How to Do Local SEO Audit the Right Way?

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Audit your local SEO like a pro. It is the best way to extract impeccable results through your local SEO strategy.
An SEO audit gives you a comprehensive insight into your SEO campaign. It covers the areas that are performing well and aspects that require improvements.
For instance, a proper SEO audit will let you know if the keywords you are using are relevant or not. Also, it will determine the quality of the content you post on your website.
It also gives you an idea about:
a) How responsive your mobile-friendly website is, and b) How your Google My Business (GMB) listing performs
Take corrective measures to improve the weak aspects of your SEO strategy. Also, check the areas that are already performing well.
You can further polish those for best-in-class SEO outcomes.
As a result, a state-of-the-art SEO audit strategy will help you improve your search engine rankings. Also, it will accelerate your website’s traffic organically.
Simply put, a local SEO audit can work wonders.

• It boosts your local SEO campaign’s effectiveness.
• It helps you steer clear of errors present on your website.
• It gives you a proper picture of the current position of your website.
• It will help you have the edge over your competitors.

You must consider doing the following things on your website. You should do this before you begin with your website’s SEO audit.

• Make sure you have optimized the title tag of the website’s homepage properly. You must include information such as your business’s location and brand name along with relevant keywords.
• Update your website’s contact page with all the critical information. You should include your business’s phone number and email address.
• Ensure the content on your website’s homepage is unique and not plagiarized.
• Connect and optimize your website with your social media channels.
• Work towards having a proper blog for your website.
  
• Make it a point to keep your name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistent throughout your website. Also, ensure that you optimize those for schema markup.

Steps to Get Started with Your Local SEO Audit

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Let’s take a look at various aspects of SEO strategy.
You need to do an audit to carry out your SEO campaign seamlessly.

1. Begin with Auditing Your GMB Page

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The first step is to analyze your GMB page. You can analyze by adopting the following steps:

1.1. Identify GMB Page’s Location

It is important to find out and record your GMB page’s URL. You can do so by logging in to your dashboard. The URL is present on the back end of the dashboard.

1.2. Delete Duplicate Pages

You also need to steer clear of any duplicate listing of your website.
You can find duplicate Google pages of your business by logging in to your Google account.
Visit http://www.google.com/mapmaker
This page will give you an overview of the multiple listings that exist in your business’s name.
Once you identify the duplicate pages, record their URL, and delete them.

1.3. Identify Local Listing Penalization

Ensure that your local listing is not penalized.
Remember, Google wouldn’t notify you of local penalties.
However, you can identify the penalties easily.

• Searching your business’s specific keyword on Google maps and Google Search results.
  For instance, Suppose your keyword is “New York gym trainer.”
  Then, you can search it on Google maps or Google search results.
• Try to find your business in Google maps.
  Can you locate it during a normal Google search?
• If you can locate it, then you are good.
• If not, then chances are your business’s page is penalized. You can get the penalty removed with the help of a Local SEO expert.

1.4. Ensure That Your GMB Page Has an Email Address Registered with Your Business’s Domain Name

Having an email address with your business’s domain name confirms that you own your business. It gives recognition and credibility to your company.
For instance, Let’s assume you own a digital marketing company with the name “Haitna.”
Then you should get its email address registered as [email protected] instead of registering it as [email protected].

1.5. Check Your Page Verification

You can leverage your business listing to the fullest by verifying your GMB page.
You can check the verification of your page by logging into your website’s dashboard. If the page isn’t verified, you can get it verified through your phone number or postcard.

1.6. Make Sure Your Business’s Name is Correct

It is important to use your actual business name on your GMB page. Simply put, your business’s name should be the same as it is in your physical or offline store.
You can also add a single sentence description depicting what services/products your business offers.
Avoid adding unnecessary keywords in the description. Overstuffing keywords might get you penalized for spamming the search results.

1.7. Ensure Correct Address Usage

Your business’s official address should be accurate and complete. It should sync with the US Post Office but should also be accurate and complete.
Make it a point to add only the information that is part of your official address. Do not add irrelevant information such as PO boxes and names of cross streets.

1.8. Use of Right Phone Number

Make it a point to include your business’s official phone number. Add it with your local area code on the GMB page.

1.9. Get Your Categories Right

Categorize your business in a way that describes what it is all about. You can do so by closely representing your significant keyword in your primary category.
For instance, Suppose you have a restaurant that serves Italian dishes exclusively. Then, you should categorize it as an “Italian restaurant.”

1.10. Add a Public Email Address

It is important to have a public email address for your business. It will help your customers contact you easily. As mentioned already, your email address should have your business’s domain name.

1.11. Work on Introduction Description

Having a proper description of your business can help you level up your SEO audit strategy.
Ensure that you create unique content for your introduction to tell your customers what your business is all about.

