How to structure a 90-day local SEO plan

What to take away

A local SEO ninety day plan is a fixed three month schedule that divides discovery, delivery and reporting into three thirty day blocks tied to recorded evidence.

What should a ninety day plan define before day one?

Agree the objective, the budget ceiling and the person who signs off changes. A schedule without a named owner stalls in week six.

Scope also matters: a single-location business and a ten-branch group need different plans.

The Local SEO: strategy and planning guide for 2027 covers the objective and budget choices this schedule has to serve, so settle those first.

Record a baseline on day one. For example, a team managing 40 service pages might log monthly calls, form fills and profile views before touching anything.

Keep the baseline small enough to update weekly. Twenty metrics that nobody maintains are worse than four that are checked every Friday.

Fix the review date early: quarterly reporting slips when the plan has no fixed checkpoint.

Which data sources belong in the plan?

Use a short list and stay with it. Official statistics give you population and business counts, while platform reports give you query and click behaviour.

For local keyword research, start with the services the business actually offers and the towns or neighbourhoods it serves. Use Google Keyword Planner or Semrush to explore search terms, then check Search Console queries against the baseline; record the terms and locations selected so later reporting uses the same set.

Examples of local SEO software include BrightLocal, Whitespark and Local Falcon for local visibility, rank or citation work. Choose a consistent workflow, record the location and date for each check, and retain the exports; using a tool does not guarantee ranking gains.

The Office for National Statistics publishes business counts and population estimates on a set release calendar, so write the release date beside the figure.

Write the source name and pull date next to every figure in the plan. A number without a date cannot be compared later.

Where you need a figure you cannot source, write an illustrative example and label it clearly. For instance, a single-site business paying £400 a month for local SEO services gives the reader a scale, not a benchmark.

Which technical checks belong in the first thirty days?

Confirm that crawlers can reach the pages you want indexed. Google's How Google Interprets the robots.txt Specification explains how directives are parsed, which is worth reading before you block a path.

Then check canonical tags, sitemap accuracy and internal links to service pages. Fix access issues before writing new content. Add LocalBusiness structured data to relevant location pages, ensuring it matches the visible, accurate business information on the page.

Check that the client's Search Console and analytics properties are linked, and that you can see the same data they see.

Business profile accuracy comes next: name, address, phone, opening hours and category. Mismatches here waste the rest of the quarter.

How do content and outreach fit the middle thirty days?

Use the keyword and location research to plan useful service pages and, where the business genuinely serves distinct places, location pages with locally relevant information. Avoid making near-identical pages for every town. Publish the first priority pages, link to them from relevant site pages, and promote them through channels the client already owns.

For review management, agree a consistent process: invite genuine customers to leave feedback after service, monitor new reviews and respond professionally. BrightLocal or Yext can help manage local visibility and reputation work; record the platform and process used so the handover is clear.

Set local link-building targets that fit the business, such as relevant local news outlets, chambers of commerce, trade associations, community organisations or event partners. Make a dated outreach list and record the response rather than treating a sent email as a secured link.

Email outreach has legal limits. The Information Commissioner's Office publishes guidance on direct marketing using electronic mail that sets out consent and soft opt-in rules for UK senders. Check it before building a list.

Send in small batches and keep the send log with the date, the list source and the response. Record the target and outcome for each citation, review or link-building activity as well; those records feed the final report.

Local SEO strategy mistakes: data and sources is worth reading at this point, because mid-quarter drift usually starts with a target that was never checked against data.

What does the plan look like phase by phase?

During Days 61 to 90, repeat the baseline checks using the same sources, search terms and locations. Report changes in calls, form fills, profile views, visibility and completed work, noting the source and pull date for each figure. Separate observed changes from work delivered, explain blockers or changes in scope, and hand over the corrected listings, page plan, review process and outstanding actions. Adjust the blocks if the audit finds a blocker, but keep the ninety day frame and the reporting date.

Does the team need training to run this?

Not always, though structured learning helps when juniors own parts of the plan. The Foundation Certificate in Professional & Digital Marketing includes SEO and online presence modules.

Budget two to three hours a week for learning during the first month. It slows delivery slightly and reduces rework later.

Common questions

How long should the discovery block run?

Thirty days suits most single-site projects. Larger sites with several locations may need the first block extended, with later dates shifted rather than compressed.

What happens if priorities change mid-quarter?

Write the change into the plan with a date and a reason. Silent scope changes make the final report impossible to compare with the baseline.

How do you report progress honestly?

Report what changed and what did not, naming the source behind each figure. If a metric moved for reasons outside the work, say so in the same sentence.