For local SEO, the competitive analysis aims at helping your business to get found in Google Maps as well as Google Organic, when search intent is locally driven. It will form part of the initial discovery phase of your local SEO project, but it should be something you keep doing.

In this guide, we’re going to help you understand what local competitor analysis is, then cover how you can go about doing it to get ahead of your competition.

What is Local SEO Competitor Analysis?

Local competitor analysis includes all businesses that rank for your target (local) keywords in maps and organic results (including the local pack).

For local SEO, the main goal of a competitor analysis is to identify why your local competitors are ranking high in the local pack, Google Maps, and Google local organic. Then, once you’ve identified who is ranking and how, you can see how to capture those opportunities yourself.

Additionally (and simultaneously), any competitive analysis should be used for other important purposes:

• Understand your target market better, i.e. your competitors’ strong and weak points, their pricing strategies, and your potential customers’ needs. This will help you make informed decisions about product development (and positioning) as well as marketing strategies.
• Identify opportunities, i.e. gaps in your market that your competitors have not yet filled. This way you can develop new products or services giving your brand a competitive advantage.
• Stay ahead of the competition: By knowing your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, you can develop strategies to stay ahead.
• Build a stronger brand by identifying what differentiates you from your competitors. This helps develop unique selling propositions and marketing messages that will likely resonate with your customers.

How to Determine Your Local Competitors

It isn’t as simple as looking out the window at the business down the street, discovering your local competitors can take a little more effort. You shouldn’t assume you already know who your competitors are, as the businesses that compete online could be different to the ones you see on your street.

Start with Local Keyword Research

The first step to determining your local competitors is knowing your keywords. I did a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to research your local keywords, in case you need a kickstart. Those are search queries people are using to find products or services your business is selling.

Here we are going to deal with three search engine results page (SERP) sections:

• Those that rank in Google Maps for your target keywords (with or without your target location included in those key phrases)
• Those that rank in local packs that are triggered by those keywords
• Those that rank in Google Organic for location-driven keywords (i.e. those queries that do include your target location)

Once You Know What to Search, Search Google

Your first step to identifying your local competitors is searching Google using your target keywords. If you reside in your target location, Google will personalize results based on the (precise) location, so you will likely see similar results to what your target customers will.

Additionally, you can never be sure what exactly your target audience will see when searching for those keywords:

• The key ranking local ranking factor is location, i.e. proximity to a business. Local rankings (especially in Google Maps) may look slightly different even if your customer is just a few blocks away from your current location, especially if you have lots of competitors nearby.
• Your customers’ search results may be further personalized by their search history, which businesses they interacted with, their devices, etc.

Still, this is the best first step we can get, so start making a list of businesses you have found in search results with notes:

• The keyword you were searching for
• Where it is ranking: Maps, local 3-pack, or organic
• Position for each search query (in each SERP section)
• Your location (where you were searching from)
• Number of overlaps (how many times each domain came up when you were searching for different keywords across all three sections?) The more you see a specific competitor, the more attention that business deserves in your audit!

For organic competitors, to make this step easier, turn off Google’s infinite scroll and use this browser plugin for it to pull plain-text URLs of ranking pages and number search results.

Obviously, ignore directory results (like Yelp or Tripadvisor) or note them elsewhere: These are marketing opportunities rather than competitors. 

I also tend to limit my organic competitors to about 5-10 URLs per keyword. After all, local SEO is mostly about showing up on maps. Organic competitors are not that important.

It will be more obvious why we even need them in future steps.

BrightLocal’s Competitor Analysis Tools

Whether you are using third-party competitor analysis tools or not, searching Google is a useful exercise because it gives you first-hand experience of buying journeys your target customers would have. You’ll get to interact with search results the way your customers are.

Perform Kickass Competitor Analysis with BrightLocal

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BrightLocal’s Local SEO tools let you identify your local competitors using Google Business Profile Audit and compare them using a handy dashboard. BrightLocal uses your business location and type to identify the competitors which are showing up in the local pack and/or Google Maps for the search terms and search the location you’ve chosen:

It is a nice way to verify your own list you created by searching Google and expanding it by finding more competitors.

Set Up Your Competitors in BrightLocal

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Not only that but BrightLocal’s Local Search Grid offers incredible ways to perform competitor analysis.

Create Your Spreadsheet

Assuming you are using at least two data sources, your spreadsheet will include a lot of labels, and you will be scrolling back and forth to find overlapping businesses that were able to rank for multiple queries, and even show up in organic search.

To find competitors which are ranking for several keywords, sort your results by the first column. This is where you can calculate the “overlaps”, i.e. domains that show up for many keywords and in many SERP sections.

Obviously, this spreadsheet will take some time to build. I suggest starting with 3-5 keywords at most. Once you have gone through the first batch of your competitors, you will be able to run more keywords and expand your list of competitors.

Analyzing Your Local Competitors

Compare Google Business Profiles

Google Business Profiles (GBP) include more than many people think. Take some time browsing your competitors’ profiles and note anything extraordinary or worthy of attention:

• GBP optimization tactics that you are seeing
• If the local panel is claimed
• Their business description and categories (GMB Everywhere will let you see their profile categories right within Google Maps, so you can note these when adding your competitors to your spreadsheet)
• Number of customers’ reviews and an average score
• Owners’ engagements (do they reply to comments and/or Q&As?)
• Google posts your competitor is publishing. Are they promoting special deals or seasonal offers on their local profiles?
• Images and videos they have added to their profile (and how long ago they did that)
• Attributes your competitors may be using:

Look through each profile carefully and note as much as you can. Tools like GBP Audit have much of that noted for you, so you can complete your task much quicker:

Analyze on-site landing pages

On-page signals are known to contribute to local rankings but here I suggest prioritizing pages that also rank in organic search. These are definitely competitors that are doing something right

A tool like WebCEO’s SEO content assistant tool is the quickest way to compare your landing page to your competitors’ pages and identify what is missing:

Schema analysis is another useful step here. Run your competitors’ pages through the Schema validator and note in your spreadsheet if they are using local schema, and add comments if the schema looks detailed. This is useful for finding any possible correlation between higher rankings and on-page optimization tactics.

Note Conversion Funnels

This is not part of a traditional SEO audit but being able to engage and convert customers is crucial for maintaining consistent organic visibility.

Look through each competitor’s landing page noting if there’s any conversion optimization tactic to steal and experiment with:

• Is there an online chat option?
• Do they offer an instant appointment scheduling option (if so, is it linked from the Google Business Profile)?
• Do they welcome phone calls? Are there any innovative tactics they are using, like IVR or CEH?
• Do they have a FAQ section or a knowledge base? Does it rank?

There may be many more customer engagement methods your competitors are using, and you can never tell whether any of those is effective. But it is important to be aware of all of them, as many of your customers may expect certain customer support options from you based on what they experience on your competitors’ sites.

Analyzing your competitors’ technology is important to keep yours innovating as well, so record everything noteworthy to research later.

Audit Local Citations

Local citation analysis is an essential part of any competitive analysis because local citations impact rankings. Google also relies on external citations to identify if a local business is trustworthy and if there are any red flags (e.g. customer review manipulation).

You can grab your competitor’s brand name or address and search it in Google to identify their major citation sources (and rankings).

You can use tools, like Local Citation Tracker, to make this step easier by grabbing and organizing your and your competitors’ citations for your further review:

Review their Backlink Profiles

Backlinks are powerful organic search ranking factors but it is always a good idea to check how your competitors are generating backlinks and what they are doing to build links from local publications, blogs, and communities. 

Competitive backlink monitoring can help you enhance your own link-building strategy as well as build some local connections which may uncover new business opportunities for you and your brand.

SEO tools like Ahrefs and Semrush can help here. Both tools allow you to filter backlinks by a keyword in a domain or anchor text, so you can quickly find links from local publications:

Start Monitoring Your Local Competitor’s Rankings

While identifying and analyzing your local competitors can be done manually, for monitoring their positions you’ll likely need a standalone dashboard because it will hardly be possible to do manual searches on a regular basis, especially if you target more than one search query and more than a single location.

This is where BrighLocal’s local search grid will turn out to be a lifesaver. It gives you a bird’s-eye view of what searchers see in your neighborhood, town, or city and allows you to measure the share of search visibility across the map for your most important keywords:

Conclusion

Competitor analysis for local SEO takes a lot of time and effort but it can be incredibly rewarding, especially if you take time to take a thorough look at each of your competitors and record all kinds of aspects that may have moved the needle for them.

