This article is from our Agency Growth Handbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter two of ‘Part Two: Processes and Workflows’.

Whether brand new to digital marketing or have been working in the industry for years, we can all agree that SEO is essential for online visibility, helping businesses improve search rankings and attract more traffic. 

As the SEO and digital performance marketing space is becoming increasingly competitive, it feels like an ideal time to discuss the place of local SEO within the world of SEO agencies. I’m keen to bring local SEO out of its somewhat ‘underdog specialism’ shadow and out into the limelight where it often belongs by exploring exactly why integrating local SEO into a broader SEO strategy is important and how agencies of different sizes and set-ups could approach this integration.

So, firstly, do agencies really need to care about local SEO?

The simple answer: YES!

Before I delve into the reasons why, it’s perhaps first important to acknowledge the competition that often exists between e-commerce and local SEO, as this can often be the main blocker to agencies giving dedicated place and support for the local side of SEO endeavors.

It’s perhaps more obvious that local SEO is crucial for driving footfall (foot traffic) and local engagement rather than for contributing to overall e-commerce success, despite the fact that it can do both. Within SEO agencies and even at an in-house level with brands themselves, e-commerce favors more traditional organic SEO strategies and approaches. Here, it is easier to demonstrate ROI through metrics such as online traffic and sales, while footfall and in-store sales metrics can feel like an afterthought or simply another department’s responsibility.

This has certainly been the case with some of the clients I have worked with (or not, as the case may be!); where it can initially be more difficult to get a foot in the door for local SEO when the main objective of the client stakeholders is driving online traffic. Even during the pitching process for SEO clients, I’ve seen brands that are well known for their physical presence on the high street simply not mention local SEO whatsoever in the brief when they so obviously should be. 

So, back to that, YES! Agencies really should care about local SEO.

Agencies must move beyond just on-page SEO recommendations and optimizations, given the changing search landscape, if they want to deliver truly performance-driven results for their clients. While local SEO often takes a back seat to more general SEO strategies, it plays a vital role that should not be overlooked. Unfortunately, it tends to be underestimated or overshadowed in many brands’ organic search prioritization.

While on-page SEO is vital for improving content relevance and keyword targeting, it’s only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Many agencies now offer specialized SEO services – from technical SEO and UX optimization to digital PR and multilingual SEO – yet local SEO is still often deprioritized. Operating local SEO in complete isolation or ignoring it as part of a wider organic service offering can severely limit the effectiveness of any strategy, leading to missed opportunities, poor search performance, and, ultimately client dissatisfaction.

Brands that recognize the importance of taking a more holistic approach to SEO are more likely to benefit from the ROI that a combined strategy brings. Yet, they won’t necessarily be in a position to tackle this on their own. 

Clients may have some level of local SEO knowledge within their own teams, but this is often limited either in experience or capacity to execute. That’s why they turn to agencies for heavier SEO lifting and a fresh perspective, right? Agencies that are well set up and positioned to support and drive local SEO within a wider and more holistic SEO strategy will give themselves a distinct competitive advantage over those that neglect it.

The Role of Local SEO for Businesses

What is local SEO?

In simple terms, local SEO refers to the process of optimizing a business’s online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches, which are search queries with either implied or specific geographical intent. “Best pizza near me” or “plumber in london” are great examples of search queries to find local services or businesses in a specific area.

What is Local SEO and How Does It Work?

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Why is local SEO so crucial?

Local SEO is crucial for businesses with physical locations or service areas. It not only helps businesses appear in local search results, like Google’s Local Pack and Maps when potential customers are searching for nearby products or services but also helps those businesses to stand out from their competitors so conversion is more likely. Think of it as employing local search tactics and strategies to first be found, and then be chosen.

What Are the Benefits of Local SEO?

