From NAP to geo-grid, citation to local pack — local SEO has its own language. This plain-English glossary covers 80 key terms so you always know what your SEO tool or agency is talking about.
Local SEO has a lot of jargon. If you've ever nodded along while an agency explained "citation velocity" or "local pack prominence" without being entirely sure what they meant — this glossary is for you.
Here are 80 key local SEO terms, explained in plain English.
NAP — Name, Address, Phone number. The three pieces of business information that must be consistent across all your online listings. Inconsistent NAP is one of the most common local SEO problems.
Citations — Any online mention of your business's NAP data. Citations appear on directories (Yelp, YellowPages), social platforms, and niche sites. More consistent, high-quality citations = stronger local rankings.
Google Business Profile (GBP) — The free Google tool that controls your business listing on Google Search and Google Maps. Formerly called Google My Business (GMB).
Local Pack — The section of Google search results that shows 3 local businesses on a map. Also called the "3-pack" or "map pack." Appearing here drives the most local traffic.
Organic Local Results — The non-map search results below the local pack. Ranked by traditional SEO factors.
Local SEO — The practice of optimizing your online presence to rank higher in local search results — especially Google Maps and the local pack.
Service Area Business (SAB) — A business that serves customers at their location (plumbers, HVAC, delivery) rather than at a storefront. SABs can hide their address on GBP.
Proximity — How close your business is to the person searching. One of Google's three local ranking factors (along with relevance and prominence).
Relevance — How well your GBP matches what the searcher is looking for. Influenced by your categories, description, and content.
Prominence — How well-known and trusted your business is online. Influenced by reviews, citations, links, and GBP activity.
Primary Category — The main business category on your GBP. The most important category selection for ranking purposes.
Secondary Categories — Additional categories that describe what you offer. You can have up to 9 total.
GBP Attributes — Specific characteristics of your business (wheelchair accessible, women-owned, outdoor seating, etc.). Help match your profile to specific searcher filters.
GBP Posts — Updates, offers, events, and product announcements you publish on your GBP. Active posting signals to Google that your business is current.
Q&A — The question and answer section on your GBP. Anyone can ask or answer — including you. Seed it with common customer questions.
GBP Insights — The analytics dashboard inside your GBP. Shows searches, views, calls, direction requests, and website clicks.
Business Description — A 750-character description of your business on GBP. Use your primary keywords naturally.
Short Name — A custom URL shortcut for your GBP (g.page/your-business-name). Makes your review link shareable.
Services — A section on GBP where you list specific services you offer. Each service can have a name, description, and price.
Products — A section to showcase products with photos, descriptions, and prices. Important for retail businesses.
Booking Button — A GBP feature that allows customers to book appointments directly from your listing via integrated scheduling tools.
Review Velocity — The rate at which you're receiving new reviews. Google favors businesses with a steady stream of recent reviews over those with old, stagnant review counts.
Review Recency — How recent your reviews are. Fresh reviews are weighted more heavily than old ones.
Sentiment Analysis — AI analysis of review text to determine whether reviews are positive, negative, or neutral. Used in reputation management tools.
Review Gating — The practice of filtering customers before asking for reviews — only asking happy customers. This violates Google's policies.
Star Rating — Your average review score (1-5 stars). Stars below 4.0 significantly reduce click-through rates.
Review Response Rate — The percentage of reviews you respond to. Higher response rates signal active management to Google.
Data Aggregators — Companies that collect and distribute business data to hundreds of directories. The big four: Acxiom, Neustar Localeze, Data Axle, and Foursquare.
Structured Citations — Business mentions in directory listings with defined NAP fields.
Unstructured Citations — Mentions of your business in news articles, blog posts, or social content without a formal listing format.
Citation Audit — A review of all your business citations to find inconsistencies and errors.
Duplicate Listing — Two or more GBP or directory listings for the same business. Can split your rankings and confuse customers.
Claiming a Listing — Taking ownership of a business listing that already exists in a directory or on Google.
Geo-Grid Tracking — Tracking your Google Maps ranking from multiple GPS points around your business, not just one. Shows where you're visible and invisible in your city.
Geo-Grid / Heatmap — A visual grid showing your ranking position at each tracked point. High positions (1-3) are typically shown in green; low positions in red.
SERP — Search Engine Results Page. The page Google shows in response to a search query.
Local Pack Position — Your ranking within the local pack (1, 2, or 3). Position 1 gets roughly 3x the clicks of position 3.
Rank Tracking — Monitoring your search ranking positions over time to measure SEO progress.
City-Level Rank Tracking — Tracking rankings across a city rather than from a single address point. More accurate than single-point tracking.
Schema Markup — Structured data code added to your website that helps Google understand your business information. LocalBusiness schema is the most important type.
Local Pack Schema — Structured data that explicitly identifies your business name, address, phone, and hours for search engines.
NAP Schema — Schema markup that embeds your NAP data in machine-readable format on your website.
Core Web Vitals — Google's page experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Affect organic rankings.
Mobile-First Indexing — Google primarily uses the mobile version of your website for ranking. Your site must work well on mobile.
Google Search Console — A free Google tool that shows how your website performs in search, including clicks, impressions, and technical errors.
Local Backlinks — Links from other local websites (local news, chamber of commerce, local bloggers) pointing to your website. Strong local authority signals.
Domain Authority (DA) — A score (1-100) estimating how likely a website is to rank in search results. Higher DA sites pass more value when they link to you.
Anchor Text — The clickable text in a hyperlink. Keyword-rich anchor text from local sites helps establish local relevance.
AI Overviews — Google's AI-generated answer boxes that appear above traditional search results. Can incorporate local business information.
Ask Maps — Google's Gemini AI chat interface inside Google Maps, replacing the traditional Q&A feature.
Immersive Navigation — Google Maps 3D navigation feature that shows real-world visuals for turn-by-turn directions.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) — Optimizing your content to appear in AI-generated answers, not just traditional blue links.
Local AI Pack — An emerging SERP feature where AI recommends specific local businesses in response to conversational queries.
Action Step: Pick 5 terms from this glossary that you weren't familiar with before reading. Look at your current GBP and local SEO strategy — are you taking advantage of each concept?
Understanding the language of local SEO puts you in control of your own strategy — whether you're working with an agency, using software, or doing it yourself.
Start free → — Flento brings all of these concepts together in one dashboard: geo-rank tracking, citation management, review tools, and GBP optimization.
