How to Perform a Local SEO Audit Like a Pro!

Most local businesses don’t need more SEO advice. They need to know why the phone isn’t ringing.

A local SEO audit gives you that clarity. It uncovers the small, invisible issues—wrong business hours, broken location pages, bad reviews you forgot to reply to—that quietly kill your rankings in Google Search and Maps.

If you’re tired of guessing what’s wrong, this blog breaks it down step by step, with real examples, tools that don’t need a PhD to use, and tips that actually work in 2025.

What is a local SEO audit?

A local SEO audit gives you a complete analysis of your business’s organic visibility in search engine results pages, with a focus on local search performance. 

Local SEO audits differ from generic site audits because they focus on location-specific elements. They check NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) consistency on all platforms, analyze your Google Business Profile engagement metrics, and review your customer feedback strategy.

This type of website audit examines all elements that contribute to your local search rankings and identifies both weak points and opportunities in your strategy.

Your local search visibility depends on three key areas that an audit will analyze:

• Your Google Business Profile: The accuracy and completeness of your business listing that appears in Google Maps and local search results.
• Your website: On-page SEO factors that affect local rankings.
• Your online listings and citations: Mentions of your business across the web.

Many small businesses struggle with visibility because they don’t know what’s holding them back. Without an audit, you might be losing rankings without understanding why.

The local SEO algorithm has three main pillars that need assessment:

• Proximity: How close your business is to the searcher
• Prominence: Your brand’s online reputation (based on backlinks, mentions, reviews, citations)
• Relevance: Your business’s match with the search terms being used

A good local SEO audit shows exactly how well you perform in local searches and provides applicable information to improve. 

The improvements often involve fixing business information inconsistencies, solving technical website problems, better review management, and building a stronger backlink profile than competitors.

Why is a local SEO audit important?

A local SEO audit is crucial because it helps identify issues that prevent your business from appearing in local search results. It reveals gaps in your online presence, such as inconsistent business information, unoptimized location pages, missing reviews, or weak keyword targeting.

Regular local SEO audits ensure that:

• Your business appears in the local map pack for relevant searches.
• NAP (Name, Address, Phone) data is consistent across all platforms.
• Website pages are optimized for local keywords and user search intent.
• Technical issues like crawl errors, page speed, or mobile usability are detected. 
• Local backlinks and citations are accurate and up-to-date.
• You stay competitive against other businesses targeting the same area. 

Without a local SEO audit, it’s difficult to know why your rankings are dropping or why local customers aren’t finding your business online. 

Businesses with multiple locations need more complex audits. 

Each location needs its own assessment to show up better in different geographical areas. The good news is that businesses of all sizes can run effective local SEO audits and improve their local search visibility.

How to do a local SEO audit in 8 simple steps

1. Start with your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) serves as the foundation of your local online presence. With 46% of all Google searches seeking information with a local intent, optimizing this profile should be your first priority in any local SEO audit.

Start by checking for accuracy in name, address, and phone number (NAP). 

Incorrect or inconsistent information can significantly damage your visibility and credibility. In fact, businesses with complete and accurate NAP information are easier to match with the right searches.

Remember that if you change your address after getting verified, you will need to verify your business again. Phone numbers must be mobile or landline numbers, not fax numbers. 

And remember to keep your NAP details consistent across all online platforms, including your website, social profiles, and directory listings.

Also, keep an eye out for duplicate or outdated listings. 

To identify duplicates, search for your business name on Google Maps and look for slight variations in your business name, address, or phone number. If you find duplicates, you have several options:

• Claim the duplicate listing if it hasn’t been verified. After claiming it, you can request a merge by contacting Google support with evidence that both listings represent the same business.
• Use Google Maps’ “Suggest an Edit” feature to report a duplicate. This approach works well for unclaimed listings with consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information.
• Submit a Redressal Complaint form to Google with detailed evidence.

Cleaning up duplicate listings should be a priority, as it directly affects your visibility and customer trust in your local SEO efforts.

2. Conduct local keyword and SERP analysis

Keywords shape how potential customers find your business. After auditing your Google Business Profile, your next step is to analyze what terms people actually use when searching for local businesses like yours.

