Fix 4 Website Mistakes That Keep Local Businesses Out of Google and AI Search

Summary

Set upWhat you need

• Access to your website's editor (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, or similar)

• A free Google Search Console account verified for your domain

• A list of every service you offer and the towns you serve

• Real material for each area: past project photos, short job write-ups, and customer reviews

• About 90 minutes for a first pass

Do thisStep by step

1. 1

   Get your site indexed by submitting a sitemap

   If Google has not indexed your website, it will never show up. In Google Search Console, open Sitemaps and submit your sitemap. Most website builders and SEO plugins create the sitemap for you; you just have to submit it. Reel Playbooks addition: the sitemap usually lives at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml or yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml. After submitting, check the Pages report a few days later to confirm your pages show as indexed, and see Google's sitemap guide if you need to create one.

2. 2

   Give every service its own page

   When someone searches "heat pump installation near me" and that service is one line on a page with 12 others, Google cannot tell what you offer. Give every service its own page with its own URL, for example yoursite.com/heat-pump-installation/. Reel Playbooks addition: on each page, cover what the service includes, who it is for, typical cost or process, areas served, a few reviews that mention that service, and a clear call or quote button. Link each service page from your main Services page.

3. 3

   Replace AI copy-paste city pages with real local proof

   Asking ChatGPT to write the same location page over and over with a different city name goes against Google's spam policies, which Google calls scaled content abuse. Instead, give AI your real experience, past projects, and customer reviews from that area, then have it write the page. Using AI is not the problem; being lazy is. Reel Playbooks addition: a useful prompt: "Using these 3 project notes and 2 reviews from Marietta, write a service area page for heat pump installation in Marietta. Mention the specific neighborhoods, problems, and results in the notes. Do not invent details." Only build pages for areas where you have real work to show.

4. 4

   Structure every page with clear headings

   Use one H1 for the page title with your keyword in it, H2s for the main topics, and H3s nested under them for subtopics. Clear headings help people, Google, and AI search understand your page. In the creator's example: H1 "Heat Pump Installation in Marietta, GA", H2 "How Much Does a Heat Pump Cost?" with H3s "Cost of a new unit" and "Rebates and tax credits". Reel Playbooks addition: in most editors, headings are set from the text style dropdown (Heading 1, 2, 3); avoid making text look like a heading by only making it bold or bigger.

Heads upCommon mistakes & tips

• Don't skip the sitemap check after big changes. Resubmit it whenever you add a batch of new service or location pages.

• One page per service, not one page per keyword variation. "Heat pump installation" and "heat pump install" belong on the same page.

• City pages without real projects or reviews are better left unpublished; thin duplicates can hurt the whole site.

• Keep exactly one H1 per page. Many themes already use the page title as the H1, so don't add a second one in the body.

• Link related pages together: each city page should link to the matching service pages, and the reverse.

MeasureHow to know it worked

ProvenanceSource & adaptation notes

AttributionCredit