Our guide to Google local search is jargon-free, up to date, explains everything in plain English, and is packed with easy-to-action tips.

We’ll touch on the essential local SEO tools you’ll need to make your life easier and provide you with a complete overview of which areas you need to focus on to make your business more visible to local customers. So, let’s get started!

The Basics: Why local search?

If you’re new to Google local search or have come over from traditional SEO, you may wonder where it’s come from and why it’s so important to local businesses everywhere. The answer to this question lies with a piece of tech that you likely have in your pocket, in your hands, or on your desk right now—your smartphone.

The widespread availability of mobile technology has seriously changed how we behave as consumers. We can now hop online at any time, from any location, and search for something we need or want. That means that anything from the nearest pizza place to the pet grooming parlor (plus any product or service you can think of in between) is just a few taps on your smartphone screen away.

Constant connectivity equals convenience, so more and more, everyday shoppers are heading to Google on their phones when they need to find something. According to BrightLocal’s own Local Consumer Review Survey, 21% of consumers go online to find a local business every day, 77% search for a local business at least once per week, and 91% look online for local businesses at least once a month.

It’s easy to see how appearing prominently on Google when local people search for your kind of service can be lucrative!

What is a ‘local search’? How does it differ from a normal search?

A local search is perhaps best described with an example:

You’re driving in town and have a flat tire. You pull out your smartphone, head to your web browser, and type ‘mechanic’ into Google.

Whether or not you add ‘near me’, you’re still performing a local search as you’re looking for a specific service in your local area.

Thanks to modern technology, and provided you’ve allowed for this in your privacy settings, Google can accurately pinpoint your location. It can use your Wi-Fi connection or GPS, for example, to get an idea of where you are and then return results for products, services, and merchants that are in close proximity to your location.

Without getting too technical, proximity between searcher and business is one of the three key pillars of local search (along with relevance and prominence) for businesses looking to get their web presence seen by the right people at the right time.

Google will calculate the distance from the search user to a local business when deciding how to rank search results. It knows that, more often than not, search users need a solution that is close to them—especially when searching on a mobile device.

Breaking Down Your Search

You may think there’s nothing much to decode when you type a few words into Google to hunt down a vital product or service. That’s actually not the case, though.

The words and phrases you type in before hitting ‘search’ are a good indicator to Google whether you need something local or a solution from further afield. Let’s look at some of the ways that Google works out if you’re looking for something local.

“Near Me” Searches

Let’s go back to that city drive and your flat tire.

Now, chances are, you don’t just type in mechanic, although that is possible. In your eagerness to return to the road with a fully inflated tire as soon as possible, you might tell Google you’re looking for a “mechanic near me”.

Right away, ‘near me’ triggers a local search, as you need assistance close to your physical location.

The same is true of your customers’ searches. Whether they’re looking for a pool cleaner or a cable guy, ‘near me’ flags up to Google that only a business close to the searcher’s current location will suffice.

This means that Google knows to present that user with service providers from their immediate area. If you’re a mechanic in that city, you’ll want to ensure that you have your local search visibility taken care of to be visible to that customer and stand a chance of winning that job.

Geo-targeted Searches

In some cases, rather than typing in “near me”, you may simply add your location to the end of the search to be assured that you’ll be served relevant results. For example, “mechanic brighton”.

It’s pretty clear to Google that this is a local search, and so to be useful, it needs to show you listings for mechanics in Brighton.

You’d also use geo-targeted searches if you were looking for a place in a specific location that isn’t near you, for example when planning a trip. It’s important to remember this because otherwise, it’s easy to think that ‘local search’ equals ‘near me search’.

Location-enabled Searches

If you have your location enabled on your phone, you can perform a local search without even realizing it. In most cases, if you simply type in ‘mechanic’, you’ll get local results simply because you have location services enabled on your phone (Google is clever enough to know that you’re probably not looking for a definition of a mechanic unless you specifically ask for one).

This can vary depending on the type of business searched for, though. Searches for popular business types like hotels, restaurants, and car dealerships are always likely to trigger a location-enabled search.

What is a local search result in Google?

As we’ve seen, there are several types of ways to make a local search on Google, and fittingly, there are multiple types of local search results, too.

Depending on the device used for the search and the type of search performed, a different type of local search result may be shown.

