How to do a Local SEO Audit

A local SEO audit is a comprehensive evaluation of your business’s on-page and off-page SEO value, aimed at improving visibility and ranking in local search results. This process involves analyzing various elements such as your Google Business Profile (GBP), local citations, on-page SEO, backlinks, and customer reviews.

Part of my job as Director of SEO at Imprint Digital is performing local SEO audits for new clients. I put this guide together to help you understand the steps needed to do one for yourself; of course, you could always just hire us to do it for you.

By following the steps outlined in this guide, you will learn how to conduct a thorough local SEO audit, identify areas for improvement, and implement best practices to boost your local search rankings. Read on to learn a hands-on approach to learning more about your site’s SEO!

The Quick Explanation: Performing a Local SEO Audit

To perform a local SEO audit, you’ll need to assess which pages make you money (your “money pages”), and which ones are earning your site authority. Perform keyword research to find any keyword opportunities you aren’t already ranking for; you can make new blogs around these keywords to build more authority. Then, compare each of your money pages to Google’s E-E-A-T signals and give an honest review of whether or not they align with them. You’ll also want to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and think of what would make your pages more helpful to them.

Finally, take note of all backlink opportunities you’re currently missing out on. These include business directories, local sponsorships, and any sites that link out to your competitors.

Preparing for the Local Audit

Set Goals and KPIs

Before getting into the audit, set clear objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your efforts. Goals might include increasing local search visibility, improving local search rankings, or driving more traffic to your website. KPIs could include metrics such as:

Increase in local search rankings for targeted keywords
Higher visibility in local search results
Growth in organic traffic from local searches
Increase in Google Business Profile interactions (clicks, calls, direction requests)

Gather Necessary Tools and Data

Here’s a list of essential tools:

Google Search Console: Provides insights into your website’s search performance and any issues affecting visibility.
Google Analytics: Tracks website traffic, user behavior, and conversion metrics.
SEMrush or Ahrefs: These tools help analyze backlinks, track keyword rankings, and identify SEO issues. (Personally, I recommend using Ahrefs over SEMrush).
BrightLocal: Offers tools specifically designed for local SEO audits, such as local citation trackers and rank trackers.
Google Business Profile: Access and manage your business listing on Google.
Loom: This is far from necessary, but I’m personally a huge advocate of video SEO audits. You can work through your audit, record your thoughts, and have an easy-to-understand visual aid for when you’re building out your written report.

Google Business Profile (GBP) Audit

Claim and Verify Your GBP

Whether you’re an HVAC contractor, a restaurant, a marijuana dispensary, or any other type of local business, your Google Business Profile (GBP) is a HUGE part of your local SEO. In many cases, you’ll get upwards of 70% of your local traffic and conversions from your GBP, rather than your website.

If you haven’t already claimed and verified your GBP, follow these steps:

Claim Your Profile: Go to the Google Business Profile page and search for your business. If it appears, claim it by verifying your association with the business.
Verify Your Business: Google will send a verification code to your business address via postcard, phone, or email. Enter the code to verify your business. In some cases, you may need to go through multiple verification methods.
Wait: It can take a while for Google to verify your business. Up to a few weeks in some cases.

Optimize Your GBP Information

Once your GBP is claimed and verified, ensure that all information is accurate, complete, and optimized:

Business Name: Use your official business name, avoiding any keyword stuffing.
Address and Phone Number: Ensure consistency across all online listings (NAP consistency).
Business Hours: Keep your hours up to date, including special hours for holidays.
Categories: Choose the most relevant primary category and additional categories that describe your business.
Services and Products: List all the services and products you offer to help potential customers understand what you provide. Consider including prices or price ranges to make the service menu more helpful.

Enhance Your GBP with Photos and Posts

High-quality photos and regular posts show Google that your GBP is actively managed and up to date:

Photos: Upload high-quality images of your business, including exterior and interior shots, products, services, and team members. Photos help customers visualize your business and can improve engagement.
Posts: Use Google Posts to share updates, offers, events, and news about your business. Regular posts keep your profile active and can attract more customers.

Local Website Audit

Technical SEO Analysis

Technical SEO involves checking various technical aspects that affect your site’s performance and user experience.