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With the rise of mobile search, frequent “near me” queries, and Google growing more intuitive in determining local intent, local SEO enables businesses to benefit from a locally competitive edge, build trust through reviews, and capture high-intent, targeted traffic. By optimizing for local searches, businesses can boost foot traffic, phone inquiries, and website visits, ultimately converting ready-to-purchase customers. 

Any business that ignores or drastically deprioritizes local SEO is putting itself at a dangerous competitive disadvantage.

Summarizing the Key Elements of Local SEO

Google Business Profile (GBP): A critical piece of local SEO, GBP is a free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google Search and Maps. Concentrating optimization efforts here helps ensure that important business details (such as location, hours, and services) are accurate and displayed in local search results. Leveraging GBP features, such as adding posts and photos and responding to customer questions and reviews, are additional engagement practices that can help drive conversion.

Local citations: These are mentions of a business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) across key websites, directories, and social platforms, such as Apple Maps, Bing, and Facebook. Maintaining consistency here can help boost your business’s legitimacy, credibility, and search rankings for local queries.

Local keywords: Keyword research for local SEO goes a step further than general KWR, by more specifically identifying location-based search terms that potential customers are using. This could include adding your city, neighborhood, or region to targeted keywords (e.g., “electrician in new york” or “best italian restaurant in nyc”).

Reviews: Customer reviews play a vital role in local search rankings. Google rewards businesses with high-quality, consistent reviews by elevating them in local search results. Business owners responding to reviews (both positive and negative) also improves a business’s online reputation by demonstrating a sense of accountability and trustworthiness.

Where does local fit at SEO Agencies?

How an agency is set up to deliver local SEO as part of a wider SEO strategy usually depends on two things; how well the agency is set up to support and deliver local SEO, plus the type and size of client they generally work with.

Choosing the Right Agency Structure for Local SEO Success

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It can help to consider different service tiers for local SEO within an agency. The most advanced tier involves a dedicated local SEO channel, the middle tier involves access to local SEO specialists within the wider SEO team, and the most foundational tier could be focused on more general SEO support with some assistance for basic local SEO needs.

For example:

• Base tier: “Foundational support for local SEO”
  General SEO team with helpful but basic local SEO skills based on foundational knowledge. 

• Middle tier: “Integrated SEO team with access to local SEO specialist”
  Wider SEO team with access to local SEO specialists for targeted local strategies and support.

• Higher tier: “local SEO as a full dedicated channel”
  Local SEO is treated as a separate, full-scale channel with a dedicated team and comprehensive local SEO strategy proposition.

This structure allows for a scalable approach to local SEO, from minimal involvement to fully integrated, specialized support, aligning with the needs and budgets of different types of clients. 

At Croud, for example, the middle-tier approach is generally the most applicable, as all our SEO account teams have access to and are supported by local SEO specialists (like me!). Some smaller account teams take the lower-tier approach, as they’re supporting clients with few locations who are perhaps just starting out on their local SEO journeys, and only foundational support is currently needed. 

What works great for us, is that we can more easily scale up the support as and when needed, as the specialists are always on hand to join the conversation when local SEO strategy starts to pick up in terms of prioritization.

Looking ahead, our ambition at Croud is to continue educating our clients and brands on the true incrementality of an integrated local SEO program through better visibility, tracking, and measurement of the online-to-offline purchase journey.

I invite you to consider your agency’s current approach and where you may have the opportunity or ambition to evolve the local SEO offering in the future. I’ve broken down the three tiers in more detail below to help.

Foundational Support For Local SEO

In this base tier, the general SEO team may offer clients more basic, foundational support for local SEO as part of broader SEO efforts.

Services are likely to include:

• Basic on-page optimization for local keywords (if provided by the client or gathered from a simple keyword tool).
• Assisting with basic Google Business Profile setup or updates (though not full optimization).
• Helping maintain NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency where possible; this could well be manual rather than via specialized tools or resources.
• Limited local citation work, carried out in conjunction with general link-building.
• Providing guidance based on general knowledge of SEO best practices, with light-touch local SEO recommendations.

