LOCAL SEO AUDIT

Conducting a local SEO audit involves analyzing your Google My Business listing (also known as Google Business Profile) and understanding how your web pages appear on the local SERP of a search engine like Google. This analysis is essential for any business looking to understand and improve its local ranking.

Visibility audit: an essential analysis

A local SEO audit is an essential process for local businesses looking to improve their online visibility and connect with their customers. This guide will help you understand what a local SEO audit is and how to improve your local SEO to help you generate more traffic and conversions.

SEO local Audit: Google local SERP analysis

A local SEO audit is a report to understand the display of Google’s local SERP (Search Engine Results Page). This refers to the display presented by a search engine when a user makes a local query from a computer or a phone.

This analysis and understanding of the display data provided by Google remains essential. It allows you to understand the search intentions of Internet users and to know if your data (contained in your Google My Business – GMB file and your website) is relevant.

Please note: Google My Business (GMB) is now the preferred choice for a local strategy.
46% of searches conducted on Google and Google Maps are for a nearby business or service provider.

How does Google determine its local ranking?

Google’s local rankings are determined by factors such as relevance, distance, and importance. These criteria help Google find the most appropriate search results for each query. While proximity is a factor to consider, it isn’t the only determining factor.

Google’s algorithms may prioritize a more distant establishment if it is deemed to better match the user’s needs. As a result, this establishment will be given a higher position in nearby search results, source Google Business Listing.

Understanding the Vicinity Algorithm in Local SEO

Optimizing your Google Business listing remains essential. Getting it ranked well isn’t just about completing your Google Business Profile as much as possible. That’s no longer enough! Your priority must be to find your target audience, analyze them, and understand them.
You also need to be aware of local search engine algorithms and updates. For example, the Vicinity algorithm update in 2021 redefined how Google’s local pack is displayed.
This prioritizes three criteria:

• The proximity of the establishment to the user.
• The relevance of the information, in response to the query.
• The company’s authority, based on customer reviews left on GBP and the traffic recorded on its website.

Be aware that poor or over-optimization of your listing can lead to your business being suspended. So avoid keyword stuffing, as well as trying to change important information like your NAP and landing page too often. If your listing is suspended, don’t panic. There are ways to get it back on track!

The audit of your Google My Business listing should be tailored to your niche and business. All listings are different.
For example, a Google My Business listing for a restaurant will have different features and attributes than a listing for a hotel or service provider.

How to do an SEO audit?

An SEO (Search Engine Optimization) audit is a comprehensive analysis of the SEO strategies used on a website. The goal of this audit is to determine whether the site is optimized for various search engines (Google and Bing in particular), whether it complies with search engine guidelines, and whether it is likely to achieve a good organic ranking.

A local SEO audit is similar, except it focuses specifically on local search engine optimization. This includes on-page SEO, GMB listing analysis (and Bing Places listing analysis), off-page SEO, and technical SEO.

Local SEO audit: GBP file analysis, on-page and off-page SEO

The local SEO audit is performed as follows:

Analysis of your Google Business Profile listing (completion, optimization score, keywords used, etc.).

Analysis of your local links and local citations.

Analysis of your website content (On-page SEO).

Analysis of social media, local backlinks, and other links (Off-page SEO).

Local SEO audit : checklist

An SEO audit is essential for improving a local business’s search engine ranking. It’s important to ensure your site is optimized for local SEO and meets the required criteria. Here’s a checklist to use for a comprehensive local SEO audit:

1. Keywords.
2. Website.
3. Google Business Profile.
4. Local SERP analysis.
5. Local business listings and citations.
6. Local Content.
7. Google Search Console.
8. Google Analytics.
9. Backlinks.
10. Competitor analysis.
    
    

A local SEO audit is performed as part of an SEO consulting program by an SEO expert. This visibility assessment allows you to: Understand the ranking and traffic of your pages (local or not). Study your local keywords. Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Check the consistency of your tags, content, links, and meta descriptions. Audit your Google My Business listing. Measure your digital popularity and authority (links, local citations). Optimize your Google Business listing. Understand your competitors. Conduct SEO monitoring and tracking.

A Google local SEO audit can be summarized as follows:

In short, a GMB listing audit involves reviewing each element of your Google listing to ensure it complies with best practices (Google guidelines). The goal is to improve your visibility on various search engines and GPS apps, and to increase your customer base.

