Local AEO is the work of keeping a business's public identity, locations, services, hours, policies, and evidence accurate across its website and relevant local platforms. It complements local SEO. No optimization guarantees placement in a map result, AI answer, or recommendation.
Establish a canonical location record
For each location, maintain:
- official business name;
- physical and mailing address where applicable;
- local phone number and contact options;
- regular and special hours;
- service area and eligibility limits;
- accessibility information;
- booking or appointment rules;
- current services, licenses, and qualifications;
- canonical location-page URL.
Choose one owner for changes. Update the source record before copying changes to public profiles.
Keep Google Business Profile accurate
Use the closest supported primary category and only add secondary categories that the business actually provides. Keep hours, services, photos, booking links, and attributes current.
Do not add keywords to the business name unless they are part of the real-world name. Do not create fake locations, virtual-office listings that violate platform rules, or misleading service areas.
An accurate profile is useful to customers and eligible Google experiences; it does not guarantee a recommendation by an AI system.
Build a useful page for each real location
Avoid changing only the city name in duplicated copy. A location page should include genuinely local information:
- services available at that location;
- service boundaries or neighborhoods;
- directions, parking, transit, and accessibility;
- local staff or credentials where appropriate;
- location-specific hours and contact details;
- truthful photos;
- relevant policies and emergency guidance.
If several locations share a policy, link to one maintained policy page rather than copying conflicting versions.
Use LocalBusiness structured data carefully
Choose the most specific Schema.org subtype that accurately describes the visible business. Mark up only information shown on the page, such as name, address, phone, URL, and opening hours.
Structured data does not replace a Google Business Profile and does not guarantee a search or AI feature. Never mark up fabricated ratings, locations, prices, or service areas.
Manage business identity across directories
Prioritize platforms your customers actually use, relevant industry directories, local government or professional registries, and major map providers. Exact formatting may vary, but the underlying identity and contact information should not conflict.
Keep a register with the profile URL, owner, last review date, and correction method. Do not claim that a fixed number of directory listings creates authority.
Treat reviews honestly
Ask for genuine reviews in ways allowed by each platform. Do not buy reviews, gate unhappy customers, fabricate people, or promise incentives without disclosure.
Review volume and recency may help customers evaluate current experience, but there is no universal threshold that guarantees an AI recommendation. The right goal is an honest, representative, policy-compliant record.
Respond without exposing customer data. Correct factual issues and move sensitive disputes to a private channel.
Publish evidence for important services
For high-consideration or regulated services, provide:
- qualifications and license details that can be verified;
- clear scope and exclusions;
- current prices or a truthful explanation of how quotes work;
- safety, cancellation, refund, and emergency policies;
- real examples with permission and limitations;
- a correction and contact path.
Avoid “best in the city,” guaranteed outcome, and fixed-result-time claims unless a direct, appropriate evidence basis supports the exact statement.
Optional AI-oriented files
llms.txt is an optional community proposal, and agent.json is SkillAEO's experimental format. A local business may use them to organize public links, but no system is required to read them and they do not guarantee discovery, rankings, citations, or bookings.
A staged local review
The stages below organize work; they are not promises about when external systems will update.
Stage 1: Correct urgent facts
- reconcile name, address, phone, hours, and service areas;
- fix closed or duplicate listings;
- correct broken booking and contact links;
- remove unsupported outcome claims.
Stage 2: Improve local pages
- add genuinely location-specific information;
- make policies and accessibility details easy to find;
- validate structured data against visible content;
- document profile owners and correction paths.
Stage 3: Observe and maintain
- monitor edits and customer-reported errors;
- review hours before holidays or seasonal changes;
- record a stable local prompt set across relevant systems;
- compare answers without assigning causation to one change.
Measurement
Track metrics that correspond to real tasks:
- incorrect-profile incidents;
- failed calls, bookings, or directions caused by stale data;
- location-page engagement and contact actions;
- review policy compliance and response time;
- attributed calls, bookings, or visits where measurement is available;
- repeated AI-answer accuracy for the same prompts and locations.
An answer change can have many causes. Record the system, date, prompt, location context, response, and sources before drawing conclusions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does local AEO take to work?
There is no fixed timeline. Profile review, crawling, indexing, directory updates, and AI responses vary. Verify corrections on each platform and measure customer-facing outcomes over time.
How many reviews are needed for AI recommendations?
There is no universal number. Focus on genuine, representative, recent feedback and compliance with platform policies rather than a promised threshold.
Does LocalBusiness schema guarantee local visibility?
No. Use accurate structured data where eligible, but valid markup does not guarantee a search feature, map position, or AI citation.
Does every location need its own page?
Create a page for a real location when it can provide distinct, useful information. Do not create thin doorway pages for places where the business has no genuine presence or service.
What should I check first?
Start with facts that can harm a customer: wrong hours, address, phone, service area, availability, price, license, or booking instructions.