How to do Local SEO Audit : 11 Easy steps10 min read

Are you missing the opportunity of grabbing traffic from your area? When you know how to do local SEO audit properly, You can get traffic.

You have to answer the inquiry of local searches give information that the user needs but before that, you have to prove it to the search engine. 

The regular Local SEO Audit helps rank your website on the first page for local customers. That drives your organic traffic, allows local search ranking, creates an impression, and ultimately increases sales. 

So do not ask where to do local SEO optimization because appearing on the local search result helps a lot no matter where you are. 

This blog will share 12 steps to do a local SEO Audit step by step. Before that, look at the overview of a local SEO audit.

What is a Local SEO Audit?

An audit helps you assess your current local SEO performance, revealing where gaps in your local search strategy need to be filled to improve your ranking.

Local SEO may also assist you in increasing traffic, increasing revenue, and encouraging more clients to visit your establishment.

In a nutshell, a local SEO audit is a checkup on your SEO strategy, and you must know how to do local SEO Audit properly.

Remember to use Google Analytics and Search Console to track your progress using a solid analytics system.

You may also utilize an SEO API to track and enhance your results.

Search engine algorithms consider over 50 parameters when determining ranks for local searches.

Whitespark highlighted the following seven essential criteria in their 2020 Local Ranking Search Factors Survey.

Experts think it accounts for over 94 percent of the weightage in these algorithms.

Your audit template should be based on these seven variables.

Let’s look at each one and see how you may use auditing to improve your performance.

How does GMB help?

You can set up a My Business (GMB) account to begin your audit if you haven’t already.

You can use it for free, and the only requirement is that your company has a confirmed address.

Your Google My Business account can enhance your company’s trust and exposure in local Google searches and on Google Maps.

This will increase traffic and purchases. You’ll be able to submit photos of your business, products, and services as well.

GMB allows you to change and update your business information, such as contact information and service hours, to ensure that clients have the most up-to-date information.

You can also respond to each online review and address any issues that arise as soon as possible.

However, we have listed all the factors you should check to do a local SEO audit.

How to do Local SEO Audit

Here is the checklist of how you can perform a local SEO audit and create local SEO strategies:

1. Keywords/SERPs Research
2. Website Local Audit
3. Google My Business
4. Review the Procedure management.
5. Local Business Listings and Citations.
6. Content Strategy
7. Google Search Console.
8. Check the Analytics.
9. Do Proper Backlinks.
10. Do Competitor Analysis.
11. Use Local SEO Audit Tools

You can change the tasks’ order, but you must ensure that you have checked them properly.

1. Keywords/SERPs Research

To determine where you stand concerning your rivals and other websites/content, a local SEO audit should start with SERPs for the keywords and phrases you hope your business will be found for.

This research will help you rapidly find keywords that you have some authority/momentum to develop on, as well as keywords where you shouldn’t waste your time and effort.

Because SEO is a long-term approach, you should discard no keyword out of hand. Even so, it’s generally advisable to concentrate on the keywords for which you have a reasonable probability of ranking and driving traffic.

Some keywords may be better pursued in the short run through a paid Google Ads approach until you can build up your local organic authority.

Several good SEO and keyword research tools are available that automate gathering search results for specific or topical groups of keywords and assigning keyword value based on criteria like search volume or keyword difficulty.

Ideally, you’ll pick a tool that breaks out the various types of search features so you can see if you or a competitor has captured any of this search real estate and then design plans or techniques to move forward.

Alternatively, you can manually run your searches.

If that’s the case, use an Incognito Window in Google Chrome or a Private Window in Safari to avoid bias or personalization from your Google login, location, or personal search history.

2. Website Local Audit

You can now do a comprehensive keyword and technical website audit with your focused keyword data in hand to guarantee your site is optimized for optimum crawl ability, indexability, and exposure.

The purpose of a regular audit is to examine the site’s underlying structure, content, and overall user experience.

Numerous site auditing tools are available that will crawl a website, find faults, and prioritize things based on SEO best practices.

Page Optimization

Web page optimization ensures that pages are well-structured, focused on relevant keywords, and offer a good user experience.

After crawling the site, it looks for signals that will help it figure out what the page is about and what questions it can answer.

These crawlers examine the entire page to establish its focus, with Page Titles and Headings serving as the critical descriptions.

Pages should ideally be keyword-focused and unique.

As a result, keyword variations in titles, URLs, headings, and meta descriptions should be used consistently.

Precisely, edit the following things,

• Title Tag
• Meta Description
• Headings

Image alt text is another critical potential tag issue found during an audit, depending on your local business type.

All photos should have relevant descriptive filenames and alt text, including relevant keywords as a best practice.

Image carousels can and will appear in Web search results, which is especially essential when images (e.g., product or service shots) are central to your organization.