Local search is not straightforward. In many cases, you’ll find yourself wondering why Google would choose to surface some local businesses over others but a thorough analysis will let you understand more about your market than you ever thought possible. Good luck!

A strong local site is more than a vanity project. It pulls in phone calls, foot traffic, and reviews to answer real-world questions faster. When your pages load quickly, list clear contact details, and rank well in “near me” searches, prospects see you as the obvious choice.

It’s a simple way to stand out against your competitors and provide valuable information in your own voice.

You’re about to walk through seven straightforward steps, from brainstorming goals to post-launch promotion, that save time, cut costs, and boost visibility. Grab a coffee, and let’s build a site your community can’t ignore.

Why Your Local Business Needs a Website

Shoppers still love Main Street, but they start their journey on Google. Most people who perform a nearby search tend to visit a business within a day. Without a website, you won’t appear on that digital map, and every invisible hour costs real revenue.

A branded website also protects you from algorithm changes on social media platforms you don’t control. Own your content, own your customer data, and you won’t panic when a new trend tanks your organic reach.

Trust grows, too. A polished URL and professional email reassure visitors that you’re legitimate and reachable. Pair that with local reviews, and you’ll turn online browsers into in-store buyers.

What a website brings to the table:

• An always-open storefront that answers questions 24/7: Your website works around the clock, providing information even when you’re off the clock. This builds convenience for customers and captures leads at any hour.
• Direct control over messaging, pricing, and promotions: You decide how your brand appears and what offers are front and center. There is no waiting on social media algorithms or ad approval.
• Built-in trust signals like SSL certificates and structured reviews: Security features and transparent feedback show visitors you’re legitimate. These cues make people more likely to choose you over a competitor.
• Easier lead collection through forms, calls, and chat widgets: Visitors can contact you instantly without digging for information. These tools help turn interest into action.
• A foundation for advanced tactics like local keyword research and paid ads: A website gives you a place to direct traffic from SEO and ad campaigns. It also lets you test and track what’s working over time.

Despite all this, a Brightlocal survey of SMB owners and decision makers found that only 40% of SMBs said they have a dedicated website.

Step 1: Laying the Groundwork

Every winning site starts with clear goals. Do you want calls, bookings, foot traffic, or all three? Write them down and tie each to a measurable metric such as form submissions per month.

Next, study your audience. Location, pain points, and search habits matter more than age or income brackets. Use social listening, customer interviews, and Google’s “People Also Ask” box to gather language your prospects actually use.

If this is your first website, don’t let this step be a blocker. Putting a simple one-pager together is a good starting point. Planning the rest of your site using the above data can come later.

Third, audit the competition. Note design cues, service gaps, and content angles you can beat. A simple spreadsheet tracking site speed, on-page SEO, and review count of your competitors can help reveal quick wins.

Step 2: Domain, Hosting, and Platform

Your domain should match your brand name or primary service, and ideally plus the city or area (e.g., “RaleighTreeCare.com”). Keep it short, memorable, and typo-proof. It’s a good idea to secure common variations, too.

Hosting comes next. Local businesses don’t need enterprise servers, but they do need reliability. Choose a host with 99.9% uptime, free SSL, and servers on the same continent as your audience for faster load times.

As for platforms, weigh WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify against your goals. WordPress offers flexibility and plug-ins like Yoast, which is useful for SEO optimization. Squarespace provides drag-and-drop simplicity, while Shopify shines for multi-location stores and e-commerce brands with inventory.

Each offers different plus points, but there’s a big difference in costs, so you’ll need to make a decision. If you don’t need customers to pay on your site, for instance, do you need to pay for Shopify?

Your website design ties all of this together. It should reflect your brand, guide visitors to take action, and load quickly on any device. Clean layouts, consistent visuals, and mobile responsiveness are non-negotiable.

Lock these essentials in place, and your site will have a stable foundation for growth.

Step 3: Website Structure 101 (with Local SEO in Mind)

Search engines crave clarity. You need to give them a logical hierarchy that mirrors user intent. Typical local website structures start with a homepage, service pages, and a contact page, then expand into location or service-area pages where relevant.

Remember, laying it out in a clear, logical way isn’t just for the bots crawling your website. If your website is easier to use, it’s easier for someone to convert.

Once you’re set on a structure use clean, keyword-rich URLs.

For instance, “/plumbing-repairs-knoxville” beats “/page-id-12” every time. For both humans and Google’s crawlers.

Stick to a flat architecture, and aim for no more than three clicks from homepage to your deepest page, for easier crawling and less confusion.

Once you start building out a larger site, remember internal links to guide users from high-traffic content to service pages. Use descriptive anchor text like “emergency AC repair” instead of “learn more.” This signals topical relevance and helps boost engagement.

When you map your structure early, you avoid messy navigation and empower both users and crawlers.

Step 4: Get Your Homepage Right

Your homepage works like a storefront window where busy shoppers glance quickly.

Make the headline laser-focused on what you solve and where. “Same-Day Appliance Repair in Austin” tells prospects they’re in the right place.

Follow with social proof. Showcase star ratings, logos of trusted partners, and a short testimonial carousel. Keep the proof above the fold so your visitors see it without scrolling.

Next, outline your core services with iconography and bite-sized copy. Link each one to its dedicated service page for deeper detail. This helps users skim information while reinforcing keyword themes.

There are lots of free icon libraries available online, so this can be done fairly quickly. Just make sure you choose a consistent style so it doesn’t look messy and that you have chosen license-free icons—unless you’re willing to pay, of course.

A lean, purpose-driven homepage trims friction and nudges visitors toward high-value actions. If you offer a simple service, you may not need much more.

Step 5: Local SEO Basics You Shouldn’t Ignore

Local SEO centers on three pillars: relevance, proximity, and prominence.

Nail the first pillar by weaving keywords naturally into titles, meta descriptions, and headers. BrightLocal’s on-page SEO guide breaks down best practices.

Proximity signals come from NAP (name, address, phone) consistency. Use the exact same formatting across your website (in the footer, on location pages, etc.) and external sources like your Google Business Profile and local directories.

Embed a Google Map on contact pages to reinforce latitude and longitude and make it easy for users to find you.

Prominence relies on reviews and inbound links. BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey shows only 4% of consumers skip online reviews, so ask happy customers for feedback within 24 hours of purchase and showcase those testimonials across your site.

BrightLocal created a local SEO checklist with a free template to help.

Solid basics keep you visible while you tackle deeper optimization later.

Step 6: What Comes Next (Post-Launch)

Launching is only the beginning. Track performance of your website and its content with Google Analytics and Search Console. Monitor impressions, clicks, and average position to spot quick opportunities for improvements.

You’ll need to set each of these up. BrightLocal has guides on search console basics and Google Analytics 4.

Create a content calendar that targets seasonal queries and community events. Blog posts about ‘Winter HVAC tune-ups’ or ‘summer patio prep’ capture timely traffic and share potential.

Engage in local PR. Sponsor youth sports, host charity drives, and publish recaps with photos and outbound links to partners. These initiatives earn links back to your site, and importantly, goodwill in your local community—a key pillar of local marketing.

Ongoing website maintenance is key to staying competitive. It ensures your site stays fast, secure, and aligned with your business goals.

Stay proactive, and your website will remain a powerful engine for growth.

Common Mistakes That Kill Rankings and Conversions

Many local sites tank because they prioritize aesthetics over speed. Heavy image sliders bloat load times; visitors bounce after three seconds, and rankings slip. Compress your images and leverage browser caching.

Thin content is another culprit. Service pages with two paragraphs won’t outrank competitors with detailed guides, pricing tables, and FAQs.

Ignoring mobile users also hurts. Over 60% of local searches happen on phones, yet some businesses still use desktop-only pop-ups or tiny, inaccessible fonts. Use responsive design tests regularly.

Watch out for these common pitfalls that hurt your site:

• Duplicate content copied from manufacturer descriptions
• Generic stock photos that don’t reflect local reality
• Auto-playing videos that consume data plans
• Inconsistent NAP across footers and directory listings
• Keyword stuffing that reads awkwardly and highlights spammy content

Avoid these pitfalls, and your rankings and conversions will thank you.

Conclusion

Building a local business website from scratch doesn’t require deep pockets or coding wizardry. It demands clear goals, the right tools, and attention to local search signals. Start with solid groundwork, choose reliable hosting, and craft pages that speak directly to neighborhood needs.

