Local SEO guide: get found on both sides of the river

Khalid Mohamed
Founder, CapitalSEO · Last reviewed · 8 min read

Published .

The short answer

Local SEO is how you show up when someone nearby searches for what you do, mostly in the Google Maps results. Google ranks those results on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. You can't pay for a better spot. You can complete your Business Profile, earn honest reviews, keep your details consistent, and, if you serve Gatineau, have a proper French website.

When someone in Orléans searches "plumber near me," they rarely scroll past the map. On my own "Ottawa seo" search, the first regular website sat almost two screens down, below the ads, the map box and an AI Overview. The three businesses in that map box get most of the calls. This guide covers how to be one of them.

It's written for Ottawa–Gatineau, which has a twist most local SEO guides ignore: one market, two provinces, two languages. A business in Hull and a business in the Glebe are competing for the same customers under different rules.

Who this is for: owners of local businesses that serve customers in person, at your location or theirs, anywhere in the National Capital Region.
Who it isn't for: online-only businesses. The keyword research guide is your starting point.

The 7-step checklist

  1. 1Business ProfileReal name, right categories
  2. 2Address or areaHide it if you go to customers
  3. 3ReviewsAsk everyone, pay no one
  4. 4Your websiteSame details, real local work
  5. 5Other listingsBing, Apple, old directories
  6. 6English & FrenchThe Quebec rule
  7. 7MeasureCalls, not rankings
Seven steps. Step 6 is the one most local SEO guides leave out, and the one that matters most on the Quebec side of the river. Tap a step to jump to it.

Work through these in order. Steps 1 to 3 do most of the work. Our view

How Google ranks local results

Google is unusually open about this. Local results are based on three things: Confirmed–Google

  • Relevance: "how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for."
  • Distance: "how far each business is from the customer who's searching."
  • Prominence: "how well-known a business is." Google says this is "also based on info like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have."

And one line to remember the next time someone cold-calls you with a guarantee: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." Confirmed–Google

Distance is the one you can't change, and it explains a lot. A roofer in Stittsville will struggle to appear on a phone in Orléans, however good the profile is. That's not a penalty. It's the system working. Your website's regular search results, which aren't tied to the map, are how you reach further. Our view

Step 1: Claim and complete your Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is the listing that appears in Maps and in the map box. If you haven't claimed it, do that first at google.com/business.

Then fill in everything, accurately:

  • Name: your real-world business name, exactly as on your sign and invoices. "Your name should reflect your business's real-world name," and adding extra information isn't permitted. Confirmed–Google "Smith Plumbing Ottawa Emergency 24/7" breaks the rules if your sign says "Smith Plumbing."
  • Categories: "as few categories as possible," as specific as possible. Confirmed–Google Your primary category matters most for relevance. Our view
  • Hours, phone, website, services, photos. Real photos of your work, your team, your storefront or your van.

When this fails: when the profile is set up once and forgotten. Update hours for holidays, add photos of new work, and answer questions people post.

Step 2: Get your address or service area right

This is where many profiles go wrong, often by accident.

  • If customers come to you (a shop, clinic, office), show your address.
  • If you go to customers (trades, cleaning, mobile services), you're a service-area business. Google says: "If you're a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers." Confirmed–Google
  • Your service area "shouldn't extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based." Confirmed–Google For most NCR businesses, that easily covers both Ottawa and Gatineau.
  • No virtual offices. A rented mailing address where you don't actually work "isn't eligible for a Business Profile," and P.O. boxes aren't acceptable. Confirmed–Google

When this fails: when you open a "second location" that's just a mailbox in Kanata to rank there. That's exactly what the guidelines forbid, and it can get the profile suspended. Our view

Step 3: Earn reviews the honest way

Reviews count toward prominence, and they're often what makes someone pick you from the map. Confirmed–Google The rules are strict, though, from both Google and Canadian law:

  • No incentives. Google prohibits offering "payment, discounts, free goods and/or services" for reviews. Confirmed–Google
  • No gating. You can't "selectively solicit positive reviews" or discourage negative ones. Ask every customer, not just the happy ones. Confirmed–Google
  • No staff reviews. Google treats current or former employment as a conflict of interest. Confirmed–Google Canada's Competition Bureau warned in January 2024 that employee reviews posted without disclosure mislead consumers, and that businesses "could be liable under the Competition Act." Confirmed–Industry

What works: ask in person at the end of a good job, then send the direct review link by text or email the same day. Reply to every review, especially the bad ones. Future customers read your replies. Our view

When this fails: when a review service promises "50 five-star reviews this month." Those get removed, and the risk lands on you, not them.