First, start with finding high-intent local keywords for your niche. 

High-intent keywords signal that users are ready to take action, not just browse information. For local businesses, these valuable keywords often combine services with locations or show immediate need.

Keywords generally fall into four intent categories:

• Transactional: Users ready to make a purchase. Example: “Buy hiking boots downtown San Diego” 
• Commercial: Users comparing options. Example: “Best plumber in Chicago” 
• Informational: Users seeking knowledge. Example: “How to fix a leaky faucet” 
• Navigational: Users looking for specific locations. Example: “Starbucks near Lincoln Park” 

Focus primarily on commercial and transactional keywords, as they convert at higher rates. To find these high-value terms, without manual searching, try Writesonic’s SEO AI agent. 

For example, if you have an organic soap business in the Tampa Bay area, here’s how the AI agent can help you identify local keywords, without any need for external keyword research tools:

As you can see, without any manual efforts, the tool has instantly provided a list of potential high-intent keywords you can target for your business, all without switching to a different tool. 

With real-time web insights and integrations with Ahrefs and SEMrush, you don’t have to worry about juggling multiple SEO tools and the learning curve involved.

In fact, it even went ahead by providing competitor analysis and SERP insights:

With these competitor insights, you can now conduct a keyword gap analysis. 

A competitor keyword analysis reveals terms your competitors rank for that you don’t. This “keyword gap” represents immediate opportunities to expand your visibility.

To conduct this analysis, start by identifying your top local competitors—those you already know and those appearing in search engine results pages (SERPs) for your target keywords. 

Again, Writesonic’s all-in-one AI agent is a great way to automate this process, as this can be quite time-consuming and complex for beginners in SEO. 

Instead of manually identifying which keywords you and your competitors already rank for, just ask Writesonic to do the heavy lifting:

Beyond just missing keywords, look for terms where competitors outrank you. These existing pages likely need optimization rather than creating new content.

Regular keyword audits should become part of your ongoing local SEO maintenance, as search behavior and competitor strategies constantly evolve.

💡Learn more about: 8 Ways to Use AI for Keyword Research [+Tools & Prompts]

3. Evaluate on-page local optimization

Proper on-page optimization for local search often makes the difference between visibility and invisibility in your target market. 

Once you’ve researched keywords, you need to place them strategically throughout your website’s elements, such as headers, meta titles, descriptions, and landing page content. 

Title tags remain one of the strongest ranking signals for local search. To maximize their effectiveness:

• Keep titles under 55-60 characters to prevent them from being truncated in search results.
• Place your main location keyword near the beginning for greater impact.
• Include your brand name, typically after your primary keywords.
• Create unique titles for each page to target different service-location combinations..

For meta descriptions, though not a direct ranking factor, they significantly influence click-through rates. Your descriptions should be under 150 characters, include your location, primary service, and a clear call to action. 

Next, ensure you add city and service keywords to headers and content. 

Headers (H1, H2, etc.) containing location terms help both users and search engines quickly understand your geographic relevance. While Google doesn’t strictly enforce semantic header ordering for ranking purposes, using city names in headers clearly signals local relevance.

Include your target city or neighborhood in your H1 tag and at least one subheading. The text near these headings should naturally incorporate your location and service keywords.

4. Audit your local citations

Citations are like digital proof that your business actually exists. They’re online mentions of your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP), and they matter more than most local business owners realize.

When Google crawls the web and finds the same NAP info across multiple trusted directories — like Yelp, Foursquare, Bing Places, Apple Maps, and Yellow Pages — it starts to build confidence in your business’s legitimacy. 

That confidence directly impacts your local rankings.

But even a single mismatch in address format or phone number could dilute your authority in local search.

So what should you do?

Start by creating a master spreadsheet with your correct NAP details. Then manually check your listings across all major directories. Look for inconsistencies like:

• Different formatting (e.g., “St.” vs “Street”)
• Old phone numbers
• Multiple listings for the same location
• Misspellings or outdated names

Fixing citations manually can feel like a never-ending chore, especially if you’ve been in business for a while or recently rebranded. 

If you want a simpler option, Writesonic’s SEO AI agent can help you speed up the process by instantly scanning known directories and identifying mismatches. That means you don’t have to waste hours hopping from site to site.