Integrated SEO Team With Local SEO Specialist Access

In this middle tier, the general SEO team would work in close collaboration with local SEO specialists, and/or have access to a local SEO expert who can help sell the benefits of conducting local SEO efforts and provide strategic advice and implementation support when needed. This helps strike a balance between the generalist and specialist approach, offering deeper insights and more focused local SEO activity while still integrating with broader SEO efforts.

Services are likely to include:

• Collaborative strategy, where the general SEO team drives the overall SEO strategy but consults local SEO specialists when specific regional or local opportunities are identified.
• Enhanced local keyword research involving both general and location-specific terms, conducted by the general team with input, validation, and refinement by local SEO experts.
• GBP (Google Business Profile) optimization and maintenance where the local SEO specialist supports the optimization of Google Business Profiles, helping with regular updates and ensuring they’re well-maintained.
• Local link building and citation management are handled with greater attention to detail by the specialist, ensuring accuracy and leveraging opportunities to earn local backlinks.
• Advanced local SEO audits potentially requested by the general SEO team can examine specific areas, including location-based performance tracking and insights into local competitors.
• Ongoing local SEO monitoring with access to more advanced local SEO tools, such as BrightLocal, Whitespark, Moz Local, or Uberall for monitoring performance – local SEO experts regularly review analytics for local search results and suggest optimizations to test or implement.

Local SEO As a Full Dedicated Channel

In this top-tier service, local SEO is treated as a separate, fully dedicated channel, working collaboratively alongside other channels and teams across key digital marketing efforts. This offers a far more comprehensive and specialized local SEO approach, with a team fully focused on local search optimization across all areas, driven by a specialized or bespoke local search proposition and delivering a complete service.

Services are likely to include:

• Local SEO strategy as a standalone channel – A full, tailored local SEO strategy that is independent from the general SEO strategy but integrated where necessary. Each location or service area may receive its own bespoke plan.
• Comprehensive local keyword research and content strategy – Extensive keyword research, location-specific content creation, and ongoing optimization to drive hyper-localized traffic.
• Advanced Google Business Profile management – With continuous accuracy and consistency monitoring, optimized posts, photo and video uploads, and structured reviews, products, services, and Q&A management.
• In-depth citation building and local link strategy – Comprehensive local citation management, ensuring listings are live across all relevant and necessary directories, plus outreach for local link-building campaigns to improve domain authority in specific regions.
• Reputation and review management – Dedicated reputation management set up to monitor, respond, and solicit customer reviews, plus supporting and implementing strategies to improve overall ratings and customer engagement.
• Hyper-local technical SEO optimization – Full-scale technical SEO audits focused on optimizing for local search, including schema markup for local businesses, mobile optimization, and local URL structure refinement.
• Local search performance analytics and reporting – Detailed reporting with geo-specific insights, tracking performance across regions, cities, or even neighborhoods. This may include advanced tracking of localized rankings, conversions, and footfall.

Tools and Resources Available to Help Integrate Local SEO into Your Agency

Delivering exceptional local SEO services often requires more than just manual effort. Sometimes, a helping hand is needed to find efficiencies and take the heavy lifting on some of the more manual tasks to free up capacity for strategizing! 

Agencies managing multiple clients or locations will generally have access to a range of tools in order to optimize local search visibility, monitor performance, and manage ongoing tasks efficiently. Here are the key categories of tools and resources that agencies should incorporate into their local SEO strategy.

GBP, Local listings, and Citation Management Tools

As the cornerstone of local SEO, any tools that help simplify GBP management can prove invaluable for agencies handling multiple clients or locations. They can assist with optimizing profiles, updating information, managing photos and posts, and responding to reviews, all while tracking specific GBP performance metrics.

The native Google Business Profile Manager tool allows businesses to manage profiles directly, but larger agencies often need more powerful features for scaling. 