SEO audit of the Google Business Profile (GBP)

A Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), like a website, can be audited and optimized. An essential local element, your listing contributes to your local visibility.
What elements should you consider when auditing your GBP listing? What Google My Business audit tools are available? Here’s a look at some essential analysis tools.

Google Business listing analysis: what tools?

Here are some valuable tools you can use:

• GMB Everywhere
• GMB Spy (pour auditer les catégories de vos concurrents)
• Local Rank Tracker
• Local Brand Manager
• Local Falcon
• SERanking.
  

Example of a Google My Business or Google Business Profile (GBP) audit report

Here is an example of a GMB (or GBP) listing audit report:

The main elements to check during a GMB listing audit

In local SEO, to carry out a quality audit, it is advisable to check each element present on your file:

• Listing name.
• Primary and secondary categories.
• Description of the establishment.
• NAP: Name, phone number, and address.
• Opening hours and special hours.Photos: interior, exterior, logo, team, and “at work.
• Videos.
• Attributes, FAQs, messaging, and Google posts.
• Website links.
• Customer reviews: It’s important that all this information is correct and up-to-date. Names should be consistent with those used on the website, and each photo should be of professional quality to best showcase your business. This can create a more positive image of your business and give consumers a better understanding of your business.
• Information about the business and products offered by the business: This information should be clearly advertised and provide all the necessary information so that consumers can easily identify the services or products offered by your establishment.
• Social media and what s app link.
• Your establishment’s services.
• Local quotes.

It’s important that all of this information is correct and up-to-date. Also, make sure your GMB listing is 100% complete.

Comment optimiser votre fiche GBP et contrôler son efficacité grâce à l’audit SEO ?

As with an SEO audit, the analysis of your GBP (Google Business Profile) file will focus on several pillars:

1 – Local keywords analysis

Keyword analysis is done with tools like SERanking or SEMRush or the Google Keyword Planner keyword tool.

Analyzing your keywords and competitors remains an essential step.

2 – Google My Business Listing Audit

Check up with GMB Everywhere

Another GMB listing analysis with SERanking

Local ranking with the SERanking Local Marketing tool

Rankings with geopositionning

3 – Geographical analysis (audit by department, city, district or neighborhood, etc.)

To analyze your business’s presence on the internet and Google Maps, audit tools like Local Falcon or Local Brand Manager are useful.
Like the Google Chrome extension GMB, they allow you to teleport and see what users “see” when they search for a business.
Understand that what you are on your phone is different to someone else because of their IP address, search history, and geolocation.

4 – The content and technique of your website

The On-Page SEO Audit is an essential element of your SEO strategy. It analyzes all of the content on your site, including your pages, articles, images, and videos or podcasts. The On-Page SEO Audit includes the analysis of:

• The Title Tag is one of the most important HTML tags in SEO. It indicates the title of each of your pages to Google and Internet users. Reading it, you should understand what your page is about.
• HTML tags are HTML tags that determine the organization of your pages. HT tags are the h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6 tags. These tags, in addition to providing information, structure your page. These tags allow you to insert local keywords, synonyms, and play with semantic richness to respond to the user’s search intent. Text content (semantic audit) and images (file titles and alt attributes in particular). Meta
• Description: This is a short description that appears below the Title tag in search results. It is intended to encourage clicks and generate a CTA (Call to Action).
• Internal links or internal linking within your site. In addition to aiding navigation, internal linking allows for better indexing during search engine crawls.
• Your site’s speed and page load time. Google has indicated that these factors improve the user experience. This is important, as is the responsiveness (mobile-friendly) of your website.

Not forgetting the presence or lack of a map on your site with a link to your Google Business listing are among the few elements to check in a local SEO audit.

5 – Backlinks and local citations

Analyzing your website’s popularity is revealing. By analyzing your external links (backlinks), we can determine your “authority” in the eyes of Google and your popularity among Internet users. Citations, meanwhile, indicate how your business is mentioned.

Mentions typically refer to a business’s physical location. They can come from other search engines, such as Bing, or from GPS signals such as Apple Maps or Waze.

For example, a local quote from a store might look like this:

• Name of the store, France ;
• Telephone : 06………ou 04….

Local citations come from content on your website, local backlinks, or local directories like Yellow Pages, Foursquare, or Yelp.

Carry out a local SEO audit with a local SEO specialist

As you can see, conducting a local SEO audit remains a critical step. It takes time, but it remains an essential element in successfully implementing your local visibility strategy. Looking for an audit? Or need more information? Don’t hesitate to contact me!