Local businesses will need to focus on their local SEO traffic in order to be successful in the future. This is because 46% of all searches are done with local intent. That’s where local SEO comes in.

If you are new to local SEO, you might be wondering where is the best place to start. This checklist provides every step to follow to find success in local search.

Understanding How Local SEO Works

Google has a majority hold on the search market. If you want your local SEO campaign to be successful, it is best to focus on Google Search. Google’s Local Search algorithm has three key ranking factors. Proximity, Relevance, and Prominence.

Here is a quick summary of these three key local search ranking factors:

• Proximity refers to the physical distance from the searcher.
• Relevance refers to how relevant the business is to the search.
• Prominence refers to how well-known a business is. You can also think of prominence as a business’ authority.

Visit the Google Help Center to learn more about three local ranking factors.

The theory part is done, so now we can focus on what you need to do to rank in local search results pages. This local SEO checklist will help you organize your process, be more productive, and increase your success with any local SEO campaign.

Initial SEO Strategy and Setup

Develop a Local SEO Strategy

When you first start working with a client, you will need to spend a little time organizing their business information and web properties. Be sure to ask the business for all of their locations and double check that you have the right business information. Failing to do proper research on a company before beginning to do SEO work for them can lead to issues later on. For example, you might not know that the phone number on their Google Business Profile is incorrect, or that they have additional locations that they failed to mention.

Most businesses will fall into one of these four categories:

• Single location with a physical address
  • If you have only one location your strategy will be simple. You will only need one Google Business Profile with a verified address.
• Multiple locations with physical addresses
  • If you have multiple locations, you will need multiple Google Business Profiles. Each location will need its own unique address and phone number, and landing pages.
• Single location with a service area (no physical address)
  • If you have only one location but don’t want to show your physical address, you can hide it and show the areas you serve. Usually, it’s best to have an address in terms of SEO rankings.
• Multiple locations with service areas (no physical addresses)
  • If you choose this strategy, make sure there is no overlap with the service areas. Google will typically filter businesses with too many service area locations and only show the one it believes to be the most prominent location. 

1. Analyze Keyword Positions

You can use BrightLocal’s Local Rank Tracker to check your keywords. This tool can tell you where your clients’ website ranks on Google, Google Maps, Bing, and Bing Local. The reports can also have a white-label, which will make it look like this example.

2. Run a Full Local SEO Analysis

After you set up the rank tracker, be sure to run a complete local SEO analysis using BrightLocal. It will only take a few minutes to set up and can be scheduled to run weekly so you can closely monitor the key metrics for your local SEO campaigns.

3. Scan Your Business Rankings Using a Local Search Grid

You should check your rankings on Local Search Grid periodically. The search engine result page (SERP) will be different depending on the location of the person searching because Google provides results based on proximity. You can see your client’s rankings at a glance with the Local Search Grid. This will make you look like an expert in SEO to your clients!

Now that you’ve created an awesome strategy for local SEO and taken a snapshot of how your client’s campaign is doing, you can move on to doing the SEO work that will improve their rankings.

4. Scan and Find Your Current Citations

Citations are essential for good SEO rankings. Google checks online citations to ensure the business is trustworthy. Imagine you needed to contact a business and you did a search only to find 15 different phone numbers listed on the web. This wouldn’t be a pleasant experience. Google uses citations as a ranking factor for local search results because citations are considered to be a reliable indicator of the quality of a business.

Use BrightLocal’s Citation Tracker to take a snapshot of your current citations.

5. Build a Strong Citation Profile

Perhaps unsurprisingly, having a strong citation profile still comes up as one of the most talked about points on a local SEO’s checklist, as highlighted by Mark Scully of Learn Inbound:

” Citations are still one of the most important things for Local SEO. You are unlikely to do better than your local competition if you do not spend a lot of time getting listed on high-quality sources specific to your industry and city.

“So, how do you do it? Simple! look for common keywords related to your business and location, find the organic results that come up for business listing sites, and contact those sites to get your business listed.

” You should highlight what makes your business a valuable resource for their audience when you are reaching out to them.

If you can produce a product people want, you can make a lot of money.” It will be easier to attract citations if your brand is one that people can connect with. If you can create a product that people want, you will be very successful financially. We tend to focus on metrics rather than the basics of branding, even though we know that’s important. Make sure you devote some time to reviewing the text on the main pages of your website. To make your business more appealing, focus on the benefits your services offer, your core values, and what makes you stand out from the competition. This will make it easier to attract customers in the long run.

6. Make Sure Your NAP Details Are Consistent

Maintaining consistent NAP data is extremely important for local SEO. Make sure each location has consistent NAP information. You’ll really want to check and double-check this part.

Keeping your business information consistent across the web is important. The most important thing to focus on for each location is the Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP). Make sure that your business hours and website URL are the same for every location.

