Why Local Businesses in Chester Fail to Rank (And What To Do About It)

Graham McCormack
July 26th, 2025

Chester’s packed with brilliant independent businesses. The footfall is there, the demand is there, and the competition isn’t even that fierce. Yet so many local businesses are practically invisible online. If you’re wondering why your shop, salon or service isn’t showing up when people Google what you do, this one’s for you.

The good news? You’re probably just making the same avoidable mistakes as everyone else.

1. You’ve Ignored Your Google Business Profile

This is the big one. If your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is either missing, half-filled, or hasn’t been touched since the day it was verified, then no wonder you’re not in the map pack.

Most people now search for businesses using Google Maps. They look for opening hours, reviews, directions — and they don’t even click through to your website. If your listing’s not up to date, or worse, not verified, you’re basically invisible. Especially on mobile, where that GBP is front and centre.

And don’t just whack in your name and number. Fill in everything: opening times, services, photos, a proper description, and keep it active with posts. Think of it like your digital shopfront. If it’s empty or messy, people won’t bother walking in.

2. Your Opening Hours Are Wrong (or Missing)

Here’s a brutal truth. If your Google listing says you’re open and someone turns up to find you closed, you’re not just losing that customer — you’re also telling Google you’re unreliable. That’s a big trust signal down the drain.

Businesses in Chester’s hospitality scene are already under pressure. Closures like Henry Potts and Boheme prove how competitive things are. So why would you risk losing footfall over something as basic as incorrect hours?

If you close for holidays, seasonal hours, or just for a Tuesday refurb, update your GBP. It takes five minutes. Do it properly and you’ll stand out from half the businesses in town who can’t be bothered.

3. Watergate Street vs Eastgate Street: A Case in Point

Walk down Eastgate Street — it’s busy, established, full of national brands with solid online presence. Then wander over to Watergate Street and you’ll find loads of great independents, but with patchy or poor online visibility. That’s not by accident — it’s SEO.

Eastgate Street businesses are playing the game: proper citations, consistent info, solid websites, and actively managed profiles. Meanwhile, places on Watergate Street might have brilliant offerings — award-winning pizza, quirky galleries, historical pubs — but they’re not showing up online where it matters.

If you’re on a quieter street with fewer walk-ins, your digital visibility becomes even more important. You’re not just competing with the shop across the road — you’re competing with everyone showing up on that search results page.

4. You’re Not Responding to Reviews (Which Google Hates)

Most business owners think reviews are a nice-to-have. But if you’re ignoring them — especially the bad ones — you’re not just damaging trust with customers, you’re also telling Google you’re not engaged.

Google sees active review responses as a signal that you’re legit, involved, and customer-focused. Even a quick “Thanks for your feedback” helps. And if someone’s had a pop at you with a bad review? Stay calm, reply professionally, and show you care. It works — just ask Atina Kitchen, whose manager’s reply to a dodgy TripAdvisor review went viral for all the right reasons.

Want to rank better locally? Start replying to every review. Yes, every single one.

5. Your Site’s Full of Technical Problems

Here’s where most Chester business sites fall flat. Your website might look decent on the surface, but under the hood it’s a disaster. Missing title tags, no alt text, broken internal links, duplicate content — these issues kill your rankings before you’ve even had a chance to compete.

Stats don’t lie. Over 70% of sites are missing alt text, 67% have messed-up title tags, and loads still use dodgy redirects or forget HTTPS. These aren’t minor issues — they’re the foundation of whether Google can crawl and trust your site.

If you haven’t had a technical SEO audit in the last 12 months, you’re flying blind.

6. Your Website Design is Chasing People Away

Cluttered layouts. Pop-ups you can’t close. Music playing for no reason. It’s 2025, and Chester businesses are still launching websites that look like they were built on a hangover in 2008.

Your site should load fast, look good on mobile, and make it easy for people to find what they need. That means clear navigation, readable text, fast hosting, and no nonsense. Accessibility matters too — poor contrast, broken buttons and missing keyboard nav options will lose you visitors and trust signals.

If your bounce rate’s high, your rankings will drop. Simple as that.

7. Your Offers Don’t Make Sense (or Profit)

“Free site visit and full consultation with no obligation” sounds nice — until your calendar’s full of tyre-kickers and you’ve made no money all week. Offers should attract the right type of customer, not just anyone with a phone.

Stop focusing on features — focus on outcomes. Don’t tell people you offer “real-time analytics and automation dashboards.” Tell them you’ll save them time and help them make smarter decisions without the waffle.

And if you’re only available 9 to 5? Good luck competing with businesses who reply to leads after hours. We live in a 24/7 search world — your offer and your availability both need to reflect that.

8. You’ve Got No Off-Page Presence

You can have the best site in Chester, but if no one’s linking to it, Google’s going to assume it’s not worth ranking. Backlinks are still a big deal — especially ones from local directories, community blogs, or news sites.

Most businesses are either buying junk links from spammy directories or ignoring off-page SEO entirely. Big mistake. You need a clean, consistent citation profile, good local coverage, and an active social presence that gets your brand seen.

It’s not just about SEO either — good off-page work gets people talking about you. And the more people talk about you, the more Google notices.

Here’s the Fix

Claim and optimise your Google Business Profile properly
Make sure your opening hours are always up to date
Add proper service pages to your website
Sort out the technical issues holding your site back
Reply to every review — good, bad or weird
Offer something that makes sense and attracts the right customers
Get some real links and local mentions

If you’re serious about showing up on Google and growing your business in Chester, then stop waiting for a miracle and start doing the basics properly.

Or better yet, let me do it for you.

Book your SEO audit and I’ll show you exactly what’s broken and how we’ll fix

Learn more about our SEO penalty recovery for Chester businesses, Google Business Profile tips for Chester tradespeople, and local SEO services in Chester. For a full overview, visit our main Chester page.