Mobile Usability

Check Mobile Friendliness: Use Google Page Speed Insights in an incognito window to see how well each of your pages work on mobile devices. This tool will give you insights into various ways you can improve your site’s mobile friendliness. Mobile performance is huge because, as I’m sure you know, this is the way most people use the internet nowadays.
Eyeball Your Pages: Pull each page up on a mobile device and make not of anything you find inconvenient. If you find something annoying, your site visitors will too. Take time to fix the things you notice.

HTTPS and Security

Ensure HTTPS Encryption: Verify that all pages on your website use HTTPS. This secures data between your site and its users, boosting trust and potentially improving rankings. Check for any mixed content issues where some elements are not served over HTTPS. Similarly, make sure the links on your website point to https URLs instead of http (You can do this with an Ahrefs site audit).

Indexing and Crawlability

Google Search Console: Use Google Search Console to check which pages are indexed and identify any crawl errors. Make sure that important pages are being crawled and indexed properly, and fix any issues such as broken links, duplicate content, or server errors.
Sitemaps: Ensure you have an updated XML sitemap submitted to Google Search Console. This helps search engines understand your site structure and improves crawlability.
Orphan Pages: An Ahrefs site audit can tell you whether you have any pages with no incoming internal links. If you do, and you want them to rank, you’ll need to ensure you have some internal links pointing to them (10 is a good number).

On-Page SEO Optimization

Optimizing your web pages for the many benefits of local SEO involves several key elements to ensure they are both user-friendly and search engine-friendly.

Keyword Optimization

Local Keyword Research: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to identify relevant local keywords. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your page titles, headers, meta descriptions, and body content. It’s important to note that Google’s crawlers are smart enough to understand semantic relevance, meaning you don’t need to stuff the exact keyword onto your page just for the sake of doing it.
Content Optimization: Ensure your content is unique, valuable, and addresses user intent. Avoid keyword stuffing and focus on providing comprehensive, informative content that answers users’ questions and needs.

Content Quality

Unique and Valuable Content: Ensure all content on your site is unique and provides value to your visitors. High-quality content that answers user queries effectively is more likely to rank well in search results.
User Intent: Align your content with user intent. Understand what users are looking for when they search for local services and tailor your content to meet these needs. You can do this by visiting the pages that already rank for similar keywords. You don’t want to copy them, but you do want to take note of what kind of value they seem to provide.

Internal Linking

Improve Navigation and SEO: Review and enhance your internal linking structure to improve site navigation and SEO. Ensure that important pages are easily accessible and that links are relevant and useful to the user.

User Experience (UX)

A positive user experience is crucial for retaining visitors and improving SEO. We know from Google’s algorithm leak that it pays close attention to people’s overall experience as they use your site.

Intuitive Navigation: Ensure your site’s navigation is intuitive and user-friendly. Users should be able to find the information they need quickly and easily. Use clear and descriptive menu labels and keep the navigation structure simple.
Responsive Design: Ensure your site is fully responsive, meaning it adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices. This improves user experience and helps with mobile SEO.

Local Citations Audit

NAP Consistency (Name, Address, Phone Number)

Consistency of your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) across all online platforms is crucial for local SEO.

Audit Listings: Conduct an audit of all your online listings, including directories, social media profiles, and review sites. Use tools like Moz Local or BrightLocal to streamline this process.
Correct Inconsistencies: Ensure that your NAP information is consistent across all platforms. Inconsistencies can confuse search engines and users.

Claim and Optimize Listings

Claiming and optimizing your business listings on major directories can improve your local SEO.

Claim Listings

Major Directories: Claim your business on major directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, and local chamber of commerce websites. This helps control your business information and enhances your local online presence.

Optimize Listings

Accurate Information: Ensure that all information is accurate and comprehensive. This includes business hours, services offered, and other relevant details.
Enhance Profiles: Add high-quality photos, detailed service descriptions, and other engaging content to make your listings stand out. Regularly update your listings to reflect any changes in your business.

Backlink Profile Analysis

Review Backlink Quality and Quantity

Backlinks, or inbound links from other websites have a huge impact on your local SEO. Analyzing the quality and quantity of your backlinks helps identify areas for improvement and potential issues.