Here, we just want to share a few terms that pop up most often to describe local search results so you feel comfortable with each one when you carry out local searches, speak to a local SEO agency, or look for local SEO services.

Local Pack

The most common result you’ll see when making a local search for a business is the Local Pack, though Google is doing its best to make AI Overviews the de facto search result—more on this shortly.

The Local Pack is a section of Google’s search results that shows the top local businesses related to your query. Whenever your query has local intent, Google will show a set of local businesses that might answer your query.

You’ll see the Local Pack appear if you go to Google and type in your search query in the search bar. It will often have an image of a map above or beside it and then usually three suggested local businesses below or to the side, sometimes with snippets of reviews, opening times, justifications, and photos.

For local businesses, this is the ultimate goal in local SEO, as these three spots are generally consistent across mobile and desktop and are by far the most popular way of discovering local businesses on Google.

Google Maps

If you use Google Maps to perform a search, you’ll get local map results. This will show the location of businesses matching your search query on a map with options for filtering according to criteria such as ‘top rated’ or ‘open now’, or even business types like ‘restaurants’.

Local Finder

If you click a listing in the Local Pack or scroll through the list of businesses on Google Maps, you’ll get what are called ‘Local Finder’ results. The Local Finder is the source of truth for all local listings on Google.

Wherever you see listings for a particular search term in a particular location, the Local Finder results are what’s being pulled. BrightLocal tracks these positions in our Local Rank Tracker and Local Search Grid.

Google AI Overviews

Getting back to general browser results, today you might find an AI Overview result in response to your local search query. These responses are generated by Google’s Gemini LLM (“AI” is entirely a misnomer—and a deliberate one: there is no “intelligence” going on here, merely pattern recognition and prediction, and the same is true of other LLMs like ChatGPT).

In this local search result type, Gemini does its best to discern what sort of result the user is searching for and pulls from authoritative guides and online sources to compile a response that’s conversational in tone.

The sources themselves are hidden behind ‘link’ icons and in the right-hand box (which I’ve already opened in the screenshot above).

These results are experimental and vary wildly from day to day and from search to search. It’s safe to say that until Google has stabilized Gemini and implemented it fully and consistently, you can’t rely on AI Overviews appearing for any given search, be that local or otherwise.

“Find Results On”

This may vary depending on where in the world you are searching from, but thanks to Google’s ongoing legal issues in the EU (the governing bodies of which want to see Google stop ‘self-preferencing’ in its products) the search giant has had to compromise and place links to other directories prominently in search results.

This is why you might see ‘Find Results On’ above even the Local Pack in your search results. The prominence of these directories in local search results (and in organic results) further highlights the importance of getting your business featured in all the right directories.

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Localized Organic Results

Localized organic results are a slightly different version of local search results. These results are shown in the main search area. They aren’t strictly business-related (so they likely won’t include specific local businesses unless they’re performing very well in local SEO for the search term you’ve used), but they do have a strong local connection via their content.

If the searcher is clearly looking for something local, the results will often consist of directory listings or ‘listicle’ style articles (such as “Top 10 Best X in Y”) and articles from local bloggers and newspapers.

Non-Google Local Search

As mentioned above, we’re now in an era where not everyone relies solely on Google to search the web. 

In fact, they might not even need to go to the traditional ‘web’ (as found via a browser). Search behavior has changed so much in recent years that it’s now perfectly normal for someone to, say, use ChatGPT to get restaurant recommendations and details, use Instagram to check out what the food looks like, and then find an impartial video review on YouTube or TikTok to make the final decision.

Our own Local Business Discovery and Trust Report found these to be the top apps for business discovery on social media:

1. Facebook (59% of consumers use Facebook to learn about businesses)
2. YouTube (49%)
3. Instagram (40%)
4. TikTok (32%)
5. Twitter/X (28%

Let’s take a brief tour of some of these to understand what a local search might look like.

Local Search on Facebook

Facebook is the #1 social media app for business discovery, so we have a dedicated guide to local search and Facebook. For now, let’s move on to some of the others on this list.

Local Search on Instagram

Instagram isn’t quite clever (or perhaps nosy) enough to use your location to prop up a generic search like ‘restaurant’ or ‘restaurant near me’ but if you include a place name, like ‘restaurant new york’, you’ll see posts related to that search, generally from super-popular Instagram accounts.

Another way to search for local businesses on Instagram is a clunky one, but it’s great for a more visual way to browse if you love Instagram.

