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Conducting a local SEO audit. How to boost your rankings?

6 minutes of reading
Conducting a local SEO audit. How to boost your rankings?
Category SEO

Even though you may be using all of the latest local search ranking factors at your disposal, you still might not be finding success in the SERPs. This could be because there’s something your missing – and it’s an easy thing to fix if you know what to look for and what to do next. That’s where conducting an audit of your local SEO strategy comes in handy.

Contents:

What is an audit and why is it important?

An audit is an in-depth evaluation of your website, content and marketing strategy with the goal of improving rankings, local results, traffic and conversions. An audit can be conducted on individual pages or across the entire site.

Conducting an audit is important because you need to understand how search engines index your content so you know where you should focus your time, energy and resources. You also want to identify opportunities for improvement and make changes that will positively impact your rankings and ability to show up in localized searches.

Local SEO strategy

Local SEO strategy is an approach that takes into account the local element of your business. This includes the type of service you offer, your location, the location of your customers, and the quality of their experience with your company. With this information in mind, local search engine optimization can help you attract more customers by making sure they find you when they’re looking for services in your area.

In 2022, it’s predicted that 84% of all searches will be local. Why? It’s because people are looking for information about their immediate surroundings. When you’re on the go, you don’t have time to search far and wide for what you need. Instead, you want things close by-like your favorite restaurant or nearby grocery store. So make sure your website is set up properly with the right content so that when people search for these terms on Google or another search engine they find your website.

What elements are included in the audit?

SEO audit can be divided into two stages. The first one focuses on the construction of the website and its technical properties in terms of ranking factors (on-page). The second one examines its recognition in the network, creates a network of connections – links (off-page).

On-page

An on-page audit should include all of the following elements: SEO-friendly URL addres, headings and subheadings, keywords, meta tags, categories, image alt text, internal linking, safety certificate (SSL), sitemap, robots.txt file, HTML code validity, page load time and responsivness for mobile devices.

Off-page

Local SEO audits should include the following off-page elements: external links, reviews, citations, press releases, directories, social media. A local audit is an essential part of any marketing strategy that you may be working on because it will help you understand your company’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to your competitors.

Benefits. The more data, the better the strategy

There are so many avenues for your business to be found today that without the right data in hand you could miss out on opportunities for increased visibility. The more data you have about your business the better off your local strategy will be. Consider this, if you don’t know where your customers live, how can you decide what content is most relevant? If you haven’t done any market research and created buyer personas, who will provide value by engaging with your company online? If you’re not sure what keywords people are using when they search for your products or services then how can you optimize them in order to make them easier to find? You want as much information as possible before starting a new project because one false move could leave your campaign down the wrong path.

Local optimization and Google ranking factors

Local SEO is an important part of your marketing strategy. Conducting a local audit can help you identify gaps in your current strategy, and increase your rankings. There are many factors that contribute to Google ranking. Some of the most important factors include the following: keyword usage, structure, relevance, optimization, citations, backlinks, content quantity, quality of content and mobile-friendliness.

The most important elements to be checked during a local audit

Analyze your competition

To make sure you’re on the right track, analyze your competition. Who are they targeting? What keywords are they using? Are their rankings better than yours? This will help you get an idea of what’s working for them, so you can emulate that success with your own site.

Check your website address

A website address is the first element to check when conducting an audit. It’s important to make sure your website address is easy to find, that it matches your business name, and is consistent with other platforms where you’re working to promote your business. Make sure that if your site has moved, it redirects visitors to the new site location.

Check your location settings for each social network account

It’s important for your business to be found locally, which means you need to have your location settings set up correctly for each social network account. This will ensure that people in your area are able to see where your office is located, get directions from Google Maps, and find your contact information.

Use Schema Data

It’s rich snippets that are included in the source code of your website in order to provide search engines with rich information about your company. Schema data, when used correctly, can help you rank higher in the SERPs for relevant keywords and bring more traffic to your site. It also helps Google understand what you offer more easily which can lead to increased rankings.

Make sure your Google My Business data is accurate

It’s important that your Google My Business data is accurate. With just one incorrect or incomplete listing, you could be missing out on potential customers. A complete and accurate GMB profile can also help people find you in the search results if they’re looking for a business like yours nearby.

Update listings if needed

If you don’t have enough citations, or any citations for that matter, then the first step is to identify which citation sources are the best ones for your industry. Once you’ve identified those sources, it’s time to start listing your business on them. Start with Google My Business.

Mobile search results

If you’re not optimizing your site for mobile search, then you might be missing out on huge opportunities. A recent study from Google showed that 44% of searches are done on mobile devices. What this means is that an incredible amount of people are searching for local businesses on their smartphones.

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Summary

Local SEO is an important element of any digital marketing campaign, but it often gets overlooked because people don’t realize how much impact it has on the success or failure of their business. If you’re looking for a way to get found locally, now that you have all the information about what is needed for an audit – we hope this post was helpful in guiding you through the process. It’s never too late to start making changes!

Aleksandra Pietrzak
Copywriter
Curator at the National Museum in Poznań, graduate of Art History at the Jagiellonian University and Contemporary Art at the Pedagogical University of Krakow, curator of exhibitions and author of scientific and popular texts. A lover of contemporary art, literature and travel.
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