This is where dedicated GBP and listing management tools can offer a more robust suite for managing listings at scale and tracking performance across multiple clients and locations. Additionally, many offer inclusive or add-on services or packages that support review management, social post-scheduling, rank-tracking and analytics, and more.

Each will need to be weighed up according to need and cost, but some popular examples include Moz Local, Yext, Whitespark, Uberall, and of course, BrightLocal’s listing management services.

The Best Listings Management Solutions Compared

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These tools can help agencies ensure that their clients’ key location details are uniform and up to date across various directories and platforms. This ensures that their client’s business information is accurate everywhere it appears online, which boosts local rankings and prevents conflicting or outdated information from hurting SEO performance.

Local Rank Tracking and Competitor Analysis Tools

Understanding where a client’s business ranks for local keywords and how its competitors are performing is vital for crafting and refining local SEO strategies. Tools that track keyword rankings at a local level provide data on search visibility within specific regions or cities, and offer insights on how competitors are performing in the same areas can be a godsend for highlighting opportunities, threats, trends and insights.

Some tools provide local rank tracking and competitor analysis with geo-specific keyword insights, whereas tools like GeoRanker or BrightLocal’s Local Rank Tracking Tool specialize in more granular local rank tracking, allowing agencies to monitor performance down to the neighborhood or post-code level.

Many trackers let you literally put your rankings on a map too, with tools like Local Search Grid (see below).

Review and Reputation Management Tools

Online reputation is an increasingly critical component of local SEO as positive reviews signal trustworthiness to both search engines and potential customers, while responding to customer feedback fosters engagement and can support conversion. Review and reputation management tools help agencies monitor, respond to, and even solicit new reviews across multiple platforms.

ReviewTrackers, Reputation, Reviews.ai, and SOCi are just some of the tools available for monitoring and responding to reviews across Google and other platforms. BrightLocal can also monitor and respond to over 80 general and niche review sites within a user-friendly interface.

Local Keyword Research and Content Optimization Tools

As local SEO relies on optimizing content for location-specific queries, keyword research tools can help agencies more easily discover the local search terms driving high-intent traffic. These tools can also assist in content optimization by identifying the right keywords to target for specific cities, neighborhoods, or regions and helping to build and deliver content strategies that resonate with local audiences.

Google Keyword Planner allows agencies to discover location-specific search terms relevant to a business’s services or products, while Semrush and Ahrefs both offer powerful keyword research tools that can be tailored to local markets.

Helpful Resources

Local SEO can be difficult to keep up with, as so much in the local landscape is ever-evolving, and even more so lately! Staying on top of trends, local industry insights, and especially Google guidelines can feel like a full-time job, not to mention keeping up with new SERP features, new tools, and new legislation that threatens to interrupt our way of operating and force us to learn and adapt quickly! 

Thankfully, help is on hand as the local SEO community is both incredibly welcoming and extremely generous with its knowledge. Whether agencies, local publishers, or tool and platform creators, there is so much help, support, and resources available—much of it for free if you know where to look (and, generally, someone will always point you in the right direction).

Here are three of my favorite free local SEO resources that every agency’s local SEO should bookmark:

• The Local SEO community – The Google Business Profile Help Community is both an open forum and a rich repository of free local SEO resources, including video guides, walk-through articles, and best practices. Moderated by Google Product Experts and knowledgeable members of the local search community, one of the best elements is the ability to ask questions and request advice or support with GBP and wider local SEO issues and concerns.

  The Local Pack is BrightLocal’s Marketing Community on Facebook, another great social space for guidance, support, and the exchange of ideas and insights.

• Local SEO blogs and newsletters – with so many to choose from, it was hard to narrow this down, as I could have easily made a top five! The Moz Top 10 monthly newsletter takes the prize due to its ‘Local 3-pack’ inclusion, providing three key pieces of local search news and insight. Formerly curated by the amazing local SEO Miriam Ellis (one of the most prolific local SEOs in existence), the mix of helpful updates and thought-leadership pieces always strikes a great balance to stay in the know about all things local.