1. Type a business name you know is in the area and industry you’re researching into the search bar and scroll over to ‘Places’:
   
   
2. Tap on the business name to see posts related to that ‘Place’.
   
3. Zoom out of the map and click ‘Search This Area’ to see a bunch of posts and reels related to your search. That’s where you’ll find similar business types.
   

This is a niche trick for Instagram business search, but it works and highlights the importance of having an updated and engaging Instagram presence that’s properly detailed, with opening times and the correct address.

Local Search on TikTok

TikTok works in much the same way for business discovery as Instagram, but with one key difference: TikTok actually gives businesses the equivalent of a directory listing.

Perform a business search or stumble across a business another way, and you’ll eventually land on the business’s own listing, which contains:

• reviews on TikTok
• reviews from other platforms like Google Maps
• a link to call the business
• a link to find the business on Apple Maps
• the full address, price range, and even…
• an estimate of how close to you the business is (no other platform does this!)

Where does TikTok get this information from? It doesn’t just aggregate it from other platforms, it actually requests business owners to submit and verify their business details via a dedicated form.

With a social media platform taking business discovery so seriously, you can see why Google’s not in the same position it used to be for local search.

Local Search on YouTube

Unlike some of the other platforms mentioned here, YouTube doesn’t need to keep track of your location and doesn’t tailor its search results based on it. Instead, to perform a local search on YouTube, you’ll need to add your location to the search term (e.g. restaurants brighton).

A local search on YouTube provides you with the same kind of results you’d get for a standard YouTube. It’ll likely be comprised of listicles from popular bloggers or review sites, peppered with sponsored posts from content creators or the businesses themselves.

Where YouTube really comes into its own is in individual product or business reviews. Depending on the sector, you could find a host of reviews to help you make a local business decision, or better yet, local experts who take the time to provide their unbiased reviews.

ChatGPT (and other non-Google LLMs)

Finally, we come to LLMs like ChatGPT, and LLM-powered search engines like Perplexity and Arc Search. What all these have in common is that they’re less ‘search engines’ and more ‘answer engines’. By this, I mean that they’re designed to provide clear answers to questions, rather than a host of results for the user to browse around and use to come to their own conclusions.

They’re designed for conversational activity, so you can start a local search with a simple question like ‘where is a good coffee shop in brixton’, and then refine the results conversationally, without having to repeat the question, like so: “which of these is close to t a train station”. This sort of conversation is what LLM providers mean when they say things like “it can help you plan an entire trip”.

As you can see in the screenshot above, ChatGPT answers local business questions with a map and a carousel of businesses it’s highlighted as suitable for the search term. Want to know which sources it used to decide on this list? Just click ‘Sources’ at the bottom, and ChatGPT will provide you with the list of top sources (usually business websites, authoritative blogs, directories, or local news sources) that it used.

Where do LLMs get the bulk of their information from? The training data used (and how up-to-date it is) is different depending on the LLM you choose, but by far the most popular, ChatGPT, primarily uses Microsoft Bing as its search engine, leveraging its data to provide up-to-date information when searching the web through the “ChatGPT Search” feature. This is because OpenAI, the developers of ChatGPT, have a partnership with Microsoft, which owns Bing.

Uncovering ChatGPT Search Sources

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What about other search engines?

While they’re not nearly as popular as Google, there are a multitude of niche or localized search engines available, from industry stalwarts like Yahoo! and Bing to others like Baidu and Yandex. Take a look at our guide to alternative search engines to learn how local search works on those platforms.

Conclusion

Now that you know the differences and commonalities between local search types and local search results, you can dive further into learning what affects these things.

Whatever you do, always be testing and learning. There’s no such thing as set-it-and-forget-it in SEO, and local search is no different. Even citations have to be updated sometimes!

A comprehensive local SEO reporting stack allows businesses and agencies to:

• Monitor rankings across different locations and search engines.
• Analyze competitor performance to identify opportunities.
• Track Google Business Profile (GBP) insights to optimize visibility.
• Audit technical SEO for local search optimization.
• Manage reviews and sentiment to enhance online reputation.
• Track call conversions and form submissions to measure lead generation.
• Monitor website analytics and user behavior to optimize conversion paths.

By choosing the right combination of tools, you can streamline reporting, automate insights, and make more data-driven decisions to enhance local search success. In this guide, we’ll break down the essential tools you need to build a powerful local SEO reporting system.

