Searches for ‘near me’ or ‘[service] + [city]’ in Romania have grown by 89% since 2022. Google increasingly shows the Local Pack (the map with 3 businesses) before any other organic result. If you are not there, you do not exist.
Google Business Profile: the foundation of every local strategy
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the most important factor in local SEO. Businesses with a complete, optimised profile appear 7× more often in local searches than those with incomplete profiles.
Full GBP optimisation
- Primary category: choose the most specific category possible (not ‘Restaurant’ but ‘Italian restaurant’)
- Description: 750 characters featuring your main local keywords
- Photos: at least 15 photos (exterior, interior, team, products/services), updated monthly
- Opening hours: accurate, including public holidays: Google penalises inconsistency
- Special attributes: Wi-Fi, parking, terrace, accessibility: they all count
- GBP posts: at least 2 posts a week (offers, news, events)
- Q&A: add frequently asked questions yourself and answer every customer question
NAP consistency: Name, Address, Phone
An identical NAP on every platform (website, GBP, Facebook, OLX, business directories, etc.) is a credibility signal for Google. A single inconsistency (e.g. ‘Str.’ vs ‘Strada’) can affect your local ranking.
Where your NAP needs to appear
- Google Business Profile
- Facebook Page (About section)
- Website (footer on every page + Contact page)
- TripAdvisor / Yelp (for HoReCa)
- Pagini Aurii / Auriu.ro / CiF.ro
- Schema.org LocalBusiness on your website (JSON-LD markup)
Reviews: the #1 factor in the Local Pack
The number and quality of your Google reviews are the strongest local ranking factor. Businesses in the Local Pack average 4.6+ stars and 35+ reviews. How to earn reviews:
- Ask for the review straight after a positive experience (not a week later)
- Send a direct link to your GBP reviews by SMS or email: it keeps friction to a minimum
- Reply to EVERY review, positive and negative, within 24 hours
- Do not buy fake reviews: Google detects them and penalises them heavily
Local keywords: how to find and optimise them
The formula: [Service] + [Location] or [Service] + ‘near me’. Examples: ‘children’s dentist Cluj’, ‘Italian restaurant sector 3’, ‘car service Timișoara weekend’.
Create separate pages for each location you serve if you have several branches or serve several cities. Do not optimise a single page for 5 cities at once: it does not work.
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