Local SEO Audits

Regular audits identify issues and opportunities in your local SEO strategy. Here's how to conduct a thorough audit.

Audit Overview

Why Audit?

• Identify issues before they hurt rankings
• Find optimization opportunities
• Benchmark current state
• Track improvement over time
• Justify resource allocation

Audit Frequency

• Comprehensive audit: Quarterly
• Quick check: Monthly
• Ongoing monitoring: Weekly

Google Business Profile Audit

Information Accuracy

Check:

• Business name matches signage exactly
• Address is complete and correct
• Phone number is correct and active
• Website URL works and is correct
• Hours are accurate (including special hours)

Category Optimization

Check:

• Primary category is most relevant
• Secondary categories are appropriate
• No irrelevant categories selected
• Category matches actual business

Description and Attributes

Check:

• Description is complete (750 characters)
• Keywords naturally included
• All relevant attributes selected
• Attributes are accurate

Photos and Media

Check:

• Cover photo is high quality
• Logo is uploaded
• At least 10+ photos present
• Photos are recent (last 6 months)
• Photo categories used correctly
• No inappropriate or low-quality photos

Reviews

Check:

• Recent reviews exist (last 30 days)
• All reviews have responses
• Response time is reasonable
• Review sentiment is monitored
• No policy-violating reviews

Posts

Check:

• Recent posts exist (last 7 days)
• Posts have images
• CTAs are included
• Post content is engaging
• Regular posting schedule

Q&A

Check:

• Questions are answered
• Answers are accurate
• Owner-seeded questions exist
• No spam in Q&A

Website Audit

Local Pages

Check:

• Location pages exist for each location
• Unique content on each page
• NAP matches GBP exactly
• Schema markup present
• Map embedded
• Local keywords used

Technical SEO

Check:

• Mobile-friendly
• Fast loading (Core Web Vitals)
• SSL certificate valid
• No crawl errors
• Proper URL structure

On-Page Optimization

Check:

• Title tags include location
• Meta descriptions optimized
• H1 tags appropriate
• Local keywords in content
• Internal linking to location pages

Contact Information

Check:

• NAP on every page (footer)
• Contact page has full details
• Click-to-call on mobile
• Directions link works

Citation Audit

Major Platforms

Check presence and accuracy on:

• Google Business Profile
• Apple Maps / Apple Business Connect
• Bing Places
• Facebook
• Yelp
• Yellow Pages
• Industry directories

NAP Consistency

Check:

• Name exactly matches everywhere
• Address format is consistent
• Phone number is identical
• No old addresses or numbers
• No variations exist

Citation Quality

Check:

• Listings are claimed
• Profiles are complete
• Photos are uploaded
• Descriptions present
• Categories correct

Competitive Analysis

Competitor Identification

Identify:

• Top 3 local pack competitors
• Main organic competitors
• Rising competitors
• Indirect competitors

Competitor GBP Audit

Compare:

• Review quantity and rating
• Post frequency
• Photo quantity and quality
• Response rates
• Category selection

Competitor Website Audit

Compare:

• Local content quality
• Location page depth
• Technical performance
• Backlink profile
• Content strategy

Review Audit

Review Health

Metrics:

• Total review count
• Average rating
• Review velocity (reviews per month)
• Response rate
• Response time

Review Distribution

Analyze:

• Reviews across platforms
• Positive vs negative ratio
• Recent review trends
• Review sources

Review Content

Look for:

• Common themes (positive)
• Common complaints
• Keywords mentioned
• Services mentioned

Technical Audit

Schema Markup

Verify:

• LocalBusiness schema present
• Schema validates without errors
• NAP in schema matches website
• All relevant properties included
• Schema on all location pages

Mobile Performance

Check:

• Mobile-friendly test passes
• Touch elements properly sized
• Content readable without zoom
• Forms work on mobile

Page Speed

Check:

• Core Web Vitals pass
• LCP under 2.5s
• FID under 100ms
• CLS under 0.1

Reporting

Audit Scorecard

Create scoring system:

• Each area scored 1-10
• Overall score calculated
• Comparison to previous audit
• Priority ranking

Issue Prioritization

Categorize issues:

• Critical: Fix immediately
• High: Fix within 1 week
• Medium: Fix within 1 month
• Low: Nice to have

Action Plan

Document:

• Specific issues found
• Recommended fixes
• Who is responsible
• Timeline for completion
• Expected impact

Audit Checklist Template

Quick Monthly Check

• GBP information accurate
• Recent reviews responded to
• Post published this week
• No new issues in GBP
• Rankings stable

Comprehensive Quarterly Audit

• Full GBP audit
• Website audit
• Citation audit
• Competitive analysis
• Review audit
• Technical audit
• Action plan created

Tools for Auditing

Free Tools

• Google Business Profile Manager
• Google Search Console
• Google PageSpeed Insights
• Schema Validator
• Moz Local Check

Paid Tools

• BrightLocal
• Whitespark
• SEMrush
• Ahrefs
• Yext

Key Takeaways

1. Conduct regular audits at set intervals
2. Use checklists to ensure consistency
3. Prioritize issues by impact
4. Create actionable plans
5. Track improvements over time