When was the last time you conducted a local search engine optimization (SEO) audit? Potential customers may search for your local business online. Unless your local business is optimized to rank for local searches, though, they probably won't find it. By conducting a local SEO audit, you can check to see whether your local business is optimized.
Verified Google Business Profile
Make sure your local business has a verified Google Business Profile. Assuming your local business has been around for several years or longer, it will likely have a Google Business Profile. Google Business Profiles can appear on Google Maps and the organic results pages.
Google allows all of its users to add new local businesses to its online directory. Verifying your Google Business Profile will essentially provide you with administrator rights to it. Other users won't be able to change your local business's information after you've verified your Google Business Profile.
Verified Bing Places for Business Listing
In addition to a verified Google Business Profile, your local business needs a verified Bing Places for Business listing. Bing may serve your local business's listing to users who search for it. If it's not verified, it may contain outdated or incorrect information that misleads users.
Google and Bing offer multiple verification options. With that said, some of these verification options may not be available to your local business. Postcard verification is the most common option. It involves Google or Bing mailing a postcard with a unique code to your local business.
Accurate Citations
You should check for accurate citations when conducting a local SEO audit. Citations are online brand mentions that feature specific information about a business. They typically appear on platforms that support user-generated content (UGC), specifically business-related UGC.
A Google Business Profile and Bing Places for Business listing are citations. Other citations include listings for Tripadvisor, Super Pages, Foursquare, Better Business Bureau (BBB), Yelp, HomeAdvisor, Angie's List and Manta.
Social Media Profiles
Don't ignore social media when conducting a local SEO audit. Maintaining active profiles on all of the main social media networks will pave the way for a more successful optimization strategy.
Local search rankings are tied to specific places. If your local business is based in Philadelphia, it may rank high for relevant searches performed in Philadelphia. It may not rank, though, for those same searches performed in other cities. With social media profiles, you can tell search engines where your business is located. Creating social media profiles that feature your local business's address will relay this information to search engines.
Customer Reviews
Customer reviews can affect local search rankings. According to Moz, customer reviews are the seventh-most influential factor for local SEO. Local businesses with lots of positive and genuine customer reviews tend to experience greater local SEO success in the search results than those with fewer positive customer reviews.
You can procure customer reviews on many of the same platforms where you can build citations. Google Business Profiles, for example, support customer reviews. Just remember to respond to customer reviews. Creating a response shows customers, as well as search engines, that your local business is active.
Mobile-Friendly Website
When conducting a local SEO audit, check your local business's website to ensure it's mobile friendly. Local searches aren't limited to mobile devices. While some users perform local searches on desktop computers, though, most of them perform local searches on mobile devices. And according to Google, 76 percent of local searches performed on mobile devices result in a visit to the respective business.
Google offers a mobile-friendly checker at search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly. If your website passes the checker, it's mobile friendly. If it fails, it's not mobile friendly.
Geo Landing Pages
You should create geo landing pages for your website. Also known as a location landing page, a geo landing page is a web page that targets a relevant geographic location. You can create geo landing pages for locations where your local business operates.
Even if your local business has a single, fixed storefront, it can probably benefit from geo landing pages. Each geo landing page is optimized for a specific location. You can create a geo landing page for your local business's city and another geo landing page for its county.
Local Backlinks
Local backlinks are a part of local SEO. Like all backlinks, they are Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) hyperlinks that originate from an external website. Local backlinks simply originate from an external website that's relevant to the same location as the site to which they point.
Local backlinks serve several purposes. First, they act as votes of confidence and popularity. Second, they attract direct traffic. Third, local backlinks increase location relevance.
Evaluate Keyword Rankings
Conducting a local SEO audit requires the evaluation of keyword rankings. You'll need to evaluate the keywords your local business's website ranks for and the placement of those rankings.
You can evaluate keyword rankings using a universal rank tracking tool, such as Google Search Console or Moz's Rank Checker. There are lots of other options out there as well.
Website Contact Page
Of all the pages on your local business's website, few are as important as the contact page. It will educate users about your local business while generating leads in the process. Users who want to learn more about your local business's operations may contact you after visiting this page.
Search engines also crawl contact pages. When crawling your contact page, they'll see your local business's phone number and street address. Including this information on your contact page will help search engines identify locations that your business should rank for.
If your local SEO strategy isn't delivering the results for which you'd hope, perhaps it's time for an audit. Conducting a local SEO audit will allow you to check for local SEO factors. It will allow you to analyze your local business's digital presence to ensure it's optimized for high local rankings.
