LOCAL SEO ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA: THE 12-POINT CHECKLIST

When a customer searches “pizzeria Golfe-Juan” or “plumber Antibes”, Google shows three profiles and a map before everything else. Here is what gets you in, in the order I do it.

The Google profile, first

1. Complete business profile. Exact primary category, up-to-date opening hours, phone, website, recent photos of the interior and the team. An incomplete profile does not show.
2. Regular reviews. Ten five-star reviews dated two years ago are worth less than three reviews from this month. Ask for them, reply to them, all of them.
3. Same name, same address, same phone everywhere. Website, Google profile, directories, social networks. One comma of difference and Google doubts.

The site, next

4. Your city in the home page title. “Pizzeria in Golfe-Juan since 1996”, not “Home”.
5. One page per city served. Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Vallauris, Biot: one page each with real content, not a copy with the name changed.
6. One page per service. Google ranks pages, not sites. Every service deserves its own.
7. Address and opening hours in the code (LocalBusiness structured data). It is what Google reads to link the site to the profile.
8. Mobile speed. Under 2.5 seconds to display. Local searches are made from a phone, often on 4G.
9. A visible call button on mobile, at all times.

Around it

10. Geotagged and captioned photos : Google reads file names and alt attributes.
11. A few local links : town hall, tourist office, associations, suppliers. Three good links are worth a hundred directories.
12. Measure. Search Console for queries, the Google profile for calls and directions. Without measurement, you do not know what works.

How long

Points 1 to 3 take an afternoon and produce results within a few weeks. The city and service pages take one to two weeks of work and carry for years. The free audit checks points 4, 7, 8 and 9 in thirty seconds.

Frequently asked questions