1.12. Complete Your Profile

You should properly fill your business’s profile and 100% complete. Also, determine if it’s complete or not.
You can do it by checking the profile marker present at the top of the GMB page’s dashboard.

1.13. Provide Quality Photos of Your Business

The photos you upload on your GMB page gives a visual representation of your business. Hence, make sure to upload high resolution and good quality professional photos of your business.

1.14. Fill Correct Business Hours

It is also important to fill the business hours accurately per your company’s location.

2. Go with Website and Landing Page Audit

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A properly optimized website and landing page can help you stay ahead of your competition. The reason is that the organic signals are now more in sync with the local algorithm.

Relevant : Local Search Ranking Factors

Work on proper optimization of your website and landing page. You can do it by auditing the following aspects:

2.1. Work on Correction of Crawlable NAP

It is important to have a consistent and proper NAP to keep your business information relevant and accurate throughout. Simply put, the NAP on your landing page should match the NAP present on your GMB profile.

2.2. Include Business Hours

Suppose a prospective customer finds your business through organic search results or your GMB profile.

Then, the chances are they look for your working days and business hours too.
Therefore, make sure to include them on your landing page. Also, keep it consistent with your GMB profile.

2.3. Incorporate Relevant Landing Page Content

Good content paves avenues for a great customer experience. Remember, landing pages usually are the first point of contact between you and your customers.
High-quality landing page content can help you provide your customers with a good first impression of your business. It helps you in promoting a new product/service and driving more sales.
Also, the content should be 100% unique.
You can check your content’s uniqueness online. You can do it by copy-pasting a few lines on Google. Or you can also use online tools like Copyscape and Plagiarism Checker.

2.4. Work on Indexing Your Landing Page

If your landing page URL isn’t visible while doing a Google search, it is not indexed.
You can get your landing page indexed by posting regular, relevant, unique, and updated content.

2.5. Include Meta Title Tag for Your Landing Page

Include a landing page title. It is another important aspect of a website and landing page audit. It will help you optimize your page properly.
For proper local SEO, a good meta title should include:

• Your business’s name
• Location
• City &
• Relevant keywords

2.6. Have a Proper Meta Description

A meta description is a short snippet ranging between 120-160 characters underneath the search results’ meta title.
You can check the length of your meta description by pasting it in the SERP preview tool.
Further, just like the meta title, the meta description should also include:

• Your business’s name
• City
• Location, and
• Local phone number

Simply put, your meta description should include relevant keywords. Also, the meta description content should communicate the advantages of your business to your prospective customers.
In other words, the meta description should entice your customers to click on your hyperlink when it appears in the search engine. Thereby it helps them to reach your website or landing page.
It will also help you increase your click-through rates considerably.

2.7. Include Heading Tags

You can go for seamless SEO by including H1 HTML tags on your landing page.
You can use H1 tags for writing the title of a page or an article. It is a critical element of local SEO.
The H1 tags assist search engines in deciphering the content of your website or landing page. It also helps the customers instantly understand what your website or landing page is all about.
Make sure to include only one H1 tag with your city and state mentioned in it.

2.8. Work Towards Having an Embedded Map along with Driving Directions

Prospective customers always look for your business online. So, Incorporate proper driving directions in your landing page. It helps them to reach your business’s physical location right away.
You can also add textual directions. Or include an embedded map with the landmark pictures of your business.
Search for your business on Google Maps. There you can find out the embedded code of your business.

2.9. Incorporate Customer Reviews on Your Landing Page

Include client reviews on your landing page.
It is advisable to put the reviews in the Review tag. It is structured data that helps Google understand the type of content you post.

• It increases the credibility of your business.
• It gives Google a precise idea that you have posted reviews on your website. Thereby it classifies them as the client testimonial.
• It increases customer confidence in your brand.
• It accelerates your click-through rates by displaying review stars in the search results.

2.10. Have ALT Text on the Images in Your Landing Page

The images present on your landing page should have ALT tags.
Is the image related to your business’s location?
Then, the ALT text should include the city and state in which your business is located.

2.11. Work on Landing Page Load Time

A good website should load instantly. Neither Google nor your customers will appreciate a slow loading website.
You can measure the speed of your website through Google PageSpeed Insights.
Find the home page’s load time and the other pages associated with your website. Apart from your landing page, it is also important to them.

2.12. Steer Clear of Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is the unnecessary filling or stuffing of a webpage by a company with a keyword.
They increase that keyword’s rank in the search engine and boost the business’s visibility.
For instance, Suppose you have a gym in New York and are trying to rank for the keyword: “best gym in New York.”
Then the keyword stuffing would go something like this:
“Your search for the best gym in New York ends here. We have the best gym in New York that can level up your health instantly.
With state-of-the-art exercise equipment and a proper diet plan, we strive to provide you with the best gym in New York experience”.
In the example mentioned above, the keyword comes thrice and looks overstuffed.
You should avoid such an unnatural flow of keywords. It will give your customers a bad user experience. Also, it increases your chances of incurring a Google penalty.
Therefore, you should include your primary keyword once or twice in your content.