Focus on structure and on-page basics first, because Google and busy shoppers reward clarity. Avoid common errors such as slow speed, thin content, and inconsistent NAP that drag down results. If you do slip, fix issues fast and treat every update as a chance to learn.

Finally, remember that launch day isn’t the finish line. It’s a milestone. Commit to ongoing content and review management, and community engagement. Do that, and your website will keep driving calls, foot traffic, and loyalty long after your competitors fade from the map.

So what is local link building? 

Local link building is the practice of acquiring links from other local websites. For example; local news sites, other local businesses, local bloggers, or local directories. The key thing with a local link is that it should come from a site that is location-specific to your own area of operation.

This is where it differs from traditional SEO link building. Generally, with traditional link building, while relevance is key, you may be going after hundreds or thousands of links from huge websites, which can be a much more difficult task. The key to building local links is building relationships in your local area, which may feel like a much smaller task.

Does link building affect local SEO?

You might not be asking, “is link building still relevant to SEO”? But you may be questioning whether it’s really worth investing in building links that won’t have immediate SEO benefits.

Simply put, local link building is well worth investing time into. And that’s beyond the impact on search.

For starters, links from relevant local sources are regularly mentioned as a local ranking factor. That means that getting relevant links can improve your site’s ranking in local organic searches and your Google Business Profile in the Local Pack. As the above table shows, ‘link signals’ are one of the biggest ranking factors for the local organic results. It’s not quite so significant for the local pack, but the same study found links to still be the 4th biggest factor for the local pack.

There’s a reason tools like Local Search Grid show you how many links you have in comparison to your competitors.

Other Benefits of Local Link Building

Building awareness is an often-overlooked benefit of earning local links. When potential customers or clients begin the research and discovery phase of their journey, they are looking for answers, resources, education, data, opinions, and insights from sources they know, like, and/or trust. Earning links to your site/pages from these sources can be a remarkably effective way to get on their radar.

A link from a local chamber of commerce, for example, could replicate the impact of search visibility within that local chamber’s membership. If you’re a business looking to get in front of other businesses, having a link from a chamber of commerce page, blog post, or news article will deliver targeted, effective visibility, placing your business directly in the line of vision of other local business decision-makers. Is that not exactly what you ultimately hope to achieve by improving your local SEO?

Directories and review sites are also useful too. Here’s an example for someone looking for the best place to buy meat in Chicago:

How do I create a local backlink?

Being told to go out there and build local links can be daunting. But the truth is, there are lots of avenues to explore once you know where to look.  

Acquiring local links from business directories and review sites is really ticket-to-entry local link building for awareness. In terms of deciding which sites to prioritize, start with the directories that appear most prominently for relevant awareness search queries. These are likely to include a combination of the major citation sites (i.e. Yelp), as well as vertical-specific business listing sites (i.e. a legal directory like FindLaw).

In addition to directories, other ‘local links for awareness’ options include:

• Local blogs (contributing and commenting)
• Local news
• Local community forums

Even if the searcher isn’t ready to make a purchase now, having links from these sites reinforces brand awareness and builds confidence and trust.

It’s also worth mentioning that, while we’re focusing on actual local hypertext links here, you certainly shouldn’t ignore linkless citations.

In addition to building awareness, local link building is also an effective way to drive qualified leads. Identifying local partners who share a target audience similar to yours is a great way to generate both links and leads.

How many local links do you need?

There’s no definitive answer to this question—links are just one piece of a larger puzzle. You may regularly find sites with a handful of links outranking those with thousands. It often comes down to:

• The relevance of the website to the searcher’s needs.
• The quality of the content on that site.
• The relevance of the sites linking to them—for example, a dental practice having a few links from a dental news sites and local press could be doing better than one that only has links from lifestyle publications, for instance.
• The relevance of the link itself—why are they linking?

There’s a host of things that can make one link more impactful than another. However, in your local area, comparing how many links you have to your direct competitors can give you a good start on the number of linking domains you may need.

You can do this quickly with a Local Search Grid report.

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Nine Local Link-building Strategies

Building local links for business is also about “getting out there” in your local community. It’s been said that the best links tend to grow from building great relationships.

1. Find Local Sponsorship Opportunities

Local sponsorships are a good example. Use links from a sponsorship page to drive leads for a specific offer that is highly relevant to the audience of the sponsored group, organization, or team. Think local sports shops sponsoring local youth sports teams and offering team-specific discounts, for example. 

Not sure how to go about finding sponsorship opportunities? NiftyMarketing’s Mike Ramsey suggests performing custom searches to identify potential sponsorship requests in the target area:

You can also find local sponsorship opportunities by using custom searches like:

inurl:sponsors “City name”
intitle:sponsors “City name”
intext:sponsors “City name”

2. Get Involved with Local Events

Finding popular existing local events can provide all sorts of opportunities. Where does your local community congregate? Where are these events published online? In many cases, local government sites get involved in promoting these events, along with local Facebook Groups. These are fantastic opportunities to earn links that also generate leads. Look for event sites that have a track record of linking back to partners and contributors.

Greg Gifford suggests local meetups

Chief Operating Officer at SearchLab Digital

Local meetups are super easy too. Do some research to find local groups with regular monthly meetings, meetup.com is a great tool for this one. If you’ve got a conference room, or a lounge area, that you can let someone use, you can offer it to that group.

So for instance, let’s say that group meets on the first Monday of every month at 7pm and you offer to let them use your conference room. You get a killer local link from the group’s website.

Or, if you don’t have space to let someone use. Look for meetups that are looking for regular sponsors.”

Get more of Greg’s tips in his local link-building BrightLocal Academy course.

3. Consider Offering Scholarships

Scholarships also remain a really effective link building tactic. Consider offering local scholarships to students who might also be customers. Going back to the sports shop analogy, offer a scholarship to a local student-athlete who excels both on the field, as well as in the classroom. You might be surprised just how effective this can be for generating goodwill, building brand awareness, and building local links.  

4. Look at Local Community Sites

Community sites such as local jobs boards, local not-for-profit sites, community groups, community radio stations, TV channels and newspapers, food banks, churches, and similar are additional sources of local links. 

You could consider donating your expertise to a cause, providing a helpful resource, writing a news article to share with local media, holding a community open day, or even offering to host a fundraiser in your space. 

Many community organizations welcome local business participation and in turn, you’ll obtain a local link and raise your brand visibility amongst local community members. 

5. Support Your Local Charities

Local charities faced an uphill struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic with a drop in funding and donations and an increase in people needing to access their services. This isn’t a situation that looks likely to change anytime soon, making their role within our communities more vital than ever. 

As a local business owner, you may well have an area of expertise or a resource that could make a positive impact on a local charity close to your heart. Whether that’s donating time, goods, or expertise to make a positive difference within your community, there is a clear opportunity to give back while also local link building for SEO. 

Most charities will have social media pages and a website where they share updates about donors and drives, so it’s quite feasible you could generate a local link while also making a real-world contribution. 

6. Connect with local creatives

You can use your expertise to help more than just charities. Building a reputation as someone who knows their stuff in their field can also be leveraged for local link building. 

Think about the creative scene in your town or city. Are there any local podcast hosts? Local reporters who work freelance? Local theatre groups? Each of these people may find themselves in need of local guests and local experts at one time or another. 

If you can build your profile locally, you increase your chances of being asked to appear on a future podcast episode, be interviewed by a local radio station, partner on a webinar, or host a seminar or panel discussion. 

7. Create Local Case Studies

Consider local case studies which highlight your work with other local businesses, charities, and organizations. If you’ve gone out of your way to make a difference to someone in your community, perhaps by giving them a favorable rate, helping them with an urgent problem, or by donating goods or services, consider asking them to share a case study, include your link on their site with a logo or provide a testimonial. 

8. Create an Ongoing Column with your Local Paper or News Site

Put yourself forward as a local columnist with your area’s newspaper, prominent blog, or media outlet. Typically, local media outlets are welcoming of knowledgeable contributors and they will often include a short biography of the author, sometimes with an image and link. This can also be a great way to build your local visibility as a trusted expert, a local business leader, and a subject matter expert. 

9. Apply to speak at local events

Speaking can further boost your personal and business brand and you might find that you get a link back from the event website too. Finding out what business expos and seminars going on in your area can be as simple as scouring the what’s on listing of your local venue. 

