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How We Do Local SEO

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tagslocal-seo, caleb-ulku, course, core-30, three-step-method, local-rank-map, local-link-building, super-citations
AUTHOR
Caleb Ulku
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5 min read

How We Do Local SEO

Author: Caleb Ulku | Published: unknown | Source: transcript

Summary

Caleb describes the agency sequence he says they run for every client: methodical, not complicated, each step gated by measurement. Nothing is touched on the website or Google Business Profile until a Local Rank Map & Top 3% Metric is scheduled every other week for (at minimum) primary category + city. That map is the north star — whether work is working, and when to change phase.

Phase 1 is the three-step system for all new clients: (1) GBP audit and fix, (2) GBP landing-page audit and fix, (3) source quality citations. Then they join the Chamber of Commerce for a “high-quality local authority link that Google recognizes as a trust signal.” Then they look at the map. If green coverage is still under 20 / 30 / 40% (threshold “depending on the size of the city”), they source one or two high-trust local authority links; a prompt in the course library is supposed to find those opportunities in any city.

If three-step + local links still cannot get the map to 20–40% green, they start Core 30: a page per GBP category and service, internally linked the same way the GBP is organized, so the site and profile match and topical relevance spikes. Once the map is at 20–40% green, they switch from topical to geographical relevance — teaching Google the service areas. For every new content page they “source a decent link” to help it get crawled/indexed (“Google needs to see that the content is worth crawling”). In parallel, they keep sourcing one to two high-trust local links per month so the GBP can rank farther from the pin. Repeat until the target area is green and the client is top-three for the primary keyword across a wide radius.

He stresses not to skip ahead: no advanced content until fundamentals are done; no geographic expansion until topical relevance is established. He attributes “predictable results” to that gating, versus “random tactics and tricking Google.” Next lesson in his spoken sequence: the three-step method for low-to-medium competition.

Key Claims

  • Measure first: biweekly rank map on primary category + city before any GBP or site edits.
  • Every new client gets the three-step package: GBP audit/fix → landing-page audit/fix → quality citations.
  • Next default link: Chamber of Commerce as a local-authority trust signal.
  • If green < 20–40% (city-size dependent), add 1–2 high-trust local authority links (prompt-aided).
  • If that still isn’t 20–40% green, run Core 30 (page per GBP category/service, hierarchy matching the profile).
  • At 20–40% green, stop adding topical pages and start geographic (service-area/landmark) content.
  • One decent external link per new content page for crawl/index; plus 1–2 local trust links per month for the life of the account.
  • Do not skip phases; predictability comes from the gates, not from tactics.

Notable quotes

“The foundation of everything we do is measurement. Before we touch anything on a client’s website or Google business profile, we set up a local rank map to run every other week.”

Why citable: Makes the rank map a process control, not a sales screenshot — the strongest “measure before you optimize” line in the course.

“We don’t focus on geographical expansion until we’ve established a strong topical relevance.”

Why citable: The topical→geographic switch rule that also appears in the Core 30 lesson; this is the agency-process version with the 20–40% green trigger.

Connections

Entities mentioned: Caleb Ulku, Google, Google Business Profile, LeadSnap Concepts referenced: Local SEO, Local Rank Map & Top 3% Metric, Core 30, GBP–Website Alignment (Consistency Signals), Super Citations, Local Link Building & Authority, Local Ranking Factors (Relevance, Proximity, Prominence/Authority)

Contradictions / Tensions

  • Biweekly maps on category+city vs. the driving-school audit that used a “near me” map because locals don’t search town names. The agency SOP is category+city; the NJ exception still exists.
  • 20–40% green as both the “need more links” trigger and the “Core 30 is done, go geographic” trigger. Same number, two meanings depending on whether Core 30 has been built. Aggregators must not treat 20–40% as a single decision.
  • One link per new page to “get it indexed faster” is a crawl-budget/PageRank story, not Google’s documented local ranking factors. Tension with “don’t trick Google” in the same lesson — paying for a “decent link” per article is the same play as the icecreamtruck / PBN line in the pricing lesson.
  • Chamber as default first link vs. networking-lesson chambers as prospecting venues. Dual use is fine if concept pages separate link target from lead source.
  • “Predictable results” is asserted; this lesson has no case data.

Notes

This is the course’s canonical sequence — use it as the spine when aggregating other lessons. Spoken “module three” for Core 30 detail does not match Skool filename lesson numbers. New concepts: three-step-method; internal-linking (GBP-hierarchy linking). Transcript overlap around the 20–30–40% green sentence.