Step 4: Make your website back up your profile

Your profile links to your website, and Google uses both. Our view Make sure the site:

  • Shows the same name, address (or service area) and phone as your profile, on every page, usually in the footer.
  • Has one page per service, saying where you offer it. See the content marketing guide for what goes on those pages.
  • Talks about real local work: neighbourhoods you've served, local rules you deal with (permits, bylaws), photos from real jobs.
  • Avoids near-identical pages for every suburb. Pages aimed at different towns that funnel people to the same place can count as doorway abuse under Google's spam policies. Confirmed–Google

You can also add LocalBusiness structured data to tell Google your hours, address and phone in a format it reads directly. Google doesn't guarantee any special display from it. Confirmed–Google

When this fails: when the website and the profile disagree. Different phone numbers or hours confuse customers first, and search engines second.

Step 5: Clean up your listings everywhere else

Your business probably appears on more sites than you know: Bing, Apple Maps, Yelp, directories, the Chamber of Commerce, old social accounts. Consistent details across them help customers and search engines trust that the information is right. Our view

  • Bing Places feeds Bing and Microsoft's Copilot. It's free. Our view
  • Apple Business Connect controls how you appear in Apple Maps and on iPhones. Also free. Our view
  • Old listings: search your business name with your old phone number or old address. Update or close anything outdated.

I'm doing this myself for CapitalSEO. Directory listings from 2015 still show this business's old address and phone, and they're on my own clean-up list. Tested by us

When this fails: when you pay a listing service to "submit you to 300 directories." A handful of accurate, relevant listings beats hundreds of junk ones. Our view

Step 6: English and French, and the Quebec rule

This is the step that makes Ottawa–Gatineau different.

  • If your business has an address in Quebec, the law is clear: "You must have a French version of your website." You can have an English version too, as long as the French one is available. Confirmed–Industry Check your own situation with the Office québécois de la langue française.
  • If you're in Ottawa and serve Gatineau, French pages aren't a legal requirement, but they're how French-speaking customers find you. They search in French, and Google shows them French results. Our view
  • On your Business Profile, don't repeat your name in both languages. Google lists "Repeated Bilingual Names" as not acceptable. Confirmed–Google
  • Do the research in French. People in Gatineau don't search with translated English phrases. Step 7 of the keyword research guide shows how. To stage French pages on a budget, see Martin Vassilev's answer in my interview with him.

When this fails: when the French site is a machine translation of the English one. It may tick the legal box and still lose the customer.

Step 7: Measure calls, not rankings

Map rankings change with every searcher's location, so a single "rank" means little. Measure what the profile actually does for you: Our view

  • Google Business Profile reports calls, website clicks and direction requests. Confirmed–Google
  • Your website should count taps on your phone number and form submissions.
  • Your phone log and a "How did you hear about us?" question tell you which leads came from Maps.

The analytics guide shows how to set this up.

When this fails: when you pay for a report that shows your "rank" from one spot in downtown Ottawa. Your customers aren't all standing there.

Local results and AI answers

AI assistants answer local questions too, like "best physiotherapist in Kanata." There's no separate trick for them. They draw on the same things: your profile, your reviews, your website and what other sites say about you. Google's spam policies now cover attempts to manipulate its AI answers, so fake mentions are off the table. Confirmed–Google

The honest version of local SEO is also the version AI answers can use. Our view To see whether they mention you, use the monthly AI check in the analytics guide.

Myths to skip

  • "We can guarantee you the top of the map." Google says you can't pay for local ranking. Nobody can promise it. Confirmed–Google
  • "Add your city to your business name." That breaks the Business Profile guidelines and risks suspension. Confirmed–Google
  • "Open a virtual office in every suburb." Not eligible for a profile. Confirmed–Google
  • "Reviews don't matter if you have a good website." Google names reviews as part of prominence. Confirmed–Google
  • "Buy reviews to get started." Against Google's policy, and risky under Canada's Competition Act. Confirmed–Industry

Next step

This week, open your Business Profile and check three things against this guide: your name, your address or service area, and your categories. Then ask your next five customers for a review.

If you'd like someone to check your local setup with you, start with a free visibility audit. It includes your Business Profile and listings.

About this page

Who: Written by Khalid Mohamed, founder of CapitalSEO, an Ottawa SEO consultant who first offered local SEO under this name in 2015.
How: Written with AI assistance. Every claim about Google was checked against Google's own help pages and documentation on October 12, 2026, and labelled. Legal points are summaries, not legal advice; check them with the source or a lawyer. Opinions are labelled "Our view."
Why: Most local SEO guides are written for one city in one language. Ottawa–Gatineau is neither.
Last substantive update: October 12, 2026: first published.

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