- Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence. You can influence the first and last.
- Your primary category is the single most important setting in your Business Profile.
- Your business name, address and phone number should match exactly everywhere they appear.
- Steady, recent reviews with replies do more than a burst of reviews once a year.
When you need a local SEO audit
A local SEO audit checks everything that decides whether you appear when someone searches for your service in your area: the map results, the local pack (the three listings with a map at the top of many searches), and your Business Profile panel.
It matters most if:
- customers search for what you do with a place name or "near me"
- Google shows map results for your main services
- you have a physical location customers visit, or you serve a defined area
- competitors appear in the map results and you don't
That includes many care providers, schools, training providers, law firms, trades suppliers and IT support firms serving a region. If your customers are national and never search locally, focus on our website audit instead.
How Google ranks local results
Google's own help centre says local results are based mainly on three things:
- Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone searched for.
- Distance: how far you are from the searcher, or the location in their search.
- Prominence: how well known your business is, based on information from across the web, including links, articles, directories, and review count and rating. Google also says your position in web results counts.
You can't move your premises, but every other check in this audit improves relevance or prominence.
Step 1: Audit your Google Business Profile
Open your profile while signed in, and go through each section.
| Check | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Ownership and verification | Verified, owned by a business account, with at least two people as owners or managers |
| Business name | Your real-world name, exactly as on your signage, with no added keywords or locations |
| Primary category | The most specific category for your main service |
| Additional categories | Only those that genuinely describe other services you offer |
| Address or service area | Accurate; service-area businesses hide the address and list the areas they serve |
| Phone and website | Correct; website link goes to the most relevant page |
| Hours | Accurate, including holiday hours |
| Services and description | Services listed; description says what you do and who for, without keyword stuffing |
| Photos | Recent, real photos of premises, team and work |
| Updates | Posts or updates in the last few months |
Two things cause most problems:
- The wrong primary category. Check what category your top-ranking competitors use; search their name and look under it on their profile.
- Keywords added to the business name. It's against Google's guidelines, and it can lead to suspension. If you've been suspended, see our guide to a suspended Google Business Profile.
Our guide to setting up your Google Business Profile covers each section in detail.
Step 2: Audit your reviews
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Number of reviews compared with competitors | Review count is part of prominence |
| Average rating | Affects whether people click |
| How recent the latest reviews are | Old reviews suggest an inactive business |
| Replies to reviews, positive and negative | Shows you're active and responsive |
| Any fake or policy-breaking reviews | Can be reported to Google |
If reviews are thin or old, the fix is a routine: ask every customer at the right moment with a direct link. See our guide to the Google review link. For negative reviews, see how to remove or respond to a negative Google review.
Step 3: Check your NAP consistency and local citations
NAP means name, address and phone number. Local citations are mentions of those details on other sites: directories, trade bodies, maps apps, social profiles and review sites.
- Write down your exact NAP as it appears on your Business Profile.
- Search for your business name and your phone number in Google, and note every listing that appears.
- Check each one for an old address, old phone number or different business name.
- Fix or claim the wrong ones. Old listings from a previous address are common after a move.
- Add missing listings on the main directories and the trade bodies in your sector. See free business directories.
Consistency matters more than volume. A dozen accurate, relevant listings beat a hundred low-quality ones.
Step 4: Audit your website's local signals
Your website feeds the "relevance" and "prominence" signals too.
- NAP on the site: in the footer or on the contact page, matching your profile exactly.
- A page for each main service, so Google can match your profile to specific searches.
- Location pages, if you serve several areas: each one genuinely useful (who you serve there, local projects, team, directions, local reviews). Avoid near-identical pages with only the place name changed; Google's spam policies treat those as doorway pages.
- An embedded map and directions on the contact page, if customers visit.
- LocalBusiness structured data with your name, address, phone and hours, matching the profile.
- Mobile experience: most local searches happen on phones, so check the mobile experience of your key pages.
Step 5: Compare yourself with local competitors
Search for your main services in your area from a phone (or set your browser's location). For the businesses in the local pack, note:
- their primary category
- their review count, rating and how recently they've had reviews
- whether they reply to reviews
- photos and recent updates
- the page their profile links to
The difference is usually visible. Our guide to website competitor analysis has a template you can adapt.
Step 6: Turn findings into a fix list
| Priority | Typical fixes |
|---|---|
| Do this week | Correct the primary category; fix wrong hours, phone or address; remove keywords from the name |
| This month | Start a review request routine; reply to every review; correct wrong citations |
| This quarter | Build or improve service and location pages; add structured data; add missing directory listings |
| Ongoing | Monthly photos and updates; a steady flow of reviews; check listings after any move or rebrand |
Questions
How do I do a local SEO audit?
Check your Google Business Profile section by section, review your reviews, check that your name, address and phone number match across directories, audit your website's local pages and signals, and compare all of it with the businesses in the local pack.
What is a Google Business Profile audit?
A check of every part of your profile: verification, name, categories, address or service area, contact details, hours, services, description, photos and updates, plus your reviews and how you reply to them.
What are local citations?
Mentions of your business name, address and phone number on other websites, such as directories, trade bodies, maps apps and review sites. Accurate, consistent citations help Google trust your business details.
Why is my business not showing in the map results?
Common reasons are an unverified or suspended profile, the wrong primary category, being far from where people search, few or old reviews, and inconsistent details across the web. See our guide to getting your business on Google Maps.
How often should I do a local SEO audit?
A full audit once or twice a year, and a quick monthly check of your profile, reviews and hours. Always re-check after moving premises, changing your phone number or rebranding.
Every guide is checked against the platform it describes before it’s published, and re-checked when the platform changes.