Key Components of a Local SEO Reporting Tool Stack

Building an effective toolstack for local SEO reporting requires selecting the right tools for different aspects of your SEO campaign. Here are some options that you could incorporate into your reporting stack.

1. Rank Tracking Tools

Rank tracking is the foundation of local SEO reporting. For businesses managing SEO across multiple regions, the ability to track rankings at a granular level is essential. There are a number of tools on the market that can help you with this, so let’s take a look at a few of them.

BrightLocal’s Local Rank Tracker and Local Search Grid

BrightLocal offers two powerful local rank-tracking tools that provide more ways to monitor, enhance, and report on local rankings. Both tools generate customizable, white-labeled reports that can be easily shared via a link with clients and stakeholders, making it simple to keep everyone informed and engaged.

1. Local Rank Tracker monitors your business’s search rankings in different search engines and can highlight where your business appears in search at the time the report is run. Up to 100 different keywords (search terms) can be monitored at one time, making it easy to monitor changes and trends in search rankings — this can help you to develop your marketing strategy (e.g., which content to include on a website, where to focus link-building activities), as well as improving ranking for underperforming keywords.

Like all BrightLocal reports, Local Rank Tracker reports are fully customizable. You can add your own logos, colors, and branding for a professional touch. You can also say goodbye to the end-of-month scramble with automated reports delivered straight to your inbox at a time that works for you. 

If you’re a BrightLocal customer, learn eight ways to hone your local SEO strategy with Local Rank Tracker here.

2. Local Search Grid can tell you exactly where your business is ranking on a granular level.

Instead of giving you one ranking number for a whole city, the grid tells you where you rank from one street to the next so you can discover who your competitors truly are. The report is color-coded to help you understand where you’re ranking well and where the opportunity lies.

Simply enter up to 5 keywords and the area of the city or town you want to track them across. The report returns search rankings for your business and the top 10 competitors for each of the keywords (see image below). This enables you to easily see what your business needs to change or improve.

For example, if you saw that you had more reviews and a similar star rating to your top three competitors but that your Category was different, then changing that within your Google Business Profile might help to improve your rankings.

The useful timeline at the top of the report shows you how your landscape changes over time, giving you the power to showcase your impact and success with clients and colleagues.

GS Location Changer

Another tool that every local SEO professional should have is GS Location Changer in their browser extension bar. This tool allows you to manually check local SERPs by setting your IP to search from any specific location. It’s fast, accurate, and invaluable for verifying rankings, especially when a client sends a screenshot showing different results for their GBP or website. By using this extension, you can cross-check ranking positions and ensure your reports are accurate.

Other Popular Rank Tracking Tools:

• SEMrush offers rank tracking that includes local pack performance and keyword tracking across various regions, helping businesses monitor their competitive landscape.
• Ahrefs allows you to track rankings for up to 10,000 keywords, segmented by specific locations (city, state, and postal code) for both mobile and desktop searches.

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2. Google’s Reporting Platforms

Google provides a suite of powerful (and free) tools that track search performance, website traffic, and user behavior, which are essential for effective local SEO reporting. They offer real-time insights into how users find and interact with your site, helping you measure success, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions. Integrating these tools ensures accurate reporting and clearer ROI for stakeholders, so setting them up is a great first step in any local SEO reporting strategy. 

Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

GA4 is essential for tracking how users find and engage with your website. By analyzing organic search traffic, conversions, and user journeys, you can understand what’s working and what needs improvement. 

With GA4, you can set up powerful reports to track key insights, such as:

• Traffic acquisition: See where your visitors are coming from (organic search, social media, referrals) to understand which channels drive the most valuable traffic. 
• Converting pages: Identify which pages lead to the most conversions. This will help you optimize high-performing content and improve underperforming pages. 
• Demographics and user behavior: Learn about your audience, including their location, device usage, and engagement patterns, so you can tailor your local SEO strategy accordingly. 

Check out the free BrightLocal Academy course from GA4 pro Dana DiTomaso for expert guidance on how to set up and use GA4 for local SEO, and don’t miss the BrightLocal blog Getting Started with Google Analytics 4 for Local SEO for a step-by-step introduction.

