Playbook · Local SEO
The 12-point local SEO checklist we run on every Cwell client.
No mystery, no black box. Here's exactly what we work through in the first 30 days of an engagement to get you showing up in the map pack for the searches your best prospects actually type.
Why local SEO matters more for integrators than almost any other trade
A homeowner searching for "HVAC near me" is looking for a commodity. A homeowner searching for "Control4 dealer in Atlanta" is already pre-qualified — they know what they want, they know the brand, and they're looking for a local expert.
That search intent is gold. And it's almost entirely decided by local SEO: Google Business Profile, review velocity, citation consistency, service-area pages, and schema markup. None of it is mysterious. All of it is on this checklist.
Foundation: your Google Business Profile (items 1–4)
Eighty percent of the local SEO win comes from a well-maintained Google Business Profile. Most integrators we audit have one that was set up years ago and then abandoned.
- 1. Complete every field — primary category ("Home theater store" or "Audio visual consultant"), secondary categories, service areas (every city you actively sell into, not your whole state), hours, website, phone, and a full description using the keywords prospects search.
- 2. Upload photos weekly — not stock images. Real rack rooms, real installs, behind-the-scenes from the shop. Google's algorithm heavily favors profiles with recent photo activity.
- 3. Post updates — every 1–2 weeks. New project complete? Post it. Dealer certification renewed? Post it. This is a ranking signal most integrators ignore.
- 4. Respond to every review within 24 hours — positive and negative. Response rate is a ranking signal. Generic copy-paste responses hurt you; thoughtful, specific replies help.
On-site: schema markup and service-area pages (items 5–8)
Your site needs to tell Google three things in structured data: who you are (LocalBusiness), what you do (Service), and where you do it (service areas with individual pages).
- 5. LocalBusiness JSON-LD on every page — name, address, phone, hours, social profiles, areaServed (your service cities), and sameAs linking to your Google Business Profile.
- 6. Service JSON-LD on every service page — what you offer, the geographic area served, and pricing tier (Service schema with offers.priceRange helps rich results).
- 7. Individual service × city landing pages — not one "Service Areas" page with a bulleted list. A real page for "Home theater installation in Alpharetta" with neighborhood-specific content, photos from nearby jobs, and testimonials from local clients.
- 8. Breadcrumb and FAQ schema — Breadcrumb helps rich results; FAQ can win you zero-click answer boxes for high-intent queries like "how much does whole-home automation cost in [city]".
Review + citation engine (items 9–12)
The last four items are what turn local SEO from a one-time project into a compounding asset. This is also where most integrators stall — they get the foundation right and then stop.
- 9. A review-request automation — triggered 5–7 days after project completion, with a direct link to your Google Business Profile review form. Text message converts 3x better than email here.
- 10. Citation consistency audit — Yelp, Houzz, Angi, Porch, CEDIA's dealer directory, Control4/Crestron/Savant dealer locators. Name-Address-Phone must match exactly across all of them. Inconsistencies hurt local rankings.
- 11. Backlinks from trade partners — every builder, architect, and designer you've worked with is a potential backlink source. One paragraph on their "preferred partners" page is worth more than 20 directory citations.
- 12. Quarterly content refresh — update service pages with new photos, add one new case study, publish one educational article (like this one). Freshness is a ranking signal; most integrators publish once and forget.
Takeaway
None of this is rocket science. All of it compounds.
If you run through all 12 of these items and keep them current, you'll be the top-ranked integrator in your metro within 90 days for almost every high-intent search. If you cherry-pick a few, you'll see a bump and plateau. Local SEO rewards consistency more than cleverness — which is exactly why it works so well against competitors who are chasing the next shiny thing.
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