Local SEO helps eligible businesses appear for searches with local intent, such as “emergency plumber Ottawa” or “coffee near me.” Google says its local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and prominence. Those factors are considered together, and Google does not publish a formula or fixed weighting for them. Relevance is how closely a Business Profile and website match the search. Choose an accurate primary category, describe real services clearly, keep hours and attributes current, and create website pages that answer local customers' questions. Adding unrelated categories or place names does not create relevance and can make the information less trustworthy. Distance reflects how far the business is from the location used for the search. A business cannot improve this factor by listing service areas it does not genuinely serve. Service-area settings explain where a business operates; they do not move its physical location closer to every searcher. Prominence describes how well known a business is. Google says information it has about a business from across the web, including links and articles, can contribute. It also says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. That does not produce a guaranteed position: review quality, relevance, distance, competitors, and the query all vary. Website work supports the same goal. Clear location and service information, crawlable pages, descriptive titles, accurate contact details, and useful internal links help search engines understand the business. Structured data can clarify factual details, but it does not guarantee a local-pack result. Conversion work is separate from ranking. Accurate hours, accessible phone and booking links, useful photos, and clear directions help people act after they find the listing. Track calls, bookings, direction requests, and qualified website leads to judge business value rather than treating clicks or other user actions as confirmed Google ranking signals.