Getting Started with Google Analytics 4 for Local SEO

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Google Search Console (GSC)

GSC provides invaluable insights into your website’s search performance, indexing issues, and keyword rankings. It helps identify technical SEO problems and tracks which search queries are driving traffic. 

A common frustration with GSC is its data filter and comparison feature, which lacks the flexibility of GA4’s date range selection and comparison options.

The GSC extension by Thijs van Hal offers a solution that makes date range selection and comparisons more intuitive. It also displays percentage changes and search volume data directly within the platform, enhancing usability and efficiency.

For a deeper dive on Google Search Console, check out these two articles:

• An Introduction to Google Search Console for Local Businesses
• An Advanced Guide to Google Search Console for Local Search

Google Business Profile (GBP) Performance

For businesses with a physical location, GBP Performance offers data on how customers interact with your listing, including search impressions, direction requests, calls, and website clicks. You can then use this data in reports to demonstrate areas to optimize your listing for better engagement. 

BrightLocal’s Google Business Profile Audit goes a step further and allows you to see under the hood of your profile, revealing any SEO issues that could be harming your current performance, including duplicate listings, NAP errors, and local ranking identifiers that exist outside of your GBP listing. A major advantage of GBP Audit over standard GBP Performance is that it allows you to access 18 months of performance data. That’s three times the standard six months. This extended data range allows you to better analyze trends, make more informed decisions, and offer clearer progress reporting for clients and stakeholders.

If you’re already a BrightLocal customer, get instructions on how to set up a Google Business Profile Audit report here.

3. Local SEO Audit Tools

Ensuring that your site’s technical SEO is optimized for local search is vital, as it directly impacts visibility, user experience, and overall search performance. Regular audits provide the data needed to track progress, identify technical issues, and showcase improvements over time. 

Tools like BrightLocal, Screaming Frog, Moz, and SEMrush have powerful site audit capabilities. They can help you uncover and resolve problems such as broken links, slow page speed, and missing local SEO elements. Incorporating these insights into your reports ensures that stakeholders can see the tangible impact of technical optimizations on rankings and local search success.

BrightLocal’s Local Search Audit

Designed specifically for local SEO, Local Search Audit reports provide a comprehensive analysis of your business’s online presence, including NAP consistency, local citations, Google Business Profile health, and on-site SEO factors.

The report analyzes 300+ data points and then collates these into seven clear sections, with each section isolating and reporting on a different area of local SEO.  Each section is color-coded so you can quickly see which areas of your local strategy need the most attention.

If you click on any of the color-coded sections, you’ll be taken to a more in-depth look at what’s happening in that area and how you can improve it. 

For example, in the image above, we can see that the business lacks links—they have 149, but their average competitor has 636. This is an area they can work on. If you’re already a BrightLocal customer, get instructions on how to set up a Local Search Audit report here. 

Other Popular Auditing Tools:

• Screaming Frog: An SEO spider tool that audits on-page elements and local SEO factors like NAP consistency and checks schema markup for local SEO.
• Moz: Offers site audits with detailed reports on technical SEO issues that could be hindering local rankings.
• SEMrush: Provides a full suite of technical audits, from mobile usability to site speed, ensuring your site is optimized for local search visibility.

4. Competitor Research and Benchmarking Tools

Understanding what your competitors are doing can give you a strategic edge in local SEO. Incorporating competitor insights into your reports not only demonstrates your progress but also provides actionable recommendations for stakeholders, ensuring that your SEO strategy remains proactive rather than reactive.

8 Tools for Competitor Analysis

There are many tools that can help you to track and analyze your competitors. Here are a few: 

• SpyFu allows you to discover the keywords your competitors are ranking for in local search, providing insights into their strategy.
• Google Business Profile Audit lets you quickly assess the status of your Google Business Profile and how it compares to your top online competitors.
• Local Rank Tracker is a great way to see how your rankings benchmark against your competitors. You can add a maximum of four competitors to the section called ‘Monitor competitor search rankings’ when you set it up.

• Citation Tracker lets you monitor competitor citations and helps you to fill any gaps. We find the competitors by looking for what businesses are ranking top in Google Maps for the business type + location (e.g. plumbers in Manhattan). Once your report is complete, you’ll see a tab called Competitor Citations, where you’ll be able to see a list of citations and business mentions that your top five competitors in search have, excluding any that you already have. 

