If you’re a local business you’ll want to show up locally when someone searches for your product or service. In order to do that you need a sound local SEO strategy if you want to show up on the top listings in search engines. Proper local SEO requires ongoing work to get your local listings showing up on search engines.
A local SEO audit is the first step to optimize your business for local search. Today we’ll be going over our local SEO audit we’ve used and refined hundreds of times.
How to Perform a Local SEO Audit
A local SEO audit is a process that involves inspecting your website, online citations, and many other factors to find areas that can be improved and create an action plan for the SEO campaign.
Local SEO is a game of patience and strategy. Luckily, you can follow our SEO audit to find out all the ways in which you can improve your website and local listings.
Today we’ll cover exactly what you need to perform a local SEO audit.
6 Steps for a Successful Local SEO Audit: How to Get Customers in Your Area
Local SEO solutions are not magic; they require ongoing work to guide interested customers to your physical location. This post will walk you through the ins and outs of performing an audit, including what it means, how to do one, and what you should look for during this process.
Want us to deliver a local SEO audit for Free? Simply get in touch with us.
With a Local SEO Audit Get a professional SEO audit from a local SEO expert that will help you dominate search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Implementing local SEO strategies will give your business visibility in Google Maps and search engine results pages (SERPs). Whether you need local SEO for multiple locations, local SEO for franchises, or a single location our SEO audit can help.
What Makes Our Local SEO Audit Different is our Savvy in house marketers don’t rely on free local SEO audits or software tools – we use a custom point inspection for our Local SEO Audits. Get a Free professional SEO audit performed by an experienced consultant who is an expert in Local SEO.
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Analyze Local Traffic Google Analytics
Having Google Analytics installed is essential. Don’t forget to implement a robust analytics system using Google Analytics to measure your performance.
You will want to check how much traffic is coming locally.
Simply go to Google Analytics > Click on Audience > Geo > Location
Get Started With Google My Business
Setting up your Google My Business is the first thing you should do when you start to improve your local SEO. You can optimize and edit your business information, upload photos, and videos, and interact with customers through reviews and messages. Keeping your business information updated on Google and other search engines will help you get to the top of Google search results and reach more people.
If you don’t have a verified Google My Business account already, make sure to start by creating one! Google My Business is one of the biggest drivers of local SEO success.
It is essential to optimize your listing for what Google considers relevant, distance from the search terms in question, and prominence.
Optimizing Your Google My Business Listing
Be sure to dive into each of the key features of the Google My Business including:
- Business Info
- Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Website
- Hours of Operation
- Services
- Products
- Photos
- Posts
- GMB Website
You will have to identify opportunities for improvements in the sections of the Google My Business. A good rule of thumb is to add as much as you can in terms of content, images, and descriptions on the GMB.
Analyze the Keywords You Are Targeting
Choosing the target keywords to use on your website is one of the best ways to increase conversion rates. If you are not targeting the correct words, then you will be wasting time and energy with little to show for it.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to target keyword research that can help improve conversions on your site. Local SEO can be difficult without the right keywords.
What is Your MOZ DA?
You can check this by using the Moz Bar. The DA in the toolbar stands for Domain Authority. The goal is to have the highest domain authority you can with the minimum being the average of your competitors. Record this number in the spreadsheet so you can compare it against your competition.
Keep in mind that the Moz DA metric can be manipulated, so be sure you are careful where you build backlinks. Building backlinks is an entire art of it’s own.
Keyword Geo Modification
You can improve your search engine rankings by geo-modifying local and target keywords for organic SEO.
Here are a few examples of geo-modified keywords:
- Service + City
- City + Service
- Service + City + State
- City + State + Service
- Service in City
- Service in City + State
You can find keywords using ahrefs or SEMrush. Simply enter your top competitor and see their organic rankings.
On Page SEO for Local
Check to make sure you have these geo-modified keywords in the following areas of your website and Google My Business:
- GMB Name (This can get you flagged by Google but it helps rankings, use at your own risk)
- Page Title of Website
- H1 Tags
- H2-H6 Tags
- Image alt tags
- Paragraph content
Scan for Harmful Duplicate Content
Google has started to take a more aggressive approach towards duplicate content. If your site is penalized by Google, you may find that the search engine will refuse to show any of your pages for certain queries.
It means your primary URL for this site will pass less traffic than those other copies because there’s an increased chance of duplicate content showing up when they’re not canonicalized properly.
Check for Google My Business Duplicates
When auditing your local SEO for these are crucial to search rankings, it’s also worthwhile looking out Google My Business duplicates. Using a local SEO audit checklist will help with your optimization progress.
Backlinks: Inspect Backlink Anchor Text
You should have confidence when local SEO rankings and local SERPs are on point with natural anchor phrases rather than spammy ones which could result in penalties or even worse-a denial from search engines like Google altogether!
Links could come from the directory and review sites, other local businesses, chambers of commerce, local newspapers, or community websites. Set Up Review Sites To garner reviews (mostly positive, let’s hope) in the first place, make sure your business is listed on as many relevant ones as possible.
Local SEO Audit: Check Citations and Mentions
Do you want to rank higher in the search engines for your local/ target keywords? Do you want to get more traffic from people who are searching for solutions near their location? Then it’s time that you should look through your website and see what needs to be done.
In this blog post, we will discuss how to do a local SEO audit, which includes checking citations and mentions.
Citations are an important part of your local SEO. Citations reference you, address, and phone number (NAP) which helps users when they need to give out information about where the business can be found in order for them to do their own research before visiting or calling up with questions that may arise during their visit there. You can use tools like Google Search Console (free) or Ahrefs (paid) to monitor and audit your links.
You’ll also need to check to see if their correct business info is listed on the main data aggregators: Axiom, Neustar/Localeze, Factual, and Infogroup. Next, you’ll need to check your client’s unstructured citations.
Google and alternate search engines prize user satisfaction, so watch out if you have NAP variations in your local SEO audit that may cause problems with their algorithms when ranking pages on the internet!
On-Page Content & Keyword Relevance Inbound Links & Anchor Text Mobile-Friendly Website & User Behavior On-Page Content & Keyword Relevance Completing keyword research and implementing those keywords into your website content should be at the top of your list when it comes to improving visibility in search engine results.
Citations are important to your local SEO efforts because their signals make up 11% of local pack-ranking factors.
On-Page Content & Keyword Relevance Inbound Links & Anchor Text Mobile-Friendly Website & User Behavior On-Page Content & Keyword Relevance Completing keyword research and implementing those keywords into your website content.
The Social Media Platforms you Need to Start Analyzing
Social media has taken over the world. Wherever you go, there is a social media platform to follow and interact with. Your social media presence can help you rank higher in search engines because they judge your company by its online reputation and the quality of content on its website.
You can now extend your search to Bing and find a counterpart for Google My Business.
For an established presence, inserted links should be available on the account page under Places for Business inbox “Linked Social Platforms.” Your social media engagement increases your local SEO and attracts traffic as you become more recognized, well sought after.
Check out how prominent some of the content on your pages are in organic search results or through knowledge graphs (or snapshot pane).
What’s the Point of a Local SEO Audit?
The goal of any local business SEO campaign is to improve its organic rankings on search engines. People using local search terms are looking for a local business just like yours, and search engines respond to that customer intent. Dedicate some time and resources to making sure your business is listed in as many relevant, quality local business directories as possible.
