Local SEO is the practice of making your business visible when people search for products or services in a specific geographic area. Unlike traditional SEO that targets broad keywords nationally or globally, local SEO targets searches with local intent—whether explicit like "Toronto lawyer" or implicit like "coffee shop" searched from a mobile device. The core of local SEO revolves around three main ranking factors. First is your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), which controls your appearance in the local pack—those three map listings at the top of local searches. Second is citations, meaning your business name, address, and phone number listed consistently across directories like Yelp, YellowPages.ca, and industry-specific sites. Third is reviews, which Google weighs heavily both for ranking and click-through. Local SEO also includes on-site signals. Your website needs location pages if you serve multiple areas, locally-focused content, and schema markup telling Google where you operate. If you're a restaurant in Ottawa, you want to rank for "Byward Market restaurants," not compete nationally against every food blog. The practical difference matters for ROI. A national campaign might cost $3,000–8,000 monthly competing against enterprise brands. Local SEO often runs $1,200–3,500 monthly because you're targeting a smaller, more qualified audience. A plumber doesn't need to rank in Vancouver if they only serve Ottawa and Gatineau. At Ottawa SEO Inc., we see local clients typically rank in the local pack within 3–6 months if their GBP is optimized, they're gathering reviews consistently, and their on-page signals are clean. The key mistake is neglecting citation consistency—if your address differs across 50 directories, Google doesn't trust which location is real. Another is ignoring reviews entirely; a competitor with 47 reviews at 4.6 stars will usually outrank you at 12 reviews and 5.0 stars. Local SEO works best for businesses with physical locations or defined service areas—retail, restaurants, law firms, contractors, medical practices. If you're purely e-commerce with no local angle, traditional SEO makes more sense.