• Ahrefs lets you perform in-depth competitor analysis, tracking keywords and local rankings and uncovering local search opportunities.
• Local Search Audit has a ‘Links & Website Authority’ section that provides a snapshot of how your site’s authority compares to competitors. You’ll find both your business’s scores and the competitor’s average for key link-related metrics. Your goal is to outperform the competitor’s average in each category. 

• SEMrush provides competitor insights, benchmarking your local performance against others in your industry.
• Local Search Grid tells you how well you’re ranking for specific keywords compared to your competitors, giving you an idea of who you’re actually competing against so you can start to build a strategy for improvement.

For example, if you saw that you had more reviews and a similar star rating to your top three competitors but that your Category was different, then changing that within your Google Business Profile might help to improve your rankings.

Want to know more? Learn how to track your competitors and conduct powerful competitor analysis with BrightLocal’s tools.

5. Review Monitoring and Sentiment Tools

Online reviews are an essential component of local SEO, directly influencing rankings, customer trust, and conversion rates. Tools like BrightLocal, Reputation.com, BirdEye, and ReviewTrackers help businesses track review trends, measure sentiment, and respond effectively. Incorporating things like review volume, star ratings, and customer feedback over time into reports provides valuable insights into brand perception and areas for improvement, making it easier to demonstrate the impact of reputation management efforts.

4 Tools for Review Monitoring

• Reputation.com: Offers a complete platform for managing reviews and tracking sentiment across Google, Facebook, and other platforms.
• Monitor Reviews: This allows you to track your reviews across the review sites that matter to you in one easy-to-understand report. You can monitor the growth in reviews and fluctuations in star ratings and receive valuable new review alerts so you can respond to feedback rapidly.

Once your Google Business Profile and Facebook accounts are connected to your review monitoring report, we can also check for new reviews every day. You’ll also be able to respond to reviews on these sites directly from within this report. Reports are fully white-labeled to make it easy for agencies to share with clients.

• BirdEye: Monitors customer reviews, tracks sentiment, and provides actionable insights to help businesses improve their online reputation.
• ReviewTrackers: Allows businesses to monitor reviews across hundreds of platforms, with reporting features that help you measure customer satisfaction and reputation.

6. Call Tracking and Lead Attribution Tools

One crucial yet often overlooked aspect of local SEO reporting is call tracking and lead attribution. For businesses that rely on inbound calls—such as law firms, home services, and healthcare providers—understanding where leads are coming from is essential for optimizing marketing efforts.

CallRail

CallRail is a leading call tracking and analytics platform that helps businesses:

• Track phone calls and form submissions from SEO, PPC, and other digital campaigns.
• Identify which keywords, pages, and channels drive the most valuable leads.
• Record and analyze calls to assess lead quality and customer intent.
• Integrate with Google Analytics, Google Ads, and CRM systems to streamline reporting.

By incorporating a tool like CallRail into your local SEO reporting stack, you can attribute offline conversions to online efforts, providing a clearer picture of marketing ROI and helping businesses make data-driven decisions.

Other Popular Call Tracking and Lead Attribution Tools:

• Infinity offers dynamic call tracking, conversation analytics, and integrations with leading marketing platforms.
• WhatConverts tracks calls, form submissions, and chat conversions, providing full lead attribution insights.
• CallTrackingMetrics combines call tracking with marketing attribution and call center automation.
• Marchex uses AI-powered call analytics to measure call quality, attribution, and customer interactions.
• Invoca focuses on AI-driven call analytics and conversation intelligence for optimizing inbound calls.

Integrating Your Toolstack for Maximum Performance Oversight

Once you’ve chosen the right tools, integrating them into a seamless reporting workflow is key. Here are some ways to optimize your tool stack for maximum efficiency:

• Centralized Dashboards: Tools like Google Looker Studio, Power BI, and AgencyAnalytics allow you to integrate data from all of your reporting tools into a single, customizable dashboard. This allows for quick analysis and reporting, helping you track everything from keyword rankings to competitor performance in one place.
• API Integrations: For more advanced users, tools like Zapier and Make can automate data flows between your SEO tools, creating streamlined workflows that save time and reduce manual reporting.
• Custom Alerts: Set up automated alerts for ranking drops, review changes, or technical issues that require immediate attention. AgencyAnalytics also offers built-in alerting and automated reporting features, ensuring you stay informed and can act quickly when needed.