2.13. Make Your Landing Page Easy to Read

It is important to have a crawlable landing page. Simply put, your landing page should not be made entirely of flash.
The landing page should also consist of crawlable text. It will help the search engine find your page easily.

2.14. Have Mobile-Friendly Website

You must use a responsive design for your landing page. A mobile-friendly website has increased visibility in search engine results.
No wonder 76% of consumers who search for a nearby product/service through their smartphone visit a company within a day! 28% of these searches result in purchases.

2.15. Leverage Google and Bing Webmaster Tools

You must ensure the proper configuration of your website on Google and Bing Webmaster tools.
These tools will give a precise insight into your site’s indexing, penalization, crawl errors, and more.

3. Make Way for Analysis of Citation Links

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Citation is all about listing your business’s NAP the right way. It can enhance your local SEO strategy in a great way.
In other words, a seamless citation profile can help improve your search engine as well as client experience.
A citation audit helps you analyze your citation links.

• It helps you find out if your business is properly listed or not.
• It gives you an idea about the duplicate pages.
• It let you know if your business information is 100% relevant and correct or not.

Here’s how you can carry your citation audit smoothly:

3.1. Analyze Data Aggregators

Data aggregators are organizations that collect information about various businesses.
They further pass the collected information to other relevant sources such as mobiles, maps, citation sources, business directories, and more.
It is imperative to analyze the data aggregators about your business. Ensure that your company is listed correctly on the important data aggregators.

3.2. Find Out Top 50 Citations

Find the top 50 citations related to your industry. Add your details correctly and ensure that there no duplicates in it.
You should also make sure all the citations are filled. It can work wonders in improving the customer experience.

3.3. Get Hold of New and High-End Citation Sources

Apart from the top 50 citation resources, you must find more relevant citation resources based on your industry.
You can also find out websites related to your industry niche.
For instance, if you own a restaurant, you can find new citation sources in Yelp.com, OpenTable.com, and TripAdvisor.com.

4. Take a Look at Organic Links and Penalty Analysis

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You should earn the links you get through the great content you create and news mentions you receive. You must know that Google considers only high authority links and can penalize you for posting spammy links.
Avoid short-term and long-term penalties. You can do it by carrying out a link analysis of your website through the following ways:

4.1. Avoid Manual Web Spam Action

A penalty from Google can lead to the deindexing of your website. Google can also hide some of your pages from your customer.
Check if you have any manual webspam action.
Click on the manual action tab present in the Google search console.
If you find nothing on the tool, stay assured that you have incurred no penalties. However, in case you find any penalties, get it fixed as soon as possible.

4.2. Analyze for Algorithmic Penalties

Do you want to make sure that your local SEO strategy is successful?
Then, it is important to find out whether there are algorithmic penalties on your website or not.
Is there any drastic drop in your organic traffic in Google Analytics?
Then it is a sign that there is some issue with your website.

4.3. Find Out the Number of Site and Page Links Available

You should remove low-quality and spammy links from your website and landing page.
Low-quality links are such links created or bought to manipulate the search engine ranking of a website.
Businesses often extract these links through low-quality articles and web directories. Spam comments and poorly written guest posts can also be the main source of low-quality links.
Having a lot of such links can lead to severe penalties from Google. You can reference Google’s list of link schemes that can impact your search engine ranking negatively.

4.4. Check for Anchor Text of Links

Analyze the anchor text of the links present on your website. It is a critical aspect to check while analyzing backlinks.
Anchor text is the highlighted text that appears on the hyperlink. It can serve as an important part of your local SEO strategy.
Therefore, proper distribution of anchor text is necessary. It should look natural and feasible.

4.5. Find Out the Velocity of Link

By now, you must have understood that being natural is the key to a successful local SEO campaign.
Hence, the link’s velocity, I.e., the number of links you add, should have a natural flow.
Don’t add links just for the sake of increasing your rank in the search engine. It is better to earn links and avoid penalties arising out of low quality and spammy links.