Audit for Mobile Device

As more people look for local services on their mobile devices, it’s becoming increasingly crucial for local businesses to provide a pleasant mobile web experience.

It will, in turn, impact how search engines view and rank them.

In a nutshell, websites must load quickly, be simple to navigate and allow seamless user interaction.

3. Google My Business Optimization

We have already discussed the importance of GMB optimization; it is one of the most significant factors for local SEO. Have a look at our blog to learn details about it :

Google My Business Optimization Service

4. Review the Procedure Management

Customers of local businesses can leave reviews, which show on the GBP for other customers to see and play a vital part in deciding visibility in the local map pack.

When Google receives a review, it will alert the business owner, and you should respond to the review as soon as possible. This is true for both positive and negative evaluations.

However, because we are all busy, a thorough audit should involve an examination of your reviews to ensure that none have slipped through the gaps. This will also assist in determining whether there are any reoccurring customer service and satisfaction concerns or themes that require attention.

Consumers can also leave reviews on Facebook, local review sites like Yelp, and industry-specific sites like TripAdvisor and Houzz.

Because reviews left on any of these services can appear in search results.

Search engines and astute modern shoppers will almost probably discover them.

Simply searching “‘your business name’ reviews” will reveal any reviews you may have on lesser-known properties.

Alternatively, several solid software solutions are available to assist company owners in soliciting and managing evaluations on GBP and other review sites.

5. Local Business Listings and Citations

Local business listings and citations provide a mechanism for search engines to verify that a company is both local and respectable within a given geographic region.

A presence in respected local directories, review sites, business directories (e.g., Chamber of Commerce), our local partner sites is critical.

An audit of your listings and citations might be automatic or manual, depending on the size and breadth of your local business.

All primary citations with your proper Name, Address, Phone Number (aka NAP), and other essential business facts available in more extensive listings may be found, monitored, and updated using business listings and citation management tools (e.g., website address, business description.)

If you only manage a few locations and have the time, searching for your company name is a quick way to find where google may find your current listings.

The same should be seen on the first 3-4 pages of search results.

If you want to figure out where you’re missing out on listing and citation chances, run a search using the terms you’ve researched and want to be found for.

The directories and listing sites that appear in the search results for these keywords will be the most valuable.

It’s also critical to identify and resolve any duplicate listings to avoid providing outdated or erroneous information to clients and search engines alike.

6. Content Strategy

As previously stated, people look for information in different ways and demand different information depending on where they are in the purchase process.

A well-structured local web presence will include personalized and delivered for consumption at each point of the journey to increase visibility and awareness.

You want to be found by your customers throughout their search process.

A content audit can be performed to ensure that you have material for each of the trip buckets that your audience members might encounter.

Informational content can be shared on social media or published on your website to help educate customers on the products, services, and differentiators you offer at the start of their buying journey.

7. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that provides information on keyword and content performance, indexing, schema/rich results validation, mobile/desktop experience monitoring, and security/manual actions.

A thorough local SEO audit must include a review and analysis of this data to identify and respond to the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats listed in each section.

Website owners and managers should pay close attention to any issues with sites not being crawled or indexed and manual measures performed based on questionable methods since both can harm search engine visibility.

8. Check the Analytics

The data accessible here is helpful during an audit to validate top and lesser-performing content, traffic sources, audience profiles, and paths to purchase, whether you’re using Google Analytics or another site/visitor monitoring service.

Analytics findings will be important part to your content audit.

9. Do Proper Backlinks

Backlinks, also known as inbound links, are essentially any links to your website pages from other third-party websites.

Links are still a significant aspect of establishing a website’s authority since they provide credibility from trustworthy, relevant sources.

Connections from non-relevant or untrustworthy sites, on the other hand, can cause more harm than good in terms of SEO, and You can occasionally make these links without your knowledge.

Using backlinks is essential but doing it correctly. Here you can read more about it:

Anchor Text Optimization in SEO 

10. Do Competitor Analysis

A thorough local SEO audit would be incomplete without identifying and analyzing your competitors’ strengths and flaws.

Although you may have a fair idea of who your competitors are, it’s always a good idea to double-check.

Also, check who appears in the search results when entering your target keywords and search terms.

These are your genuine competitors and the sites you can learn the most. You can learn more about it here:

Competitor analysis for Local SEO

11. Use Local SEO Audit Tools

There are many local SEO Audit tools for local search ranking. Among them, you can use the following ones :

• SEMRush
• Ahrefs
• UberSuggest

Wrapping Up

When you know how to do a local SEO audit, that means your opportunity to get traffic increases a lot. Follow all the steps we explained  and they are related to ranking factor. You can use premium local SEO audit tools for your convenience.

Do not skip the steps, but follow them according to your choice.