Keep an eye out for any events that fit your area of business. Expos and seminars will often require guest speakers to give talks, deliver seminars, and present keynote speeches. And you’ll often find that each speaker receives a bio on the event website along with a link, in addition to being included in the event’s marketing materials such as pre-show blog posts and local and industry news releases. 

Local links generate customers and clients. In fact, if you’ve already acquired some of the links that we discussed here, they’ve likely been helping you to win more business already. 

You can mine referral data and configure Analytics goals to capture the business impact of your local links.

Four Traditional Link-building Tactics to Help Build Local Links

Now I want to run you through a handful of tactics that apply to any business looking to build links. Remember though, the key here is to use these to build relevant links. Some of these may appear quick and easy on the surface, but might end up taking considerable time and effort.

1. Look at Your Competitor’s Links

While having the same links won’t be enough to beat your competitors, it can at least help you close the gap or get in front of the same people as them.

A tool like BrightLocal’s Local Search Grid can show you how many links you have compared to your ranking competitors for your chosen keywords, as shown in the screenshot below.

This screenshot shows that numerous businesses outrank Direct Physical Therapy. While some of them have thousands of links because they’re part of a larger network, a few of the smaller competitors only have a few more. This is where you’ll want to look.

Once you’ve found out who your local competitors really are, you can use SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to perform a link intersect. These tools let you see who your competitors are getting links from and how.

A good place to start, though, is putting the competing website into one of these tools and looking at their referring domains. I’ve done this below using Ahrefs. This is simply using the referring domains tool for a website’s URL.

If you use the referring domains, it will group all the links by domain, and you’ll be able to see which ones they have. The above example highlights a link from the local publisher ‘nymag.com’.

Then, you can work out whether it’s a link you want to try and replicate. In some cases, it could be as simple as contacting the site to ask, especially if it’s a listicle or something like that. Sometimes, you may need to do more to earn those links, though.

Remember, just because a competitor has a link, it doesn’t mean you need it. Assess the quality and relevance before trying to replicate what they’ve done.

2. Link Reclamation

These are links that you used to have, but now they go to either a dead page or the wrong page because of a redirect.

Enter your site into an SEO tool and check for links from external sources that are pointing to a 404 page. Then, get in touch and let them know the best place for them to link instead. 

3. Track Brand Mentions

There’s always a chance that people are already talking about your business and simply not linking to it.

If you’re particularly active in your local community already, or you’ve been providing comments for news stories, this is a strategy worth your time. There are a number of tools available to help you track brand mentions.

If you find a mention that isn’t linking, simply get in touch and ask if they will. Remember, some sites may have a no-link policy, so don’t be surprised if you get a ‘no’ back.

4. Content Marketing and Digital PR

One of the more time-consuming and potentially expensive tactics for building links is through content marketing and digital PR, which can also be very niche-dependent.

These go beyond simply creating content and hoping for links. Instead, they involve more strategic tactics, such as:

• Creating truly incredible and unique content that you can promote to local outlets.
• Conducting unique research using your own data or third-party data, and promote it to press in your area or niche.
• Providing expert quotes to local news outlets or bloggers when something important happens.

There’s a lot more to digital PR than what’s mentioned above, but it does take a lot of time and effort. This approach is for those committed to both building links and getting their name out there. We have a comprehensive guide to get you started.

What is Digital PR and Why Is It Important for Local Businesses?

Learn More

Dos and Don’ts of Local Link Building

Almost all local SEO experts agree that link building is effective for boosting local search rankings. Google also confirms links help improve your local ranking. 

Keep the following in mind when link building for local SEO:

• Don’t prospect local links based on proxy domain metrics (i.e. Domain Authority, Trust Flow, Toolbar PageRank, I couldn’t resist). Most of the valuable, relevant, and local links won’t get high marks on these scales.
• Don’t ignore NoFollow link opportunities. Too many link builders dismiss sites entirely that have NoFollow policies. Since 2019, Google has treated NoFollow links as ‘hints’ to help with crawling and indexing content, so considering them a waste of time is an outdated approach. 
• Don’t ignore linkless citations and mentions. Ignoring local news sites that won’t link back to you doesn’t make much sense. Those linkless mentions are important for establishing prominence and can put your local business on the radar of your target audience.

• Don’t obsess over the anchor text. Earning some keyword-rich anchors can help point Google in the right direction. But most of the time, this gets abused and creates a pattern that is more of a liability than an asset. Further, if you’re prospecting for relevance, your link will likely be surrounded by relevant keywords.
• Do prospect local links for relevance. The best local link you can get is from your competitor down the street. Needless to say, that’s a tough link to acquire. But the point remains, competitor websites are likely the most topically and geographically relevant sites you can find. Let this mantra guide your prospecting efforts. So, if you can’t get a link from a direct competitor, look for local sites that serve your target audience in a different way, such as the local chamber of commerce. 

• Do go hyper-local. Begin your prospecting research with Google Maps. Start with your business location and radiate outward to uncover more local link building opportunities (i.e., neighborhoods, blocks, and other hyper-local language).
• Do use crawlers to identify link opportunities. Many local sites have a variety of issues that present great opportunities for local link building (i.e., broken links, linking to outdated content, etc). Crawlers can also make it much easier to identify the path of least resistance for earning a link (for example they already link to pages like yours). 
• Do use competition-informed prospecting. Look for sites linking to your competitors but not to you but don’t obsess over copying competitor link profiles. Most of the links you’ll find there probably aren’t helping much. You’ll waste a lot of time and money trying to build links that won’t move the dial. 

If you’re looking for ways to boost your local website’s local pack presence, or simply set up local rank tracking, a well-organized local keyword research process is the first step towards achieving that goal.

What are keywords?

Keywords are the words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines, such as Google, to find the answers or information that they’re looking for. 

Anything searched for on a search engine, whether a single word or a phrase, is considered a keyword. For example, if you were looking to buy a new pair of trainers, you might type something like ‘women’s black trainers’.

Keywords are important because they help your website to show up when people type them into search engines.

As a business owner or agency professional, you want the keywords on your or your client’s web pages to be relevant to what people are searching for so you have a better chance of ranking higher in SERP results.

Most people have some idea of the keywords they want to rank for. But it’s impossible to know everything people search for. That’s why it pays to do some research to find more relevant keywords.

What is local keyword research?

Local keyword research is a process conducted by local businesses to find the search terms that consumers in the local area use when searching for nearby local businesses, products, and services. It helps local businesses to correctly target their SEO efforts so they are more visible to local consumers in their moment of intent.

Learnings from local keyword research can heavily impact on-page SEO, as well as how pages are organized and shaped—or what we call the ‘information architecture’. It also affects how you present your business, products, and services in your offline and online marketing materials.

However, you must follow a good process when identifying keywords. Basing your keyword selection on guesswork exposes you to the risk of using incorrect terms, having to narrow a keyword base, and failing to account for all variations of relevant search phrases.

On the other hand, when done right, local keyword research allows you to:

• Understand search behavior better. 
• Deepen your understanding of your target audience. 
• Find related markets to expand into, and/or refocus your products or services to.
• Discover more ways to attract local consumers.

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Keywords in Context

Before we begin keyword research, it’s important to cover how search has changed and the context of keyword research today.

We need to keep in mind that searcher behavior isn’t fixed, and the queries people use, the length of those queries, and the context in which the searches are made are constantly changing. Because of this, keyword research is never a ‘one-and-done’ process.

Take, for example, the explosion of mobile search. Mobile devices now account for approximately half of web traffic worldwide, and Google asserts that a third of mobile searches are related to location.

Google coined the term ‘micro-moments’ to describe when people turn to their smartphones:

• I-want-to-know moments
• I-want-to-go moments
• I-want-to-do moments
• I-want-to-buy moments

Google tells us that searches for local businesses have grown by more than 80% year over year, including searches for “near me” and “support local businesses”. And searches for “who has” + “in stock” have grown by more than 8,000% year on year!

However, we also need to understand that how people find information online is fragmenting, with more using social channels like Instagram and YouTube than ever before, and searchers using conversational AI tools like ChatGPT are on the rise, too. It’s within this context that it’s important to remember that while the keywords we’ll be discovering and honing today are based on searcher activity in Google, that’s not where the story ends. The best keyword research is ongoing, and takes in a variety of platforms aside from Google.

