Local SEO is heavily off-page, but not exclusively. Google's local pack and Maps rankings weigh off-page signals more than traditional organic SEO does. The three major off-page factors are citation building across directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages, acquiring backlinks from local organizations and businesses, and accumulating Google reviews with response management. These collectively drive about 60% of your local visibility. The on-page side still matters significantly. You need proper NAP (name, address, phone) consistency across your website, LocalBusiness schema markup, location-specific service pages, and embedded Google Maps. Your Google Business Profile optimization technically sits between on-page and off-page, it's your own property but lives on Google's platform. Categories, business description, photos, posts, and Q&A all influence rankings. Off-page local signals include: - Citations from aggregators like Data Axle and niche directories relevant to your industry - Backlinks from local news sites, chambers of commerce, and business associations - Review velocity and rating averages across Google, Facebook, and industry platforms - Social signals and engagement from geo-tagged content At Ottawa SEO Inc., we typically allocate more budget to off-page local work in competitive markets like Toronto or Vancouver because citation cleanup and review generation require ongoing effort. A new business might need 50-80 citations built in the first 90 days, then monthly monitoring. For established businesses, off-page maintenance involves quarterly citation audits, monthly review solicitation campaigns, and opportunistic local link building. The mistake is treating local SEO as purely off-page. We've seen businesses with strong citation profiles plateau because their on-page elements sent mixed signals about service areas or had broken schema. The foundation must be solid before off-page efforts compound effectively. Monitor both through tools like BrightLocal for citations and Google Search Console for on-page technical health.