Reporting Best Practices for Agencies and Larger Businesses

When managing SEO for multiple clients or locations, consistent and clear reporting is essential. Here are a few reporting best practices:

• Segmented Reporting: Break down your reports by location, client, or business unit. This provides stakeholders with actionable insights specific to their needs.
• White-labeling and Sharing: Tools like BrightLocal and SEMrush allow you to generate white-labeled reports, making it easy to share insights with clients or stakeholders while maintaining your brand identity.
• Custom KPIs: Focus on the key metrics that matter for local SEO, such as local ranking movements, review scores, visibility in local packs, and local search traffic.

Conclusion

Building a comprehensive local SEO reporting tool stack is essential for businesses or agencies managing local SEO at scale. By combining powerful tools for rank tracking, GBP insights, technical SEO audits, competitor analysis, and review management, you can gain a 360-degree view of your local SEO performance. Integrating these tools into a cohesive reporting system ensures you have the oversight needed to make data-driven decisions and improve your local SEO strategy.

Ready to build your ultimate local SEO reporting tool stack? Start by exploring tools like BrightLocal today.

What are local rankings?

Google local rankings show how easy it is for people to find your business when they search locally on search engines, such as when your business shows up in the “local pack” or on Google Maps. These rankings depend on things like how relevant your business is to a search, how many places mention your business online (like directories or review sites), and how well your website is set up.

What makes Google local rankings different is that they change based on where someone is. For example, if you’re searching for a restaurant, the results will be different depending on whether you’re searching from downtown or a few miles away. That’s why it’s so important to keep an eye on your local rankings to make sure your business shows up where people are searching nearby. 

So, now we know what local rankings are, let’s take a look at how to track and monitor them. 

How to Track Local Rankings

Here are a few ways you can track local rankings:

1. Manual Search (Not Recommended Long-Term)

You can manually search for local keywords on Google, but this method has its limits:

• Use Incognito Mode: Google personalizes results based on your search history and location. If you use “Incognito” mode, you can avoid personalized search results.
• Search with Location: Use specific locations in your search to check how your business ranks in different areas (e.g., “plumber in Boston”).
• Track Results Regularly: Since rankings can change frequently, you’ll need to check often and take note of your positions.

2. Using Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that helps you monitor and improve how your site appears in Google Search results. It can give some insight into your keyword performance, but it doesn’t focus on location-specific searches or give a true reflection of local rankings across multiple areas.

The ranking you’ll be shown in Search Console is an average over a period of time. While that can be useful, it’s not entirely accurate.

3. Use a Local Rank Tracker Tool

The easiest and most comprehensive way to track how your business ranks for specific local keywords is by using a rank tracking tool. These tools will show you:

• How your business appears in the local pack or map results,
• How your website appears in local search results,
• How your competitors are performing for the exact keywords,
• How your rankings change in different cities or neighborhoods.

Many of these tools also allow you to automate daily, weekly, or monthly reports. These reports make it easy to keep stakeholders updated or pinpoint which locations need more focus. 

With this in mind, let’s look at what local rank trackers are and how they can help. 

Eight ways Local Rank Tracker can help hone your local SEO strategy

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Local Rank Trackers: What are they?

A local rank tracker is a specialized SEO tool designed to monitor a business’s performance in local search results. Unlike general rank tracking tools, it focuses on location-based keywords and visibility in both map and organic listings.

They work by simulating real searches from specific locations, allowing you to monitor local rankings effectively. They use geo-coordinates, IPs, and other methods to reflect the experience of a real user searching from a given area.

Why should you use a local rank tracker?

Using a local rank tracker provides several key benefits. 

• It provides you with actionable data, so you can clearly see where you stand and identify areas that need improvement. 
• It also offers efficiency, allowing you to track dozens or even hundreds of locations simultaneously. 
• With competitor insights, you can see how your rankings compare to local rivals, helping you stay ahead of the competition. 
• As previously mentioned, it enables better reporting, making it easier to impress clients and stakeholders with clear, performance-based data. 
• Most importantly, a local rank tracker gives you more control over your local SEO efforts, helping you understand which tactics are working and which need adjustment. It’s a no-brainer!

Types of Local Rank Tracking Tools

Not all local rank trackers work the same way. At BrightLocal, we offer two main tools:

• Local Rank Tracker (LRT): Tracks organic and map rankings for local keywords in search results. It is useful for snapshot-style performance reporting and tracking specific keywords over time.

