Performing a regular audit of your local SEO efforts is crucial for identifying issues that may be holding your business back from ranking higher in local search results.
As a business owner, you want your website to show up when potential customers search for the products or services you offer in your geographic area.
An SEO audit allows you to diagnose problems and improve your local SEO strategy over time.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through the process of conducting a DIY local SEO audit, using my recent experience auditing local SEO for my seo consultant services business as an example.
Follow these steps to audit your website’s current local SEO health and uncover opportunities for improvement.
Set Up Tracking for Local Rankings and Traffic
Before auditing your actual website, take time to set up tracking so you can monitor your local search rankings and traffic over time. I recommend adding these analytics tools:
- Google Analytics – Connect your website to monitor traffic and keyword ranking data.
- Google Search Console – Submit your website to index your pages and see search appearance.
- Moz Local – Track local rankings across directories like Google My Business.
Monitoring rankings and traffic helps you measure SEO audit impact over time.
Audit Your NAP and GMB Listings
NAP refers to the name, address, and phone number of your business. Verify your NAP is consistent across key local directories, especially Google My Business (GMB). Inconsistencies can negatively impact local SEO.
I logged into my GMB account and cross-referenced my business name, address, and phone number against other listings on Bing, Facebook, Yahoo, and other directories. Thankfully everything matched, avoiding duplicate issues.
Review Your Website’s Technical SEO
Now it’s time to audit the technical health of your website. Here are key elements to check:
- Mobile optimization – Use Google Mobile-Friendly Test to check mobile layouts.
- Page speed – Pages should load in < 3 seconds. Check on PageSpeed Insights.
- SSL installed – Switch to HTTPS for security and SEO.
- XML sitemap – Submit a sitemap to search engines to index your pages.
- Schema markup – Use schema for better local search snippets.
I found my site passed all these technical checks, giving me a solid local SEO foundation.
Assess Your Local Content
The content on your website makes the biggest impact on local rankings.
Assess whether you have optimized, relevant local content targeting your region.
Here are some local content areas I evaluated during my audit:
- Location pages – Dedicated pages with your address, hours, and contact info.
- GMB listing content – Reviews, photos, and other details that bring your GMB listing to life.
- Service area pages – Pages that list the geographic regions you serve.
- Local business schema – Schema markup for your business name, address, and opening hours.
- Local landing pages – optimized landing pages tailored to different cities or neighborhoods.
My local service area pages were thin, giving me ideas for creating new locally-focused content pillars moving forward.
Identify Local Link-Building Opportunities
I checked a few local citation sites and directories to see where my business was already listed.
Then I made a list of high-value directories like Citysearch and regional chamber of commerce sites where I could try getting links.
Don’t forget social media profiles like Facebook and Twitter where you can link to your website. I also made a note to ask local vendors, partners, and organizations for links.
Analyze Your Rankings in Local Pack
Now comes the fun part – seeing how you currently rank for your target local keywords.
I ran rankings reports in Moz and SEMrush to see where my website appeared in the Local Pack and organic results.
This showed me which keywords I ranked well for, along with opportunities to improve my rankings with better optimization and links.
Ongoing Monitoring
Don’t let your audit efforts go to waste. Regularly monitor rankings, traffic and new optimization opportunities.
Staying on top of your local SEO ensures maximum visibility so you attract more customers from local search.