It also means that hanging your hat on one, short exact-match keyword like ‘pest control’ may not be advised. The rise of AI may see much longer and more complex queries become more frequent.

With all the ‘what is’ and ‘why’ out of the way, let’s get to the best process for researching local keywords.

How do you use keyword research for local SEO?

Local keyword research revolves around identifying three parts of your target search queries: your core term, the keyword modifier, and your location.

You can use keyword research tools to automate the process of building long keyword lists and gathering helpful data such as search volumes and difficulty levels. 

Many tools will also offer additional features such as associated keywords, questions people ask, and changes in search volume over time. This can help you spot emerging trends and act quickly to target newly popular keywords. 

Popular local keyword research tools include Ahrefs, SEMrush, Serpstat, Kparser, and Moz.

Here are the key steps you need for local keyword research:

1. Identify your core term
2. “Extend” your core terms with keyword modifiers
3. Add your locations
4. Organize your relevant keywords by search intent

Step 1: Identify your core term

Your core term is the ‘what’ of your business. For example,

• If you are a local hair salon, your core terms are “hairdresser”, “haircut”, “hairstylist”
• If you are a law firm, your core terms are “lawyer”, “law firm”, “attorney”

You can use your own knowledge of your niche to begin generating a list of core terms. Once you have your own list, do a Google search using some of those terms and note down any keywords that your competitors are using that aren’t already on your list. 

Step 2: “Extend” your core terms with keyword modifiers

This modifier makes your core term more specific. It also makes the keyword less competitive. For example:

• “Best hairdressers near me” 
• “Find a personal injury lawyer” (keyword modifiers are in italics).

Keyword modifiers make your overall keyword strategy more diverse. They make it easier to pinpoint less competitive terms, which can be easier to rank for.

Keyword difficulty reflects the organic competitiveness of a search query. It is usually calculated based on the assumed “power” of top-ranking domains and pages.

If you’re using a keyword research tool like Ahrefs, filter the list by keyword difficulty to find less competitive terms:

Step 3: Add your locations

The location component is the name of the towns, states, counties, and communities your business is located in. For example:

• “Best hairdresser in Albany” and 
• “Find a personal injury lawyer in NY”

There are several ways to generate appropriate location-based keywords. 

If you have Google Analytics installed on your website (or other Analytics package), this can tell you which locations are generating the most clicks to act as a starting point. 

A Google search for a specific location will then show you additional destinations and a ‘people also search for’ snippet to expand your pool.

Step 4: Organize Your Relevant Keywords by Search Intent

Search intent reflects the user’s goal behind a search query.

There are three types of search intent:

• Commercial (also referred to as transactional and high intent): This is when a user is ready to take an action such as place an order or call for services).
• Informational: This is when a user wants to learn something, research their options, or find answers to their questions.
• Navigational: This is when a user wants to go to your site (these are search phrases that contain your brand or product name).

Assigning keywords to one of these three types of intent makes it much easier to know when a keyword should be used. An information keyword, for example, may be the focus of a piece of content that shows the reader how to solve a particular problem, or answers a question.

With steps one to four completed, you now have a well-researched, relevant, and up-to-date keyword list to aid in your local SEO efforts. Keep in mind that this list should be checked and updated at regular intervals to ensure that you aren’t missing any opportunities to include new search terms within your local SEO campaign.

On-page optimization is an incredibly broad field and there are many different strategies you can deploy to help your site rank better in local search results. 

Even scratching the surface of this topic is no mean feat; this piece will cover the essentials of on-site SEO and point you in the right direction to begin optimizing your own search presence. 

What is on-page SEO and off-page SEO?

When we talk about SEO for business websites, we refer to either on-page SEO or off-page SEO. 

On-page SEO is an umbrella term that covers all the different actions that can be carried out on a website to help it perform better in search. It can be further split into technical and non-technical activities. 

Off-page SEO refers to the tactics that can be conducted away from the site itself to help improve search visibility. A familiar example of off-page SEO is link building. 

Which is an example of on-page SEO?

Because on-page SEO covers all of the things that can be done to help a website perform better in local search results, it encompasses a wide variety of different tasks. Popular examples include: 

• Developing an optimized home page, product, and category pages
• Writing informative meta tags to encourage click-throughs and make it easy for the search user to understand what a page is about
• Using structured data markup (Schema)
• Ensuring your site is mobile-friendly
• Speeding up page loading times
• Auditing your content and creating new high-quality content (E-A-T)
• Adding NAP data to relevant pages
• Writing descriptive title tags for each page featuring a relevant keyword
• Using header tags (H1, H2, etc) to break up content into manageable chunks
• Writing useful descriptions and ALT tags for images
• Creating internal links between pages on your site to help Google and search users navigate to associated information

Why is on-page SEO important?

Local consumers are increasingly committed to supporting local businesses. A Sure PayRoll survey found that 78% of shoppers prefer to shop with local businesses where possible, while research from Score suggests that 91% of Americans shop at a local business once per week, with 47% choosing a local business between two and four times weekly. 

On-page signals provide Google and other search engines with a wealth of useful data which can be used for ranking and indexing purposes.  

How does web design impact SEO?

In an ideal world, SEO for business websites begins right at the start when your web designer is looking at a blank page. There’s a reason for this: Google prioritizes sites that offer the visitor a positive user experience, load quickly, and don’t frustrate the visitor with shifting content or accessibility issues. Google calls these Core Web Vitals. 

Good web design makes it easy for both search engine crawlers and human users to navigate through your site, understand what you offer and find the information you need. Therefore, prioritizing navigability and user-friendliness at every stage of your website design process can make life much easier further down the line and ensure you don’t have to go back to the drawing board and reconfigure your site architecture in order to then move on to other on-page SEO tasks. 

Should I use a free Google Business Profile website?

It’s a given that if you own a local business, you need a website. With 78% of local consumers going online to find local business information more than once a week, you can’t afford to not have an online presence. 

While Google does offer a free website builder (accessible via Google Business Profile—formerly Google My Business), it does have its limitations and is best suited for use by those local businesses in regions where there isn’t easy access to web design resources. 

For local businesses in other areas, having a local website built, using a CMS system that allows you to make updates and control the look and feel of your site, shouldn’t be out of budget and is more beneficial long term. 

How do you do onsite SEO?

On-page SEO encompasses a wide range of elements, all of which are under your control as the website owner. 

Homepage Optimization 

Perhaps the easiest way to optimize your website for SEO purposes is to start with the content on your homepage. This will be where most of your website visitors land when they first arrive at your site. 

Your homepage can:

• Attract local searchers to your site
• Keep them on your site longer, reducing your bounce rate
• Give them useful information about your business
• Make it easy to get in touch with you via email, phone, or at your bricks-and-mortar location

Your homepage should clearly tell your website visitors who you are and what you do. Since you are aiming to attract local searchers, your location should feature prominently. In addition, it should clearly signpost visitors to help them find the page they need on your site. 

Here’s an example:

This is the homepage for Palmer, an advertising agency in San Francisco (and one of the top Google results for the search term “ad agency San Francisco”). The page clearly states what the company is and what it does, as well as referencing geographical location in a prominent place. The page also offers a descriptive menu to help customers find whatever they need. 

Writing Informative Meta Tags 

Meta tags are small bits of data about a web page embedded in the page’s HTML. While they’re no longer a direct local SEO ranking factor, don’t write them off.  

Metadata is used to populate your listing on the search results page. If your keywords match the user’s search query, they’ll be highlighted in bold on your listing, helping you to stand out. Your description also tells the search user what your page is about and can encourage them to click through to your website. 

Since you’re focusing on optimizing your site for local SEO, your metadata should include a reference to your business’s geographical location. This will tell search engines where you’re located and increase your chances of showing up in local results.

Use Local Business Schema

Schema, also known as structured data markup, is a kind of code that you can add to each page of your website to tell search engines what the page contains. There is a particular subcategory called local business schema that can have an impact on local SEO. 

Not sure if you have schema on your site? Use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to check:

You can add numerous different fields to your local business schema. As a minimum when prioritizing your local business website SEO, consider adding:

• Company name
• Contact information, including telephone number and business email address
• Physical address
• Opening hours
• Company logo
• A short description of what you do

You can additionally return to your scheme at any time and add more if necessary. You can also add schema to separate product or service pages. For local SEO purposes, you’ll want to focus on local business schema.