As you can see, not only did the tool provide a list of the relevant directories, but it also mentioned the status of the NAP details from each source.

Clean citations not only help you rank but also reduce customer confusion and support a smoother path to purchase.

5. Assess your online reviews

Think of reviews as your business’s reputation scoreboard. And when it comes to local SEO, Google pays close attention to that score, both in volume and sentiment.

In fact, reviews are one of the top factors in local pack rankings. More specifically, Google uses three review signals:

• Quantity (how many reviews you have)
• Recency (how recent they are)
• Rating (your average star score)

So, the question is: when was the last time you actually read through your reviews?

Start by checking your reviews across:

• Google Business Profile
• Facebook
• Yelp
• Industry-specific directories and marketplaces like TripAdvisor, Avvo, SoftwareAdvice, Capterra, or Healthgrades

Now ask yourself:

• Are you actively responding to reviews, especially the negative ones?
• Do you have a steady flow of recent reviews?
• Are there recurring complaints you’ve ignored?
• Are competitors doing better than you in terms of review volume or quality?

Most businesses treat reviews as a passive channel, but this is where you can outshine them. If your responses feel robotic or defensive, rewrite them to sound more natural and human. But if you’re only replying to negative reviews and ignoring happy ones, you’re missing an easy engagement win.

If you’ve got a bunch of 3-star reviews, dig into the specifics. 

Was it slow service? Confusing pricing? That’s free market research.

Also, don’t forget about review generation. Consider adding a review request to your post-purchase emails or receipts. Even a simple “How was your experience?” with a Google review link can encourage happy customers to take action.

💡You might also like: SEO for Retail Tactics to Boost Visibility & Conversion

6. Analyze your SEO competitors

If you want to rank higher in local search, you can’t do it in a bubble. Your competitors are already out there, fighting for the same spots in the local map pack and search results. So, the smart move is to learn what’s working for them and outdo it through a comprehensive competitive analysis.

Start by identifying your real local SEO competitors. These aren’t just businesses you think are your rivals, but ones outranking you for your target local keywords.

To spot these competitors, run a few location-based searches related to your service (e.g., “organic food store in Brooklyn” or “emergency electrician in Austin”). 

The businesses showing up in the top 3 local map results and first page of organic listings are your actual SEO competitors.

Here’s what to evaluate:

• Which keywords are your competitors targeting
• How they structure their location pages
• Competitor content quality and update frequency
• Review count and average star rating
• Backlink profiles and referring domains of competitors

Instead of juggling between competitor analysis tools, Ahrefs, and five different browser tabs, our AI agent pulls up competitor content gaps, backlink insights, and SERP ranking data for competitors—all in one go.

Let’s say you run a dental clinic in Houston. With just a few commands, the AI agent can:

• Show you which high-intent keywords your top 3 competitors rank for that you don’t.
• Highlight which of your existing pages are underperforming and need optimization.
• Surface backlinks your competitors are getting from local blogs or directories, so you can target them too.

What makes this even more useful is how easy it is to turn insights into action. 

Once you find those missing keywords or weak spots, you can start refining your content or building new pages to close the gap, right within the same tool.

7. Get technical SEO recommendations

You could have the best content, reviews, and keywords, and still not rank if your technical SEO is a mess. That’s because Google’s crawlers don’t just look at your content or on-page SEO elements, but also at how your site actually functions. 

Broken pages, slow load times, no HTTPS? All red flags.

So if you want to rank in local search, a technical SEO audit should absolutely be part of your local SEO strategy.

Here’s what to look out for during your local SEO audit:

• Mobile friendliness: Over 60% of local searches occur on mobile devices. Your pages should load fast and look great on phones.
  
• Page speed: If your site takes longer than 3 seconds to load, you’re losing both visitors and SEO points.
  
• Indexing issues: Ensure that Google can find and index your pages. If they’re blocked by robots.txt or have a noindex tag, they’re invisible.
  
• HTTPS status: Secure sites get preference in rankings. Make sure your SSL certificate is working.
  
• Core Web Vitals. These are metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) that affect how users experience your pages.
  