7. Identify Easy Link Opportunities

In Greg Gifford’s recent BrightonSEO session, he did a great job of explaining the importance of link building in a local SEO campaign, and how to go about doing it correctly. Some of his tips included: He provided a number of useful tips and suggestions on how to find link opportunities, as well as emphasising the importance of focusing on ways to earn both industry-relevant links and local links. Some of his tips included:

Greg believes that the best way to begin a local link building campaign is by finding easy link possibilities that come from things like existing relationships, sponsoring local events, volunteering, belonging to offline groups, and by studying the link profiles of similar businesses in other places.

Any site that wants to do well in the search engine results pages (SERPs) needs to have both unique local links and a strong foundation of easy-to-acquire local links. Don’t forget to include links to other pages on your website in addition to your homepage.

8. Understand Your Audience

Simon Penson, founder of Zazzle Media, encourages local search marketers to understand their audiences and their journey:

” As people increasingly use mobile devices, local search becomes more important. Many SEO experts focus their attention on how to get their clients listed in the “local pack” section of Google search results. However, I believe it is more beneficial to focus on how to get clients listed in the long tail of search results.

Trying to decipher how customers will come to a purchase decision and ultimately use a product is so important.” Marketers should focus on understanding their audience and the journey to product purchase decisions. It is important to decipher how customers will use a product. The job of a marketer is to help the customer through their purchase, as a subject expert, as much as possible.

“How does that translate into a local search strategy? Content that informs audiences about how to be smart consumers should be a central part of any content strategy. Think about all the questions your audience has and make sure they are answered.

9. Conduct a Gap Analysis

In many cases, local SEOs don’t understand the advanced methods that can help them and their clients improve their campaigns. This is something which ?ukasz ?elezny, Head of Organic Acquisition at uSwitch, acknowledges in his tips:

” In addition to the standard techniques that are commonly used for SEO, there are also some other methods that can be used for local campaigns. The primary method I’ve been utilizing for quite a while now is gap analysis. This involves searching for areas where you differ from your competitors.

“How it works? If you want to use one of these tools, you will need to create an account with SEMRush, Searchmetrics, SpyFu, or Sistrix. It is ideal to have an account with all four of them, but you can get by with just one if you have budget constraints.

• Step 1: Export keyword lists that belongs to a selected LOCAL competitor.
• Step 2: Duplicate the list if you used more than one software tool to create the export.
• Step 3: Repeat the process to get export from another LOCAL competitor.
• Step 4: Duplicate the list if you used more than one software tool to create the export.
• Step 5: Export your own keywords.
• Step 6: VLOOKUP to see where YOU ARE NOT ranking and your competitors simultaneously are.

“Now you know where your gaps are and you can start:

• Optimizing existing content
• Expanding content on existing URLs
• Creating new content

“You can go deeper with the gap analysis, narrowing the list to (for example):

• Only keywords ranking in top 10 positions
• Keywords with specific ranges of search volume
• A specific range of URLs

” You may be familiar with the Domain vs. Domain tool from SEMrush. This is the best way to start, especially if you don’t feel confident with Excel. You may find Excel way more efficient after some time has passed. If you have access to more than one platform that provides keyword data, it can be especially helpful.

10. Ask Customers to Be Very Descriptive When Getting Reviews

When you are asking customers for reviews, request that they describe their experience in as much detail as possible. Adding service and location keywords can improve your website’s ranking in search results and increase the rate at which visitors convert into customers. If you search for the business online, you will notice that keywords in customer reviews are highlighted on the search engine results page.

11. Look into Event sponsorships, local meet ups, and clubs

There is a close relationship between getting your business known in the local community and building links with other local businesses. Offer to sponsor local events, meet ups, or clubs. One way you could support your community is by paying for a specific sponsorship. Another way you could support your community is by offering your office space to a local club. It is easy to get a link from their website back to your own by sponsoring these groups. This is also a good way to get your name out to the local community.

12. Be Aware That Local Means Local

If we go back five or six years, it’s sad to say that businesses could find ways to appear in the local pack results for areas outside their own geographical region. Many clients create listings in multiple cities and use any old address they can find. This should never have worked. But it did.

This is something which SEO trainer, author, and speaker Mark Preston reminds marketers of:

You can’t just optimize your website for “local” and expect to rank in every city and town.” To optimize your website for local SEO, you need to target specific cities and towns rather than using general terms. If you want to get ranked in Manchester, you need to ensure your business is physically located in Manchester. Some people mistakenly assume that their website will be able to rank in google searches within a 50 mile radius, or even further away, without having a physical presence in that area. It is never going to happen.”

Although Preston’s study is not directly related to the above topic, it is very relevant to it. Preston’s study looks at the connection between local SEO and exact match domains, and found that it is usually very difficult to rank outside of a core geographical area.

Summary

There’s no question that local SEO has its own set of strategies that are necessary to earn visibility on both regular SERPs and the local pack. Links from local websites and those in your industry are becoming increasingly important.

However, the lines between SEO and other marketing strategies are becoming less distinct. Some of the best minds in the industry are offering advice that is similar to what would be used for a site that wants to rank nationally or internationally.

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Local SEO: The Complete Guide for a Successful Ranking Local SEO: How To Rank Your Local Business 6 Easy Steps to Allocate A Digital Marketing Budget for Your Business – eMarket Experts How to Analyze Your Local Organic Search Competition