Local SEO is the practice of making your business show up when people search for services in your area. When someone types “dentist near me” or “best coffee shop in Brooklyn,” the businesses that appear in the map results got there through local SEO.
The three main factors are: your Google Business Profile (is it complete, accurate, and active?), your reviews (how many do you have and what is your average rating?), and your relevance to the search query (does your profile mention the services people are searching for?).
For most local businesses, the highest-impact local SEO action is getting more Google reviews and responding to them. Each review adds fresh content to your profile and signals to Google that your business is active and relevant.
Sharing your Google reviews on Instagram does not directly affect your local SEO ranking, but it does build brand awareness that leads to more branded searches (people Googling your business name), which is a positive local SEO signal. See how to get more Google reviews.