Ensure Your Site is Mobile-friendly

Mobile search surpassed desktop search in 2016. Since then, it’s been necessary to ensure that those visiting your site from their smartphone or other mobile device could access your content, complete forms and navigate just as easily as desktop users in order to maximize conversions and offer your web traffic a seamless experience. 

Having a site populated with content that performs well on mobile devices is particularly important for businesses targeting a local market. The reason for this is obvious; consumers turn to their mobile devices to find relevant local businesses while they are on the go in their moment of need. Google data indicates that 88% of consumers who do a mobile search visit a relevant local business within 24 hours, so it’s easy to see why a mobile-friendly experience matters, 

Ensuring that your site is optimized for mobile users with a high-quality, responsive design is also important for rankings. Google completed its switch to mobile-first indexing in September 2020, so the mobile version of your site is the one that is used for indexing and ranking purposes.

Making your on-page content mobile-friendly means: 

• Avoid using unnecessary pop-ups
• Ensure buttons are large enough to be clicked by someone using a finger on their phone screen 
• Don’t use flash 
• Use headers (H2, H3) to make content easily scrollable on a smaller screen 
• Compress images so pages load quickly 
• Include your business contact information on your website
• Use Scheme markup 
• Check your site design is responsive

Work on Page Load Times

Page load time is a core consideration when it comes to on-site SEO because it impacts both your rankings and bounce rate.  

The slower a page loads, the higher your bounce rate, meaning your hard-won traffic will depart your site and head for a rival. Google estimates suggest that as load speed goes from one to three seconds, the probability of your visitor bouncing grows by 23%. From one to five seconds, that grows to a 90% probability. 

In the context of local SEO, a slower site can also prevent higher rankings because speed is a factor in the Page Experience and Core Web Vitals elements of the search algorithm.  

Until July 2023 when Universal Analytics is phased out, you can access a Site Speed report from your Analytics dashboard to understand how your page is performing. 

Google Lighthouse will also assess page load speed along with other information. 

PageSpeed Insights additionally offers an easy way to check page load times and assess recommendations for improvement. 

To speed up page load times: 

• Choose an SEO-friendly hosting service. Dedicated hosting is a better option than shared. 
• If you mostly want to attract local traffic, choose a local server. This will reduce server response time and speed up your site. Another option is to use a content delivery network (CDN). 
• Compress images to the appropriate size. You can use a plugin like WP Smush to do this without losing image quality.
• Optimize your site scripts and remove any that are unnecessary. You can use a plugin to help with this.
• Keep your content management system, themes, and any plugins updated. 

Audit Your Content and Add New High-quality Content

Developing a library of high-quality content that is authoritative, trustworthy, and demonstrates expertise (E-A-T) not only brings higher search rankings, it also helps to grow your conversions and better engage local consumers. 

Before you start creating new content, it’s useful to perform a content audit. This is a process of assessing the quality of existing content on your site. It helps you to identify any thin, poor-quality, or outdated content that could be harming your local SEO performance.

Once you have assessed and, where necessary, improved your existing content library, you can begin the process of creating a steady stream of fresh new content. In the context of local SEO and attracting more local consumers to your business, you’ll need to focus on locally relevant content. 

This New Jersey web design company has created a piece of locally focused new content by collating a list of the best web design companies in New Jersey:  

But it also creates other timely content which mentions the business’ geographical location without a specific local theme. For example, this post shared during the global pandemic provides useful, relevant, and timely information for readers, while also factoring in a local mention.

NAP Data 

NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. In other words, your business contact information. Many businesses include their NAP data in their website footer to aid in their on-page SEO. 

If you have multiple locations, you’ll need to create a specific page for each individual location and include that location’s NAP data. 

This company displays the full address of each of its locations in the website footer, and then also has a separate page for each: 

Add Descriptive Title Tags For Each Page

The title part of your page tells the user and the search engine what that page is about, so it forms a part of your on-page SEO. When you’re looking at the HTML code, it appears between the <title> tags. 

Each page on your site should have a unique, dedicated title. The title you provide will appear in your search listing on the local search results pages, so it should be descriptive, clear, and concise. 

Because space is limited in the search results, you should aim to keep your page titles no longer than 60 characters to avoid them being truncated. Use your keyword close to the beginning of the title but avoid the temptation to stuff it with keywords. 

If the title is duplicated, irrelevant, overly long, or keyword-stuffed, it may not be used by Google and can be off-putting for the search user. 

H1, H2 Tags

H1 and other header tags (H2, H3) are no longer as important as they once were in the early days of SEO as a pure ranking signal however, they do help search engines to understand what’s on a page. They also make that page more accessible to users and they give a good clue as to what the content is about. 

What’s more, headers can make it easier for those visiting your page from a mobile device to locate the chunk of content most appropriate to them, thereby offering a better user experience (which is a local search ranking signal). As such, they should be considered when working on your local business website SEO. 

Image Optimization 

Images likely form quite a big chunk of your website overall, but simply uploading a stock image that matches your content isn’t enough when it comes to on-page SEO. 

Many small business owners put a lot of thought into the images that appear on their local business websites. Images are great for attracting attention, conveying important information, and even triggering emotions – all of which can help turn a local consumer into a new customer. 

From an SEO perspective, images offer other chances to be featured in search (via the image search tab). Google’s Gary Illyes also suggested that images help Google to decide on relevance, so they could help your site show up in appropriate local searches. 

When thinking about images in the content of onsite SEO, a supported format must be used (such as JPEG or PNG) as unsupported formats can’t be accessed by Google crawlers. This means the spot on your page where the image sits will remain a mystery to them, which is a wasted opportunity. 

Your images should also be of good quality but compressed – too large a file size and your page load speed is impacted, which will hamper your ranking efforts. 

Google additionally recommends that images be placed next to relevant text and that the most important image is used closer to the top of your web page. 

ALT tags and image descriptions also improve accessibility, while the image file name should also be meaningful in order to offer additional context to the search engine crawlers. Don’t be tempted to stuff your descriptions or alt tags as that could trigger Google to consider your site as spam. 

You can additionally add structured data mark-up (denoting a product, video, or recipe) to your on-page images, making them eligible for inclusion as rich results. 

Internal Links

Internal links (the links between pages on your site) perform a few functions. For your visitors, they make it easy to find connected information and navigate to associate pages, enhancing the user experience. For Google, internal links can provide insight into how pages relate to each other, while the anchor text of the link gives a clue as to what the page content is about. 

You don’t want to create internal links just for the sake of it. You should only build an internal link where it makes sense to do so. 

For example, this post on the BrightLocal site concerns a survey we carried out that asked SEO professionals if they were aware of Google My Business’ name change to Google Business Profile. While the purpose of that page is to share the results of our survey, we also link to a more detailed blog that delves deeper into the changes Google made to Google Business Profile so those unaware of the change—or keen to learn more—can easily navigate to that helpful information. 

On-page SEO covers a vast spectrum of different activities and tasks. While this isn’t an exhaustive list, it should give you a very good starting point to optimizing your site for better local search rankings. 

What Is schema markup and structured data?

Schema markup is a type of structured data or code that you can add to a website to provide explicit details about a business and its content to search engines. Structured data helps search engines categorize and understand website information, making it easier for them to display relevant details in search results.

How Google Defines Schema

Schema, Structured Data, and Rich Results

The terms ‘structured data’ and ‘schema’ are often used interchangeably in the SEO field, but it’s important to understand the subtle differences between them before diving in any further.

Structured data refers to any data that is organized in a standardized format, making it easier for search engines to read and interpret the information on a webpage. Schema, on the other hand, is a specific vocabulary (often based on Schema.org) used within structured data to mark up content, helping search engines understand the meaning behind that data. When structured data is implemented correctly, it can lead to rich results, which are enhanced search results that display additional information—like star ratings, pricing, or event dates—directly in the search results, making the listing more engaging and potentially driving higher click-through rates. 

Example of rich results in Google.

What is LocalBusiness Schema?

LocalBusiness Schema is a specific type of structured data markup that helps search engines understand key details about a local business, such as its name, address, phone number, opening hours, and services. It falls under the broader Schema.org vocabulary and is designed to improve how businesses appear in search results, especially for location-based queries.

Why use structured data and schema for local SEO?

Schema offers several key benefits for local businesses:

1. Improved Visibility in Local Search: By using schema, search engines can better understand your business’s details, such as name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and services. This helps your business appear in relevant local searches, including Google’s local pack, maps, and other location-based results.

