pages that earn their ranking

The Google profile ranks you mostly around your address. To be visible in neighbouring cities, your site needs pages dedicated to each market you genuinely serve.

It is tempting to create one page per city and change only the name. Google spots these cloned pages and ranks them poorly, and clients find them unconvincing. A useful local page talks about the market it targets: the clientele, the projects completed in the area, what is specific to the territory, how you get there.

A good local page also connects to the rest of the site. It links to your service pages and your service pages link back to it. This structure helps Google understand which services you offer in which cities.

Getting client reviews and replying to them

Reviews play a double role. They affect your place on the map and they weigh heavily in the decision of a client comparing three profiles side by side. How many you have matters, how recent they are too, and so does what they say: a review that mentions the service and the city helps the profile on those searches.

The best time to ask for a review is right after a successful job, when the client is satisfied and remembers it. A direct link to your profile, sent by email or text, removes almost every obstacle.

Google forbids two practices: offering a reward in exchange for a review, and asking only the clients you are sure will be positive. Both put the profile at risk of penalties.

Reply to every review, positive or negative. A calm reply to criticism shows future clients how you handle a problem, and they often read the reply before the review itself.

Directories and consistent contact details

Your business is probably already listed in several online directories, sometimes without you asking. Google compares these listings with your profile. When the name, address and phone number match everywhere, it puts more trust in the information it shows.

In Quebec, the listings that matter most are Yellow Pages, 411.ca, Bing Places and Apple Business Connect, which feeds Maps on the iPhone. Add the directories specific to your field: professional order, industry association, chamber of commerce.

A move, a new phone number or a former business name often leave contradictory traces. The work is to find those listings, correct the ones that can be corrected and merge the duplicates.

Local SEO in Quebec in English and French

The Quebec market adds a dimension specific to the province. In Montreal, part of the clientele searches in English and part in French, often for the same service. Those searches use different words and do not always bring up the same competitors on the map.

A business that works only in English misses out on part of those searches. And the Charter of the French Language requires commercial content aimed at Quebec, websites included, to be available in French.

So both languages need work. The site offers a French and an English version of its important pages, each written for its own audience. The Google profile, its posts and the replies to reviews take both clienteles into account.

Local SEO for B2B companies

Local SEO is not only for retail. A manufacturer, a distributor or a business-to-business service provider is also searched for by region: “CNC machining Laval”, “warehouse South Shore”, “accountant for small business Montreal”.

For those searches the map does not always appear, or it appears below the organic results. The site’s search engine optimization then carries more of the work. Service pages should name the regions served, and a page for each important market is still useful.

The Google profile keeps its role, even in B2B. A buyer who found your site often checks the profile before calling: the address, photos of the plant or offices and reviews from other companies confirm you are an established supplier.

Local SEO on a WordPress site

WordPress works well for local SEO, as long as it is used properly. Common SEO plugins handle the title and description of each page, and some offer a local module that adds your business’s structured data: name, address, opening hours and service area.

Structured data is code the visitor never sees that describes your business to search engines. It helps Google connect your site and your profile as one and the same business.

For local pages, a shared page template helps keep a consistent structure, but the content of each page has to stay specific to its market. A site that is fast on mobile matters too: a large share of local searches happen on a phone.

What to measure

Local SEO is measured first in the enquiries it brings. Three free tools cover the essentials.

Add a tracking parameter to the website link on your Google profile. Without it, Google Analytics mixes visits from the map with visits from the organic results, and there is no way to know what the profile brings in.

Compare the numbers month over month and year over year. Local search varies with the seasons, and a one-off drop is not necessarily a problem.