  Additional shout-out to BrightLocal’s Digest as another fantastically helpful weekly newsletter, jam-packed with oodles of insight on local search trends and links to relevant news, case studies, and more! I especially love seeing their local guides for specific industries be announced here.

• Local SEO Training – hands down, my most recommended training program for anyone new to local SEO, or wanting to brush up on skills, is the BrightLocal Academy. It offers a wealth of super user-friendly courses, ranging from foundational 101s to more specialist areas such as local keyword research, review management, and Google Business Profile optimization. There are even courses designed specifically for agencies. All the courses are delivered in easy-to-follow, bite-sized segments, with clear examples, and mini assessments along the way, and all hosted by local SEO experts.

Helpful Hints, Tips, and Considerations for Leveraging Local at Your Agency

Throughout my time working in the local SEO space, and particularly with Croud, I’ve picked up some key advice, mantras, and general considerations that all help when kept in mind within an agency setting. Here are my top ten:

1. Shout about your specialism: As I said in my opening, local SEO can often be the ‘underdog’ with low awareness of its place, particularly by digital channels and outside of SEO (often as it’s thought of as ‘off-site’). My advice here is to help raise awareness and be vocal about your specialism, and how it can help add value to the right kind of client. Share relevant industry news, and local SERP features and development. Generally, fly the local flag wherever you can!

2. Know your agency’s client context: Be nosy, make it your business to know the current client roster, no matter the channel, and keep tabs on who has a local presence. Ask to see recent pitch presentations, strategy outlines, or business reviews so you have a rough context of the client’s focus areas and pain points. This may spark a local idea, even if not immediately.

3. Connect with your sales and client services teams: These can be your wingmen! If there’s a new client pitch coming up, or an opportunity for a local SEO cross-sell via an existing channel-client relationship, offer some insight to help demonstrate the opportunity and value-add, and open conversations to bring local SEO onboard.

4. Surprise and delight: Closely entwined with the above points, you don’t always need account teams or clients to come to you! If you spot an opportunity, use it as a lilypad to leap from. If a little budget can be spared to highlight an issue or simple opportunity, this can often be the thread that’s needed to hook in a positive conversation with a potential local client.

5. Know the local competition: I offered this tip in my previous blog on onboarding local SEO clients, but it’s important to note here, too—who the client perceives as their local competitors may not always align with their actual competitors. Identifying your client’s true rivals in the local search space and presenting this information may influence their strategy and unlock additional budget or opportunities to support them. BrightLocal tools like GBP Audit and Local Search Grid are great for this.

6. Don’t underestimate the power of a simple audit: Local SEO strategies can vary greatly, yet they can (and often should) all start with a simple audit. Whether conducting even a basic review of a Google Business Profile, or a client’s current location page setup, this is often how key issues and opportunities can first be identified. To put this into context, I was once able to get approval for an entire location page strategy from identifying a profile’s broken web link. You never know what a simple audit could unlock.

7. Be mindful of reporting tactics: Given the particular nuances of local SEO results, where audiences can vary, and rankings can alter just within incredibly small distances, it’s important to take this complexity into account when reporting on local performance. As an agency, you can hopefully tap into the specialist skills of analytics teams, bringing them on board to help with the more hyper-local tracking needs.

8. Don’t set and forget: A very common mantra in the local SEO world, but not one to disregard, and certainly one to take on board at an agency level. The world of local search is particularly fast-paced and relies so much on consistent business data integrity. Ensure the ‘don’t set and forget’ mantra is embedded within your local SEO approach, through audits, reviews, playbacks, and strategy sessions—keeping local SEO clients competitive and happy depends on it!

9. Become part of the local community: I’ve already shared some great resources above, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. The local SEO community is a wonderfully supportive cooking pot of deliciously talented individuals, teams, and agencies. Networking and making connections, whether through social follows, forum membership, newsletter sign-ups, or in-person events, will all support you on your growth journey as a local SEO, therefore making you an even bigger asset to your agency.
   