2. Enhanced Rich Results: As mentioned earlier, implementing schema can enable rich results, which display important business details directly in search results, like contact information, reviews, ratings, and location. This makes your business more visible and attractive to potential customers.

The example above shows how a search result can look that is using FAQPage Schema and how it can look when it’s not using FAQPage Schema. You can see how valuable schema can be if it results in rich snippets.

3. Increased Click-Through Rates (CTR): Rich results that display important information at a glance make users more likely to click on your listing. This can lead to higher click-through rates and more traffic to your website or contact page.

4. Better Accuracy and Consistency: Schema ensures that your business information is consistently displayed across search engines and third-party services, reducing the risk of discrepancies in your business details across various platforms.

5. Voice Search Optimization: As voice search continues to grow, schema helps ensure that your business details are correctly interpreted by virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant, improving your chances of being found via voice queries.

6. Improved Accessibility for All Users: Schema markup helps screen readers and assistive technologies better interpret and present key business information, such as contact details, opening hours, and services. This makes it easier for visually impaired users and those relying on assistive tech to access important business details, improving their overall experience.

Before Getting Started with Schema Markup

As we’ve learned, implementing schema is a powerful way to enhance your website’s visibility and help search engines understand your content better. However, before diving into the process, it’s important to keep a few key things in mind.

Key considerations and tips:

• • Customization Required – Templates must be tailored to fit your specific business details.

  • SEO Benefits Vary – Some schema types influence rankings and CTR, while others do not.

  • Google’s Guidelines – Review Google’s Structured Data Guidelines before implementation to ensure compliance.

  • Formats – Schema Markup code comes in a variety of formats: Microdata, JSON-LD, and RDFa. These days, Google prefers the markup in JSON-LD.

Google’s Guidelines emphasize:

• Marking Up Visible Content – The structured data should align with visible content on the page.

• Avoiding Misleading Information – Do not use schema to present false or unrelated details on the page.

• Review Schema is Only Applicable to Certain Business Types – Review-rich results are not displayed for schema types LocalBusiness and Organization, as they are considered “self-serving”.

What local SEO schema should you use on which pages?

How do you know what type of schema to use on web pages? What type of schema is best on the home page? And what about location pages?

It all depends on what page you are going to add the schema to. Here’s a simple chart you can use to guide you on what schema types might be good to use and what pages to use them on.

How to Generate and Implement Local Schema Markup

It’s easy to generate your schema markup with the help of schema.org or Google’s local business schema generator.

Most tools are simple and straightforward to use. We’ll show you step-by-step instructions for using Instant Schema. 

Step 1: Open Instant Schema and click the ‘Generate Schema’ button.

Step 2: Select the schema type you want to create, e.g., LocalBusiness for a local business website. 

Step 3: Next, choose the type of business you’re creating schema for. Instant Schema has a built-in list to choose from, but if the tool that you’re using doesn’t here are some of the available categories:

• AnimalShelter
• AutomotiveBusiness
• ChildCare
• Dentist
• DryCleaningOrLaundry
• EmergencyService
• EmploymentAgency
• EntertainmentBusiness
• FinancialService
• FoodEstablishment
• HealthAndBeautyBusiness
• LodgingBusiness
• MedicalBusiness
• RealEstateAgent
• SelfStorage
• Store
• TravelAgency
• And more…

These categories cover most business types, but if none apply to your business, choose LocalBusiness.

Step 4: Complete the rest of the information in the form. The code on the right will change to include each new detail. 

Step 5: Once you’ve entered all of the information, copy all of the code in the black box on the right.

Validating Your Schema Markup

1. Open a schema validating tool (unless the tool you are using has one already built-in), like this one from Schema.org, and paste and run the code to test it. 

2. Errors are shown in red. To correct them, simply adjust the code in the editing window on the left. When you’re ready, click on the play button to validate the code.

3. Once no errors or warnings appear, copy the code.

4. Lastly, test your code on Google’s Rich Results Tester to ensure your local business schema is delivering the desired results in search. 

Implementing Schema: Developer Help, Plugins, and Best Practices

You may need a developer’s help to implement schema markup on your website. However, if you’re using WordPress, several plugins can simplify the process, eliminating the need to add code manually. Here are a few options:

• Yoast SEO
• Rank Math
• Schema Pro

Recommended Format: JSON-LD

As mentioned earlier, JSON-LD is the preferred format. Google explicitly recommends JSON-LD as it is easier to implement and maintain at scale, reducing the likelihood of errors:

“In general, Google recommends using JSON-LD for structured data if your site’s setup allows it, as it’s the easiest solution for website owners to implement and maintain at scale (in other words, less prone to user errors).”

Where to Place the Code

Schema markup can be placed anywhere on a webpage—within the <head>, <body>, or <footer> section. Search engines will still be able to read and interpret it.

For best results, I usually place schema in the <footer> to ensure that more critical scripts, like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel, load without issues in the <head>.

Some Useful Videos on How to Install Schema Markup:

Local Business Schema Markup – How to Install it

Local SEO: Schema Markup for Multiple Locations

Schema and AI

Before diving into generating and implementing schema, it’s important to recognize that the integration of schema markup with AI is a growing area of interest among digital marketers and SEO professionals. As AI technologies advance, schema markup’s role is evolving beyond traditional SEO, becoming an important foundation for AI-driven search strategies and enhancing the semantic understanding of web content.

For a deeper exploration of this topic, you might find the following video insightful:

Schema Templates for Local SEOs

Below are customizable JSON-LD schema templates for key local business pages.

Google also has many schema templates that you can use.

Home Page (Organization) Schema

The Home Page is by far the most important page on a website. It usually carries the most weight in SEO as well. Search engines will want to know what the business name is, where it’s located, and what the business does. You can teach the search engines this information by using Organization Schema.

Organization Schema Template for Home Pages

About Us Page Schema

The About Us page is also quite important. Users find this page valuable because it can help them get to know the company better and build their trust in it. How many times have you not done business with a company because you didn’t know enough about them?

AboutPage Schema Template for About Us Pages

FAQ Page Schema

A FAQ page helps educate your users, but also reduces customer support inquiries. You can use the FAQPage template on your FAQ pages, or any page that contains FAQs on it.

FAQPage Schema Template for FAQ Pages

Team Pages

Featuring team members and their roles on your website helps build trust with users while also demonstrating appreciation for your team. Ideally, a parent page should list all team members, with individual child pages providing dedicated profiles for each person.

However, this isn’t essential for all businesses. At a minimum, I recommend highlighting founders and key management to establish credibility and transparency.

Multiple Person Schema Template for Parent Team Member Pages

Person Schema Template for Child Team Member Pages

Contact Us Page Schema

A Contact Us page is critical if you want to be contacted! Adding ContactPage Schema tells search engines the correct contact information for the business.

ContactPage Schema Template for Contact Us Pages

Service Pages Schema

Service pages can help you rank for the services you offer. They also help users convert if you do them right.

If you offer multiple services, I recommend having a parent service page that lists all of your services. The parent service page should link to child service pages. The child service pages should go into detail on each service that you offer.

Example:

• Parent Service Page: HVAC Services
  • Child Service Page: A/C Repair
  • Child Service Page: A/C Installation
  • Child Service Page: A/C Maintenance

Multiple Service Schema Template for Parent Service Pages

Service Schema Template for Child Service Pages

Location Page Schema

On location pages, I recommend using LocalBusiness Schema. This is a great way to tell search engines which pages on the site are location pages and what locations they represent.

You can also link to each Google Business Profile that matches a location page from LocalBusiness schema with the “hasMap” property.

For the “hasMap” field, you can use BrightLocal’s Place ID Finder to find the CID number (aka Ludocid) for the Google Business Profile you want to link to.

In addition to this, instead of using LocalBusiness as the schema itemtype, you can choose a more specific schema itemtype such as Dentist or AccountingService.

Check out Phil Rozek’s great schema itemtype list to see which one fits your business best.

How do you use this list? Well, in the schema template do you see “@type” : “LocalBusiness”?

You would simply replace “LocalBusiness” with one of the choices on Phil’s list like this:

If you have time, check out Phil’s article on how to choose a more specific schema itemtype for your local business.

LocalBusiness Schema Template for Location Pages

Service-Area Pages

Service-area pages are pretty much the same as Location pages. The only difference is that service-area pages are for service-areas that a business travels to for business, but doesn’t have a physical office in. So the schema code would be very similar, but instead of listing a business address, it would list a service-area.