Analyze Backlink Profile

Tools for Analysis: Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to analyze your backlink profile. These tools provide insights into the number of backlinks, referring domains, and the quality of these links.
Quality Assessment: Focus on the quality of the backlinks. High-quality backlinks from reputable and relevant sites positively impact your SEO. Look for backlinks from authoritative local sites, industry-specific sites, and trusted directories.
Quantity Check: Ensure you have a healthy number of backlinks. While quality is more important than quantity, a higher number of quality backlinks generally indicates a strong backlink profile.

Pro Tip: Don’t waste your time disavowing “toxic backlinks” unless you have a manual penalty on your account.

Competitor Backlink Analysis

Analyzing your competitors’ backlink profiles can provide insights into new link-building opportunities and strategies. Backlink building is where things start to get tricky.

Identify Competitors: Use tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to identify competitors in your local market. Analyze their backlink profiles to understand their linking strategy and performance.
Benchmarking: Compare your backlink profile against your competitors’. Look at metrics such as the number of referring domains, domain authority, and the relevance of linking sites.
Gap Analysis: Identify gaps in your backlink profile by comparing it with competitors. This helps pinpoint potential link-building opportunities where your competitors have succeeded.

Link Building Strategies

Building a strong backlink profile involves acquiring high-quality links from relevant and authoritative sites.

Local Partnerships and Sponsorships

Local Businesses and Organizations: Partner with other local businesses and organizations to obtain backlinks. This could include sponsorships, collaborations, or guest blogging opportunities on their sites.
Community Involvement: Engage in local events, sponsorships, and community activities that can earn you mentions and backlinks from local news sites, blogs, and other community websites.

Content Marketing and Outreach

Create Valuable Content: Develop high-quality, valuable content that others want to link to. This can include blog posts, infographics, case studies, and research reports. This is by far the slowest way to build links, but it is also the most honest and effective method.
Outreach Campaigns: Conduct outreach campaigns to promote your content. Contact relevant local bloggers, news sites, and industry influencers to share your content and request backlinks. If I’m being 100% honest, the majority of them won’t link to you, but if you have the time, you’ll find that you still get a link here and there.
Become an Expert Source: Sites like Qwoted and HARO connect you with journalists that rely on experts like you when producing content. In many cases, they’ll link to your site if they use you as a source.

Reviews and Ratings

Audit Existing Reviews

Customer reviews are a significant factor in local SEO. They influence both your search rankings and potential customers’ trust in your business.

Analyze Review Quantity and Quality

Review Platforms: Check your reviews across major platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook, and industry-specific sites. Use tools like BrightLocal to consolidate reviews from various platforms.
Review Sentiment: Analyze the sentiment of your reviews. Identify common themes and issues mentioned by customers. Positive reviews enhance your online reputation, while negative reviews highlight areas for improvement.

Identify Patterns and Issues

Review Frequency: Assess how frequently you receive reviews. A steady stream of recent reviews is more favorable than having only old reviews.
Common Complaints: Identify recurring complaints or issues mentioned in negative reviews. Addressing these issues can improve customer satisfaction and future reviews.

Encourage and Manage Reviews

Actively managing and encouraging reviews can improve your local SEO and customer trust.

Encourage Customer Reviews

Request Reviews: Ask satisfied customers to leave reviews. This can be done through follow-up emails, at the point of sale, or by including review requests on receipts or thank-you notes. If you deal with customers directly, I recommend making special business cards with QR codes that link to your Google Business reviews page.
Incentivize Reviews: Offer incentives like discounts, loyalty points, or small gifts to encourage customers to leave reviews. Ensure that these incentives comply with review platform policies.

Pro Tip: Some sites, like Yelp, frown upon you requesting reviews. Others, like Google, encourage it.

Respond to Reviews

Timely Responses: Respond promptly to both positive and negative reviews. Thank customers for positive feedback and address any issues raised in negative reviews. This shows potential customers (and search engines) that you value feedback and are committed to improving your business.
Professional and Polite: Keep your responses professional and polite, even when dealing with negative reviews. A well-handled negative review can turn a dissatisfied customer into a loyal one and demonstrates to others that you are responsive and care about customer satisfaction.

Final Thoughts on Local SEO Audits

This guide gives you a high-level overview of everything you need to know for a high-quality local SEO audit. If it seems overwhelming, you’re not alone. SEO combines nearly every element of your online presence, and it can be a lot.

If you’d rather have a professional do it for you, make sure to hit us up! We can handle your SEO audit and manage your local strategy for you, meaning you can just sit back and enjoy the organic traffic.