   

10. Empower others: Last but by no means least, remember that as a specialist, you have the ability (and I also personally consider it a responsibility) to pass your specialist knowledge on to others. Support the local community where you can. I rely on them for all kinds of support, so I like to pay it forward wherever possible (like writing this article!). Helping your colleagues in wider SEO teams and beyond learn and understand the nuances of local SEO will also support them becoming more well-rounded SEOs themselves, with local insights and skills to bring into their day-to-day work. You may even inspire someone to become a local SEO specialist themselves.

Conclusion

To wrap this up, here’s my key takeaway. When it comes to SEO, knowing the importance of the local landscape and nuances of local SEO can be critical to certain clients and, therefore, should be important to your agency and its overall approach to organic and wider search channels.

Whether your agency setup is to cover the local basics alongside SEO BAU, engage its local SEO specialists as and when support is needed, or lead from the front with full-blown local SEO-driven strategies, a holistic approach to search and servicing clients will always help you stay competitive.

If there is ever a best time to review how your agency is approaching local SEO, it is now!

This article is from our Agency Growth Handbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter seven of ‘Part One: Pitching and Onboarding’.

Firstly, congratulations on a successful pitch! 

It’s super exciting and rewarding to have won a new client, especially after a potentially long, competitive pitch process. But after the celebrations comes one of the final hurdles. Before getting down to the real business of starting to deliver on all the proposed implementations and optimizations that won you the pitch in the first place, the client needs to be officially onboarded.

While other teams will likely handle the contracts and compliance side of things, the individual, team, or project manager must set to work on the account. Having a robust, structured onboarding process to turn to at this stage can be crucial. Not only can it help ensure everyone is on the same page from the get-go, but it can also help deliver better results and build stronger relationships. 

This is when a ready-to-go onboarding checklist can be your best friend, helping your team avoid common early missteps and hit the ground running. 

Preparation and Creating Your Client Onboarding Checklist

A checklist certainly doesn’t need to be anything too technical or fancy; a simple Excel or Google sheet can work well, which is usually my preference! But what should it include?

In a nutshell, the checklist should help identify all the initial conversations and information gathering that’s needed, all the tools and platforms you will need access to, plus the typical kick-start tasks that help you identify key opportunities and the general lay of the local digital landscape for your new client. 

In simpler terms, a typical local SEO onboarding checklist can be divided into three main sections:

1. Things we need to know
2. Things we need to access
3. Things we need to do

Individual tasks or actions generally fall under these three buckets and can be added as separate checklist lines. A suitable status indicator should also be included. This could be a formatted drop-down menu offering a choice of progress statuses or as simple as a checkbox. Who doesn’t love the satisfaction gained from a successful tick?

1. Things We Need to Know

To kick off, a checklist should cover essential information gathering that’s needed to provide helpful new account context so that we can:

• Tailor our strategy accordingly
• Set realistic goals and expectations
• Identify any challenges and opportunities
• Set the bar for collaboration and communication
• Start strong

Every client will be different, with their own needs and nuances, so while the following checklist recommendations are by no means exhaustive, they should cover the most common bases:

Perform a Basic Local Maturity Check-In

A key first step is to arrange an initial meeting with the client to discuss their current local SEO setup and what will be needed to create and deliver the best strategy moving forward. Having a basic set of questions ready to ask and collating detailed answers will help inform those first important strategy steps. This is often called the discovery phase.

Some of this information may already be known from the pitch process, as covered in RFPs or brief details. If not already shared with you, asking for details on past or current local search strategies, including any metrics and local business goals, is a great starting point. Knowing that driving physical footfall into stores is the priority over increasing website clicks or that key stakeholders are very focused on the brand’s reputation across certain locations, for example, will help frame your initial roadmap.

