Local SEO for businesses in Romania: a practical guide

If you run a salon, a car repair shop, a patisserie, a clinic or a guesthouse, most new customers look for you the same way: "car repair Cluj", "patisserie near me", "dentist Mărăști". The results that appear on the map and just below it decide who gets the phone call. That's local SEO: the work that gets your business to show up there when someone nearby searches for what you offer.

The guide below is practical. It tells you what Google bases its decisions on, what to do step by step on your Business Profile and your website, how to handle reviews and which mistakes to avoid.

How Google decides who appears in local results

Google officially states that local results are based mainly on three factors:

• Relevance: how well your profile matches what the person is searching for. Complete, detailed information helps Google understand what you do.
• Distance: how far you are from the person searching, or from the location mentioned in the search.
• Prominence: how well known the business is. Among other things, links from other websites, the number of reviews and ratings all count here.

Google also makes clear that you can't request or pay for a better position in local results. You have no control over distance. You do over relevance and prominence, and that's where all the work happens.

Step 1: A complete, verified Google Business Profile

Your Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the foundation. Without it, you practically don't exist on the map.

1. Claim and verify your profile. Google says verification shows you're authorised to represent the business and increases your chances of being shown.
2. Choose your primary category carefully. It's one of the strongest relevance signals. Pick the category that describes exactly the activity that earns you the most money, then add secondary categories only if they're genuine.
3. Fill in everything. Address or service area, phone, website, opening hours (including public holidays), services, attributes such as parking or Wi-Fi. Google states clearly that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to appear.
4. Add real photos and video. Your premises, your team, your work, your products. No stock photos.
5. Write the description for people. What you do, who for, in which area, what sets you apart. No keyword stuffing.
6. Use posts. Offers, news, events. They show the business is active.

An important detail for Romania: keep exactly the same name, address and phone number everywhere. If Google says "Str. Memorandumului 10" and your website says "str. Memorandumului nr. 10, ap. 2", it's not the end of the world, but big differences (a different phone number, an old address, a different name) cause confusion for people and for search engines alike.

Step 2: A website built for searches in your area

Your Business Profile sends people to your website. The website needs to confirm quickly that you're the right choice and help Google associate you with your town and your services.

What it should include

• A separate page for each important service. "Car body painting in Cluj" and "ITP (Romania's MOT) in Cluj" are different searches and deserve different pages.
• Your town and the areas you serve, mentioned naturally in headings, copy and on your contact page.
• Full contact details on every page, with the phone number as a link people can tap on mobile.
• A map and directions: where to park, which entrance to use, what landmark is nearby.
• Structured data for local businesses (LocalBusiness), with the same information as on the page and on your Google profile.
• Real frequently asked questions: starting prices, how long things take, opening hours, what the customer needs to bring.

If you have several locations

Create a separate page for each location, with its own address, opening hours, phone number and photos, and a separate Business Profile for each. Don't use the same page for three towns and just swap the town name. Copied pages help nobody.

If your current website doesn't have this structure, it's worth rebuilding before you invest in anything else. You can see how we work on our websites page.

Step 3: Reviews, the engine of prominence

Google says explicitly that the number of reviews and ratings matters for prominence, and that replying to reviews shows customers you value their feedback. In practice, reviews also sway the decision of someone comparing three businesses on the map.

How to get reviews consistently

• Ask for the review at the right moment: straight after a happy customer leaves.
• Send the direct link to the review form by WhatsApp or text. The less effort it takes, the more responses you get.
• Put a QR code at the till or on the receipt.
• Ask every customer, not just the ones you think are happy.

What not to do

• Don't buy reviews or write fake ones. It breaks Google's rules and, if discovered, can damage your profile.
• Don't offer discounts in exchange for positive reviews.

How to reply

Reply to all of them, including the negative ones. For a negative review: say thank you, acknowledge the problem without arguing, explain what you've changed and offer a direct contact. Future customers read your reply more carefully than the review itself.

The repetitive part can be automated: after every completed appointment, the customer automatically gets a thank-you message with the review link, and you get a notification whenever a new review comes in that needs a reply.

Step 4: Your presence beyond Google

Links from other websites contribute to prominence. For a local business, the most valuable ones come from your area:

• local partners and suppliers who can mention you;
• professional associations or chambers of commerce you belong to;
• the local press, when you genuinely have something to say: an opening, an event, an initiative;
• business directories and industry platforms relevant to your field, with the same contact details.

Quality beats quantity. A mention on the website of a well-known local partner is worth more than dozens of listings in directories nobody reads.

Step 5: Don't lose the customers local SEO brings you

The part almost everyone ignores: what happens once someone has found you. If they call and nobody answers, or they message on WhatsApp and get a reply the next day, all that visibility work goes to waste.

A chain of patisseries in Sibiu now recovers around 20 calls a day that used to be lost orders, thanks to an AI voice agent that answers the phone when the team is busy. It isn't SEO in the strict sense, but it's exactly where local SEO either turns into money or doesn't.

Quick local SEO checklist

Common mistakes

• Keywords in the business name on your profile. "Cheap Fast Car Repair Cluj" instead of your real name breaks Google's rules and can get your profile suspended.
• Holiday opening hours not updated. A customer who finds the door closed leaves a bad review.
• A fake address or virtual office just to appear in a town where you have no premises.
• A website with no service pages, just one long home page.
• Expecting results overnight. Local SEO is ongoing work, not a one-off setting.

In short

Local SEO means a complete, verified Google profile, a website that talks about your services in your town, a steady flow of reviews that you reply to, and a system that quickly picks up every customer who's found you. Nothing spectacular, but done consistently, it works.

If you'd like to see what you're missing, book a free 30-minute call. We'll go through your profile and your website together and tell you the order in which it's worth tackling things.