Locals Like It helps a small business in Apex, Cary or Holly Springs grow the way local businesses always have: one neighbor telling another. Your customers like or love you on your page, those likes move you up your category's list, and each one puts a real local's name next to yours where other residents, Google and AI tools can see it. Being listed is free, and more than 2,000 locally owned businesses in the three towns already have a page.
Why people trust a neighbor's recommendation
Spend a week in a town Facebook group, on Nextdoor or on Reddit and you'll see the same post over and over: "Who's a good plumber in Apex?" It fills up with replies fast, and people take those replies seriously. The person answering lives here, has used the business and has nothing to sell.
The trouble is that the thread scrolls away. Next month someone asks the same question, and your happy customers have to find it and answer all over again.
A like on Locals Like It is that same recommendation, made once and kept. It stays on your page with the local's first name, last initial and the town they live in. Locals Like It started that way, as a shared list a group of guys in Cary and Apex kept of the plumbers, mechanics and roofers they'd call again.
What makes a like believable
There are no stars and no anonymous reviews. Every like starts with an email address and a one-time link that has to be clicked before the like shows. One email can like a business once, locals confirm they've been a customer and don't own or work for the business, and every new like is reviewed after it posts. Here's how likes are checked, step by step.
A like counts 1 point and a love counts 2. Owners can't add, remove or pay for them.
How likes put you in front of new customers
Likes don't just sit on your page. They move your business around the site:
- Businesses with likes go to the top of their category's list in their town, above everyone listed A to Z, with the faces of a few of the locals behind them.
- New likes show up on the home page's "Latest likes" board and under "Recently liked by" on your town's page, so people browsing see your name before they knew to look for it.
- Every local who likes you has a public profile of the places they like. A neighbor who loves the same three restaurants will find you there, and "Picked for you" in My Likes suggests places that locals with matching taste like.
That last one is how a fan base spreads. People trust a recommendation more when they already agree with the person about other places, so your regulars end up vouching for you to the neighbors whose taste matches their own.
Getting found on Google and recommended by AI
When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Mode for "a good dentist in Cary," the tool searches the web and builds its answer from the pages it finds. It leans toward businesses that turn up in several trustworthy places with proof from real people: reviews, local guides, lists of local favorites. Every place that names your business is one more source agreeing that you're real, you're local and people like you.
A Locals Like It page is one of those places. It names your business, your category, your town and the locals who vouch for you. We keep bare listings out of Google's index until a local likes them or the owner fills in the profile, so the pages Google sees have something real on them.
No site can promise that an AI tool will recommend you. What you can control is how many trustworthy places say good things about you, and whether your details match everywhere. Google and AI tools compare your name, address, phone and hours across sites, so if anything on your Locals Like It page is out of date, claim it and fix it.
What it costs
Being listed is free, and so is every like. Claiming your listing is a one-time $100, and a featured spot at the top of your category's lists is $100 a year. Neither one buys likes or a higher rank. Every dollar is given away to neighbors in need around here, things like food for NeighborUp families at the holidays or a single mom's car repair bill. Here's why we charge.
Three things to do this week
- Find your business on Locals Like It. If it's locally owned and missing, add it for free.
- Ask a few regulars for a like. Every business page has share buttons, so you can text the link or post it on Facebook. Ask customers who'd honestly recommend you, and never offer a discount or freebie for a like.
- Claim your listing to add up to six photos, your story, your services and hours, and a clickable link to your website. The link is tagged, so those visits show up as Locals Like It in Google Analytics, and your owner sign-in comes with a ready-made message asking customers for a like.
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Find a locally owned business near you
Every business on Locals Like It is locally owned in Apex, Cary or Holly Springs, with the ones locals like at the top. Own one? Claim your listing to add photos and your story.