It will also be key to confirm if you will be starting from scratch with a clean slate or taking over from an existing strategy or agency where there is still work to complete. The client may already have a well-established brand with a local SEO foundation in place, but they need fresh eyes and ideas to turn declining performance around.

Alternatively, if the client is a relatively new business that has initially focused on launching its website, it may still need the basics set up for local SEO, such as creating Google Business Profiles or providing recommendations for potential location pages .

Whatever has come before, it’s important to understand how the client views their current local maturity and success. The checklist can note this context, which will help prioritize the initial focus areas and set realistic goals for the short, medium, and long term.

Create a Centralized Data Source 

Any local SEO strategy will undoubtedly require access to and understanding of a brand’s key local business information, whether for brick-and-mortar locations such as stores or offices or the geographical areas the business serves.

For example, it will be difficult to audit Google Business Profiles without knowing accurate location names, addresses, and phone numbers to validate accuracy. 

Therefore, it’s important early on to determine where the core information about each physical location or targeted service area is stored and what they consider their source of truth. This could be an internal database or digital repository, an Excel file, or a tool like BrightLocal!

Try a Free Local SEO Client Information Template

Claire Carlile has developed a local SEO client information template as part of her course, “Essential Google Business Profile Tasks for Agencies,” available through BrightLocal Academy. Her course includes three more useful templates. To use the template, follow the link below, click the ‘Make a copy’ button, and rename it accordingly.

Find the Template

Local Market Analysis & Research

You’ll likely have conducted local market research and analysis in preparation for the pitch process. However, this may have been a diluted or narrow view, such as looking at a single market. As part of onboarding, building this out for a more complete picture early on is important. This will likely include the following info-gathering tasks to add to your checklist:

• Competitor analysis: Identify local competitors through helpful tools or review search results for relevant keywords. Then, review their local SEO set-up to benchmark maturity and inform the direction of the strategy.
• Target audience: Use a combination of analytics tools and client feedback to understand the current customer demographic and any opportunities to appeal to a wider or different audience. 
• Targeted local keywords: Identify relevant local keywords that existing and potential customers may use to find your new client’s products or services. Tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs can be helpful here.

Client Contacts

It likely goes without saying, but it’s essential to determine who the main day-to-day client contacts will be and any other key stakeholders you may meet or report to. It’s important to note that with local SEO, you may need to collaborate with individuals from across a range of brand teams, including website, marketing, sales, stores/retail, or social media. We’ve seen much collaborative success at Croud from identifying and connecting with these additional teams early on in the local onboarding process. 

For a multi-location business or a franchise, you may also be working with specific regions or branches. So, it’s worth clarifying early on who your key contacts are.

Define Ways of Working

You can be brimming with local SEO knowledge and skills and raring to implement an exciting strategy for your new client, but it’s crucial to take the time to understand how they prefer to work, communicate, and collaborate. 

Be sure to ask about the project management tools and communication channels they may already use and feel comfortable with and be willing to adopt these methods. This can instantly help build rapport, show you value their comfort and existing ways of working, and allow you to onboard more cohesively.

Sure, your agency may exclusively use Hangouts and the Google ecosystem, but if your client is deeply embedded in Microsoft, you may need to consider how that affects you. Suggesting a collaborative Slack channel may sound like a great idea, but it could add more hurdles if your client doesn’t have Slack.

2. Things We Need to Access

To efficiently run audits, implement optimizations, troubleshoot issues, plan local content creation, set up benchmarking, and conduct robust reporting, you will need access to various tools and platforms and visibility of key brand assets. Additionally, being well set up to quickly gain insights and demonstrate optimization or algorithm impact in a timely manner is also something to get ticked off early in the onboarding process. 