Here’s the good part: you don’t need to manually check all this.

Writesonic’s Site Audit tool does the heavy lifting by scanning your entire site and flags problems across content, indexability, technical structure, page speed, and more. 

It even breaks issues down into categories like “critical,” “high,” and “low” — so you know what to fix first. Don’t have time to optimize a missing schema markup? Just click “Fix with AI.”

You don’t need to fix everything at once. But fixing the most critical technical issues can immediately improve crawlability and user experience, both of which are essential for local SEO success.

The best part? The audit tool updates your site health score over time, so you can track your improvements as you fix issues. It’s like having an SEO mechanic for your website constantly checking your engine while you focus on driving traffic.

8. Review your backlink profile

Google uses backlinks to figure out how trustworthy and prominent your website is. The more high-quality mentions you have across the web, the more confident search engines feel about ranking you above local competitors.

But not all links are created equal. If your backlink profile is full of spammy or irrelevant links, it can do more harm than good. 

Or, if your business is being mentioned in outdated directories or niche sites that no longer get traffic, you won’t get decent results. 

When reviewing your backlink profile, you’ll want to check:

• How many domains are linking to you?
• Are those domains trustworthy?
• Are these domains relevant to your niche or location?
• Are you missing links that your competitors already have?
  

Again, Writesonic’s AI agent can help by instantly analyzing your current backlink profile, flagging potentially toxic links, and pulling up your competitors’ backlink sources, so you know exactly who to reach out to.

For example, if you’re running a local home renovation service, the AI agent can show you that your competitors are getting links from regional lifestyle blogs or city-specific business directories. 

If you want to maintain a healthy, long-term link-building strategy, here’s a simple 3-step framework:

1. Use Chatsonic SEO AI monthly to identify new backlink opportunities and track competitor wins.
2. Run Writesonic’s site audit biweekly to track technical issues that may be dragging down your link equity.
3. Prioritize high-authority local directories to build citations that actually matter.

Done consistently, this approach makes sure you’re not just building links — you’re building authority.

FAQs

1. How to do a local SEO audit?

To perform a local SEO audit, start by verifying your Google Business Profile is accurate and complete. 

Then, analyze your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency across directories, evaluate your local keyword targeting, and review on-page SEO elements like title tags, headers, and schema markup. 

Use tools like Writesonic’s Site Audit to detect technical issues and the SEO AI agent to identify keyword gaps, citation inconsistencies, and competitive backlink opportunities—all in one place.

2. How much does a local SEO audit cost?

The cost of a local SEO audit can range from $100 to over $1,000 when outsourced to agencies. However, using Writesonic’s SEO AI agent and built-in site audit tool, businesses can run comprehensive audits internally for a fraction of the cost. 

Writesonic can simplify everything from technical checks to competitor analysis without requiring multiple subscriptions or advanced SEO expertise.

3. Are SEO audits worth it?

Yes, local SEO audits are essential for identifying the factors affecting your visibility in Google Search and Maps. 

They help uncover issues like slow site speed, missing keywords, incorrect business listings, and unoptimized content. Fixing these can significantly increase your local rankings, foot traffic, and conversions, making audits a high-ROI activity for local businesses.

4. Is local SEO still relevant?

Local SEO is more relevant than ever, especially with 46% of Google searches having local intent. Customers rely on local map packs, reviews, and proximity-based results to find nearby services. Optimizing your local presence directly impacts how often your business appears in search and how likely people are to choose you over competitors.

5. What does a local SEO audit reveal?

A local SEO audit reveals how well your business is performing in local search results. It highlights technical issues, citation errors, review gaps, weak keyword usage, poor page performance, and missed backlink opportunities. 

With Writesonic’s tools, you also get an action plan to fix these issues, helping you rank higher in your target area.

Saloni Kohli

Content Strategist

Saloni Kohli is a Content Strategist with over four years’ experience in B2B SaaS content marketing and SEO. She has shaped and executed end-to-end content strategies—ranging from editorial planning and long-form thought leadership to conversion-focused landing pages and email campaigns. At Writesonic, Saloni combines creativity with data-driven insights to elevate brand voice, drive organic growth, and maximize audience engagement.