In the schema example I shared, it lists a city as the service-area. But you can use a country or state like so:

LocalBusiness Schema Template for Service-Area Pages

Service-Area Pages

Service-area pages are similar to Location pages. The only difference is that service-area pages are for service-areas that a business travels to for business but doesn’t have a physical office in. So, the schema code would be very similar, but instead of listing a business address, it would list a service area.

In the schema example I have shared, it lists a city as the service area. But you can use a country or state like so:

Schema for Blog Articles

Educational content is usually found in the blog section of a website. You can use schema to tell search engines about the topic, author, word count, date published, etc.

You can also use “BlogPosting” or “NewsArticle” instead of “Article” if you want to be more specific.

Article Schema Template for Blog Content

Conclusion

Schema markup is a powerful tool for enhancing a local business’s search visibility and providing search engines with clear, structured information. By implementing the appropriate schema for each page, you can improve your chances of gaining rich results, increasing CTR, and improving user experience.

What is a location page in local SEO?

Location pages are web pages that give detailed information about a particular business location in a specific city, county, or state. They help potential customers find the nearest physical location of the business, as well as provide search engines with enough info to index and rank the page for “near me” and “city name + industry” keywords.

You may also hear location pages referred to as ‘local landing pages’ or ‘location landing pages’. These are essentially the same thing.

Why bother with location pages? 

Location pages are a worthwhile effort because they give valuable information to customers, which in turn adds value to your local SEO strategy. Without location pages, multi-location businesses can struggle to get found in search engines like Google.

If you want to create a location page that stands a chance to rank in SERPs and convert customers, you have to justify each new page with unique and valuable content. In other words, the amount of value on your location page has to merit its own URL.

How to Make Location Pages Valuable

Value on a location page comes from information that only applies to the specific location. If you copy and paste content to another location page and it remains true, it’s not unique. Yes, it’s okay to Include non-location-specific information (such as the brand mission statement or service descriptions), but let those be the exception rather than the rule.

Bottom line: Your location page should be largely comprised of information that only applies to that location.

Location Pages vs Geo Pages

There’s an important distinction between location and geo pages.

In short, location pages are tied to actual, brick-and-mortar locations while geo pages are not. A location page is about a specific location; a geo page simply describes the services offered by a business in a specific location.

Often, geo pages are used when a business wants customers from a specific region but doesn’t have an office there. Service area businesses can find it particularly tricky to rank in an area when they don’t have a physical store or office, for instance. This makes properly crafted service area pages of particular importance.

Ranking Geo Pages is Difficult

Ranking geo pages is challenging because it’s difficult to prove that a business is relevant to an entire area if they don’t have a physical store/office there. Even if the business typically serves clients from far away (e.g. attorneys), this may still be difficult to show on a geo page that isn’t tied to an address, Google Business Profile, etc.

Geo Pages Can Easily Become Doorway Pages

Another concern with geo pages is that they can slide down the slippery “is this a doorway page?” slope.  

What is a doorway page?

Simply put, a doorway page is a type of spam that uses slight variations of a similar page in an attempt to rank for many variations of many queries. As you can probably tell, a few hundred pages sans actual locations and addresses targeting small cities in the same county could, ostensibly, fall into this category. Proceed with caution.

You can see what Google has to say about doorway pages here.

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Differentiating Between Nearby Locations

Locations under the same brand in close proximity to one another create a unique challenge. Not only are they providing the same (or similar) products and services to each other, but offering those services to the same pool of customers.

The truth is some element of competition will always exist between these types of locations. That said, there is one way to help differentiate them: content with unique value.

In other words, you’ll want to provide as much information as possible on these locations that only applies to each individual location. This is the goal of any location page but is especially important for ones in close proximity.

Sure, NAP information (Name, Address, Phone Number) is a great start, but try to find other ways to differentiate the pages. This could include:

• Staff bios/profiles
• Location-specific reviews
• Inventory or services (if unique)
• Driving directions
• Parking information
• Accessibility information
• Pet friendliness
• Anything else you think is useful to the customer and truly unique to that location.

The more information you have about each location–its features, services, amenities, etc.–the easier it becomes to differentiate between them and create a unique set of pages that add value to customers and search engines alike.

Things to Avoid and Common Mistakes

1. Saying the Same Thing with Different words

One of the biggest and most common mistakes you can make when creating location pages is thinking your content is unique when it really isn’t. For many business types (plumbers, cleaning services, lawyers, chain restaurants, etc.) location pages run the risk of being rewritten home pages or service page content.

If you find yourself creating location pages with a unique address and phone number but content that isn’t really saying anything new, it’s not really unique.

This type of content – I like to think of it as “diluted-value content” is bad because it takes time to create but doesn’t give anything new or helpful to the humans and search engines you’re hoping to impress.

2. Making It Hard for Customers and Search Engines to Find Your Location Pages

In order for people to find your location page, Google (or your search engine of choice), needs to find, crawl, render, index, and rank it.

Google needs to be able to find your pages, which means they should be included in XML and HTML sitemaps. It’s also helpful to link to the page internally, as this makes it easier for Google to discover.

Unfortunately, internal links aren’t always easy to create for location pages. From an SEO standpoint, we tend to prioritize linking between pages of content that are topically related (as we should). But, if the topic of your page is a location, linking to it from another page can feel stilted or unnatural.

Here are a few tips for creating internal links to your location pages:

For businesses with just a few locations

• Create a “Locations” dropdown in your top nav and link to locations from it
• If location pages are standalone and do not have their own service pages/child pages, link to the locations from the business’ service pages by mentioning the areas the business serves
• If locations are nearby (or even within the same state), include links to the other locations via side navigation in the location page template

For businesses with many locations

• Use a location finder to make pages accessible to humans via search
• Link the location finder in the top navigation of your home page (and throughout the site)
• On each location page, add a module with “nearby locations” and link to other locations in the vicinity
• Consider a separate XML sitemap for location pages. This allows you to easily check the indexation status of them in Google Search Console and ping the sitemap when new locations are added

The goal is to avoid creating location pages that are “orphaned” from the rest of the site (e.g. inaccessible via navigation from other pages). Not only does this make it harder for humans to find your content, but Google as well.

Search Intent and Why it Matters for Location Pages

Search intent refers to what someone is looking for when they type a search into Google. At the most basic level, location page search intent can be broken down into two categories:

• People looking for a service or product
• People looking for the brand

Someone looking for a service, for example, might type “plumber in Seattle” into Google. If done right, your location page should rank for that query because it is relevant to the search intent–someone looking for a plumber in Seattle.

On the other hand, if someone was typing “ABC Plumbers Seattle” into Google, they would be looking for information about ABC Plumbers specifically. The search intent is different, and the content of your location page should reflect that–it should be focused on ABC Plumbers and how they are different from their competitors in Seattle.

In the grand scheme of search query intent, both of these are pretty close to the bottom of the conversion funnel. Someone looking for “how to unclog a drain without calling a plumber,” for example, probably won’t land on a location page because the query is more easily satisfied by a video or how-to article.

So, it’s pretty safe to assume that location pages are almost always targeting bottom-of-funnel searches.

Search Intent and Page Structure

By understanding the search intent of location pages, you can create content that speaks to what your potential customers are looking for and then prioritize the right content on the page.

Branded searches benefit from “conversion” focused content like unique selling propositions, coupons, or information that distinguishes the brand from competitors. If the majority of your location page content is branded, it may be wise to structure your page to focus on conversion-focused content items.

Searches like “plumbers in Seattle” should focus on informational content like where the business is located and what types of products and services they offer. If your page attracts more clicks from these types of queries, be sure to focus your page structure accordingly.

Conclusion and Takeaways

Creating location pages isn’t difficult, but building pages that are truly helpful to humans can be a challenge, much less ones that stand a chance to rank in search engines. That said, well-crafted location pages can provide the value customers are looking for if your strategy focuses on the right things:

• Try to make the majority of content on location pages unique and location-specific (aim for 40%-60% unique-value content)
• Geo pages are more difficult to rank than location pages and are easily mistaken as doorway pages
• Unique value content is especially important on pages that compete with nearby locations from the same brand 
• Saying the same thing with different words doesn’t make the content more valuable – it’s essentially duplicated 
• Make sure people and search engines can find your location pages via sitemaps and internal links
• Optimize your page structure to accommodate the search intent of your most-searched queries