5. Work on Review Analysis

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Reviews can help you pave new avenues of success for your business.
You need to have good reviews to convert your prospects into your loyal customers. Apart from ranking on the top of the search engine, it is also a crucial aspect.
Following are the factors you need to keep in mind while analyzing your reviews:
(i) Strive for Positive Reviews

The reviews your clients’ post on your website should show your business in a positive light.
It will enhance your consumer’s confidence in your business. Also, it will make you a trustworthy brand in the eyes of Google.
(ii) Ensure the Reviews are Unique
The reviews you receive on each of the websites you use should be unique and original.
Replicating the same reviews everywhere is not going to help you in the long run. You must know that Google removes such reviews from a company’s profile that are not in sync with its review policies.
A law firm that garnered reviews by incentivizing its customers faced a penalty by Google.
Google removed its reviews after someone reported the issue in the Google My Business forum.
Google encourages businesses to ask for relevant reviews from customers.
(iii) Try Getting Reviews from Influential Users
While every review counts, the testimonials and feedback from influential users can increase your business’s brand value to an altogether new level.
For instance, the review website Yelp recognizes its certain users who post regular reviews as power users.
Hence, getting reviews from such users can certainly give you an edge over your competitors.
Now, let’s see how you can audit your reviews minutely.

5.1. Analyze GMB Reviews

As already mentioned, reviews can work wonders in increasing your customer’s confidence. However, it is important to ensure that the reviews posted are natural, genuine, and legitimate.
You can check the review guidelines provided by Google and ask your clients to leave feedback for you accordingly.
Have more than ten reviews with a 4-star rating. It can help you create a positive image of your business amidst your customer base.

5.2. Find Out Top-Notch Third-Party Review Websites

Different review websites generate different traffic.
You can find out your website’s referral traffic by taking a look at Google Analytics. It will give you an overview of the sites that are providing you with the highest referral traffic.
You can then connect with such websites and get your reviews posted there. It will help you increase your business ratings.
For instance, if you own a legal firm, you can get your reviews posted on the popular attorney review website Avvo.com.
Similarly, restaurants can get their reviews posted on third-party review websites such as Hotels.com.

6. Incorporate Social Analysis

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Social media can play a great role in boosting your local SEO strategy.
There are many ways to spruce up your local SEO game through social media channels.

• You can use video sharing sites like YouTube, or
• You can leverage Facebook with content geo-tagging

Just steer clear of any duplicate content. And ensure that each of your social media channels offers a unique user experience.
Let’s see the list of aspects that you need to analyze for your social media audit:

6.1. Work on Facebook Analysis

Your business should have an official Facebook page. It will help you engage with your customers. Also, it generates likes, comments, and shares through your Facebook posts and stories.
It is important to ensure that the Facebook NAP is consistent and correct. So, do this before you begin connecting with your customers.

• You should also use high quality and relevant images for profile and cover photos.
• Post regularly.
• Include check-in options for customers.
• Link your page to your website.

These are good ways to increase customer engagement through Facebook.

6.2. Get Hold of Foursquare

Foursquare has a check-in function with the name Swarm.
Your business’s presence on Foursquare can bring it to the Foursquare users’ eyes. It enables them to check-in your business.
All you need to do is make sure that your Foursquare and Swarm profiles match your genuine and updated business information. Just check the steps mentioned in the Facebook audit criteria above.

6.3. Audit Google Plus

Google Plus can help your business reach the right customers at the right time. It associates your business with the relevant groups and circles related to your network.
You can also post regularly on Google Plus and share important business messages with your customer base.

6.4. Make Way for YouTube Audit

Add high-quality videos related to your business on YouTube. It can help you increase your client base tremendously.
YouTube can take your business to an altogether new level. It enables you to provide NAP descriptions on your YouTube videos. Also, it let you link your landing page to the video description.
You can also geo-tag your YouTube content for better customer reach.

7. Include Competition Analysis

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Extensive competition analysis can give you an idea about how your competitors are performing. It also helps you get some cues from their successful strategies and take some inspiration.
Let’s take a look at various aspects of competition analysis:

7.1. Identify Your Competitors

The first step is to figure out who your competitors are.
Search for the keyword you want to rank for in Google. It is an easy way of finding out your competitors.

7.2. Analyze the Competitors

First, recognize your competitors. Then, you can go ahead and do a comparative analysis of the various metrics such as:

• Domain authority
• Page authority
• Links from the root domain
• Number of unique domain links
• Number of detected citations

This information will help you create a strategy that can beat your competition.

8. Work on Ongoing Strategy

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By now, you must have audited your local SEO strategy completely.
You can now easily identify the areas having issues and take corrective measures to solve them.
Resolve the current problems. However, even after resolving it, you must continuously improve your local SEO campaign.
Simply put, you should strive towards continuous improvement of the following aspects:

• Make it a point to earn strong links organically.
• Work towards creating relevant and best-in-class content for your website and landing page.
• Put your efforts towards earning good and genuine reviews.

Wrap Up

A local SEO audit can serve as your gateway to a successful SEO campaign.

• It provides you with proper insight regarding your SEO performance.
• It gives you room for further improvement.

So, follow the steps mentioned above. And you will be good to go with an impeccable local SEO audit.
Save your time and focus on your business. Let our SEO experts take care of the local SEO audit for your website. Drop your details here.