• Google Business Profiles (GBP) : Key for all local activity, access to the client’s GBP locations will enable you to review their status, audit and update key business information, manage reviews and pull insights.
• Local listings : These may vary depending on the industry, but key platform listings and directories include Apple Business Connect, Bing Places for Business, Yelp, TrustPilot, and TripAdvisor.
• Social accounts: If supporting with social is in scope, e.g., Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc.
• SEO tools & platforms : It’s likely your agency has access to various SEO tools and platforms designed to track keyword rankings & performance, such as STAT, so it’s important to set up new client data ASAP. Additionally, if the client uses a listings management tool to maintain their online profiles and listings, having visibility is key e.g. BrightLocal, Uberall, Moz, Yext SOCi, etc.
• Analytics : This will help inform various performance reporting and analysis, such as Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster, etc.
• Project management and communication tools: Depending on the client’s preferred ways of working, these could be task management and workflow tracking tools such as Asana and JIRA or communication and collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams or Slack.
• Brand assets and guidance: These may be provided to you by the client or may be accessed via online repositories such as asset libraries containing photos, logos, brand and tone of voice guidelines, etc. Having access to these will help create consistent and appealing content.

3. Things We Need to Do

While a comprehensive local strategy and roadmap will include many tasks, and the immediate ‘things to do’ will vary from client to client, there are a few key common activities to prioritize from the start:

Conduct Local Keyword Research

You may have identified targeted keywords as part of your initial research and analysis, but expanding this to a full local keyword research project or refreshing a current KWR will help reveal untapped keyword opportunities that could inform local content plans.

Citation/Backlink Audit

Analyzing the client’s current backlink profile will highlight current strengths and weaknesses while reviewing the backlinks earned by competitors to help identify new opportunities for your client.

Key Listings & Local On-Page Audit

How effectively your client’s business locations and service areas are surfaced and perceived online underpins any successful local SEO strategy, not only to rank well for relevant keywords but also to serve correct, consistent, and helpful information to potential local customers, that ultimately converts.

Early on, a key action with a new client will be to audit and review existing online business profiles and listings for accuracy and completeness. Conduct an audit of key listings, starting with Google Business Profiles, to ensure they are eligible to surface (are verified and live) and are fully optimized.

When reviewing Google Business Profiles, it’s important to note the page each profile is pointing to, and what that page is telling Google about the business, its location, and its offering. Conducting an audit of these pages (often location service or store pages) can be just as key as auditing Google Profiles themselves, and may highlight some great on-page opportunities that can be built into the local strategy.

Reputation Review

I like to include an initial overview of a brand’s online reputation to determine whether there are any red flags to be aware of or quick wins to be had. Though this may not be an initial focus for all new clients, it’s crucial for local visibility and customer conversion.

You could add a checklist action to assess existing reviews across publishers such as Google, Facebook, Yelp, Trustpilot, and any other relevant reputation platforms to understand how the brand and its locations are currently perceived vs their competition.

Initial Local SEO Strategy Roadmap

Lastly, make sure to include an initial strategy plan creation in your checklist so you can conclude your onboarding plan by sharing a first draft plan of action with your new client for their review, feedback, and approval. This could be approached in several ways but could cover the first 3, 6, and 12 months or be segmented into proposed quick wins, incremental gains, and big bet projects.

Presenting a ready-to-move strategy early on sets a strong tone. This should certainly seek to align with expectations set during the pitch process but should be open to evolving based on onboarding conversations, client feedback, and emerging trends.

Final Thoughts

A methodical and organized onboarding process is essential for success in a local search strategy. When aided by a clear and efficient onboarding checklist, delays and potential blockers are reduced, leaving you fully prepped and energized to sail smoothly into your first tasks!

Key Takeaways:

• A structured onboarding process helps avoid common challenges and blockers.
• Organize your checklist into things to know, things to access, and things to do for better clarity.
• Understanding the client’s local maturity, key contacts, and data sources is crucial.
• Gaining early access to SEO tools, platforms, and listings and conducting initial audits sets you on the right path. 

Onboarding a local SEO client doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and by following a checklist can ensure a smooth process that sets you and your client up for success.