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Local SEO glossary
Every local SEO term used across this site, in plain English, each linked to the feature or tool it relates to.
By Reputant · Updated 2026-09-10 · 5 min read
A
- AI recommendations
- Suggestions generated by reading a business's rankings, reviews, profile and competitors, then ranking what to fix first by urgency. See AI insights
- AI visibility
- Whether ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini recommend a business when someone asks them for one in its category and area. See AI insights
- AI-drafted reply
- A reply to a review, written by AI in the business's own voice, that a person approves or edits before it posts. See review management
C
- Citation
- A mention of a business's name, address and phone on another website or directory, such as Yelp or TripAdvisor. Search engines use citations to confirm a business is real and where it operates. See local rank tracking
- Citation tracking
- Finding every listing, duplicate and outdated entry for a business across the top directories. Planned; Reputant's citation check today covers Yelp, TripAdvisor and OpenTable only. See the roadmap
- Clio trigger
- A review request sent automatically when a matter closes in Clio, the practice-management software law firms use. See integrations
- Competitor tracking
- Watching the rating and review count of the businesses a business competes with in the map pack, updated daily. See local rank tracking
- CSV campaign
- A review request run started by uploading a spreadsheet of customers, instead of connecting a system like QuickBooks. See review automation
F
- Free rank check
- A one-time, human-run Map Pack grid for a single keyword, requested through Reputant's free tool and emailed back within a business day. Get a free rank check
G
- Geo grid
- A grid of points spread across a service area, each one a separate search location used to measure Google Maps rank. See local rank tracking
- Google Business Profile
- The free Google listing that shows a business's hours, photos, reviews and location in Maps and search. It is the single biggest group of signals in local ranking. See local rank tracking
- Google Business Profile posts
- Updates, offers and events published to a Google Business Profile from inside a dashboard. Planned; not built yet. See the roadmap
- Google Maps ranking
- Where a business shows up when someone searches or browses Google Maps directly, as distinct from the map pack embedded in regular search results. See local rank tracking
- Google review link
- The link Reputant's free tool generates from a business's Google Place ID, ready to paste into a text, email or QR code. Use the review link tool
- Grid rank
- The position a business holds at one point on a geo grid, for one keyword, on one day. See local rank tracking
K
- Keyword audit
- A check of how a business ranks in the local pack for a specific search term, repeated across the terms that matter to it. See local rank tracking
L
- Listings sync
- Pushing a business's name, address, hours and phone to sites like Apple Maps and Bing automatically, and flagging when someone edits them. Planned; not built yet. See the roadmap
- Local finder
- The fuller map and list Google shows when someone clicks "More places" under the map pack. See local rank tracking
- Local intent
- A search that implies the person wants a result near them, even without the words "near me" in it, such as "pizza open now." Read the guide
- Local pack audit
- A report showing who outranks a business in the map pack for its target keywords, and why. See local rank tracking
- Local SEO
- The work of getting a business found by people searching near it, across Google Maps, the map pack, local results and AI answers. Read the guide
M
- Map pack (also called local pack)
- The block of three business listings with a map that Google shows above the regular search results for a local search. See local rank tracking
- Multi-location
- Running reviews, rankings and profiles for more than one business address from a single account. See multi-location
N
- "Near me" search
- A search that explicitly includes the words "near me," such as "plumber near me" - one of the clearest signals of local intent. Read the guide
- NAP (name, address, phone)
- The three details that must match exactly everywhere a business is listed online. A mismatch, like a dropped suite number, confuses Google and can quietly hurt rank. See local rank tracking
- Next best action
- The single most useful thing a business could do right now, as ranked by AI recommendations. See AI insights
P
- Place ID
- The unique code Google assigns to every location in its database, used to build a direct review link. Use the review link tool
- Profile completeness
- How many of the fields Google offers - hours, photos, services, attributes, a description - a business has actually filled in. See local rank tracking
- Prominence
- One of the three ranking factors Google names for local search: how well-known a business is, based on links, articles, directories and reviews across the web. See local rank tracking
- Proximity
- One of the three ranking factors Google names for local search: how close the business, or its service area, is to the person searching. See local rank tracking
Q
- QuickBooks trigger
- A review request sent automatically when a payment is recorded in QuickBooks. See integrations
R
- Rating distribution
- The count of five-star, four-star, three-star reviews and so on for a business, shown as a breakdown rather than a single average. See review management
- Relevance
- One of the three ranking factors Google names for local search: how well a business profile matches what someone is searching for. See local rank tracking
- Review gating
- Sorting customers by their likely rating and only asking the happy ones to post publicly. This is against Google's review policies, and Reputant does not do it: every customer gets the same request. See review automation
- Review link
- A direct link that opens straight to a business's Google review box, skipping the profile page, used in review requests. See review automation
- Review monitoring
- Pulling every new review from Google and Facebook into one feed so nothing sits unanswered. See review management
- Review request
- A text or email asking a customer to leave a Google review, usually sent right after a job or purchase. See review automation
- Review response rate
- The share of a business's reviews that have actually been replied to. See review management
- Review velocity
- How often new reviews arrive. A steady trickle reads as more genuine, to Google and to customers, than a burst followed by silence. See review automation
- Review widget
- An embeddable snippet that shows a business's latest reviews on its own website. Planned; not built yet. See the roadmap
S
- Service-area business
- A business with no public storefront that travels to the customer, such as a plumber or a mobile groomer. Google hides the exact address and ranks it by service area instead. See local rank tracking
- Staff roles
- Permission levels, such as owner or staff, that control what a team member can see or change on a multi-location account. See multi-location
- Star rating
- The average of every review a business has received, out of five. See review management
W
- Webhook trigger
- A message one piece of software sends another the instant something happens, like a payment or a closed matter, instead of either one checking on a schedule. See integrations
Z
- Zero-click search
- A search where the answer - a phone number, hours, directions - appears directly in the results, so the person never clicks through to a website. Read the guide