• Geo-grids like Local Search Grid (LSG): Offers a visual, grid-based overview of how your business ranks across a certain area. It simulates searches from dozens of points in a city or neighborhood to highlight your local performance.

How to Set Up Local Rank Tracking

Getting started with local rank tracking is easier than you might think. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide for setting up both Local Rank Tracker and Local Search Grid.

Setting Up Local Rank Tracker

1. Add Your Business Location
   Enter the location or business you want to track and select how frequently you’d like the report to run.
2. Choose Your Keywords and Search Engines
   Add the keywords you want to track and select the search engines (e.g., Google, Google Maps) you want to monitor them on.
3. Add Competitors (Optional)
   You can track up to four competitors for the same set of keywords to benchmark your performance.
4. Set Notification Preferences
   Choose who should receive the report via email each time it runs.
   

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Setting Up Local Search Grid

1. Add Your Business Location
   Start by entering the location or business you want to monitor.
2. Define the Grid Area
   Set the area you want to track by choosing the grid size and distance, measured in meters or miles based on your target service area.
   Enter Keywords
   Add up to five local keywords you want to track. The tool will show how well your business ranks across the selected area.
3. Select Report Frequency
   Choose how often the report should run: ad hoc, weekly, or monthly.
4. Set Notification Preferences
   Just like with LRT, select who should receive the report results via email.

What to Do With Local Rank Tracking Data

Collecting local rank data is only half the job. The real value comes from applying it. Here are a few smart ways to use it:

• Identify underperforming areas and allocate marketing resources accordingly.
• Benchmark against competitors to highlight opportunities.
• Track the impact of SEO efforts (e.g., after optimizing your Google Business Profile or building citations).
• Report on progress to stakeholders with automated reports and visual insights.

How to Improve Local Rankings

To boost your visibility in local search, these tried-and-tested strategies are a great place to start. For a broader overview, check out our Local SEO Handbook – What is Local SEO?

1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile

To strengthen your local presence, make sure you’re actively optimizing key features of your Google Business Profile (GBP):

• Ensure your name, address, and phone number (NAP) are accurate and consistent across all platforms.
• Add high-quality, up-to-date photos that reflect your business.
• Regularly respond to customer reviews to show engagement and build trust.
• Keep your business hours updated to avoid customer frustration.

2. Build Local Citations

To improve your local rankings, it’s essential to build consistent, accurate local citations. That means making sure your business is listed on key local directories, industry-specific sites, and popular online platforms. Search engines use these citations to validate your business’s legitimacy and relevance in the local area. The more consistent and widespread your listings, the stronger the local signals you send to Google, which can help boost your rankings. 

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Tools like BrightLocal’s Citation Builder simplify this process by identifying the directories that matter most for your business and handling the submission and management work for you.

3. Get More Customer Reviews

Customer reviews don’t just make you look good, they help you rank better, too. Positive reviews send strong trust and authority signals to Google, showing that real people value your business. Make it easy and natural for happy customers to leave feedback by asking at the right time (like after a successful service or sale) and guiding them to the right platforms, especially your Google Business Profile. Don’t forget about other key platforms your customers use, like Facebook, Yelp, or industry-specific sites. 

4. Use Location-Specific Keywords

To climb the local rankings, you need to make it crystal clear to search engines where you operate. That’s where location-specific keywords come in. Sprinkle your city, neighborhood, or service area names naturally into your website content, page titles, meta descriptions, and even image alt text. 

For example, if you’re a plumber in Austin, don’t just target “plumbing services” — aim for “plumbing services in Austin” or “Austin water heater repair.” This helps Google connect your business to local searches and ensures you show up when nearby customers are looking for what you offer. Just remember: keep it natural and avoid keyword stuffing — quality content over quantity always wins.

5. Earn Local Backlinks

Want to really boost your local authority? Focus on earning backlinks from other reputable, local websites. These location-based links send strong trust signals to search engines, showing that your business is connected and credible within your community. You can do this by partnering with local bloggers, getting featured in local news stories, sponsoring community events, or even collaborating with nearby businesses on joint promotions or content. Each local backlink you secure helps strengthen your online presence and gives you a competitive edge in local search. Remember, it’s not just about quantity — the local relevance and quality of the link matter most.

Conclusion

Tracking and improving your local keyword rankings isn’t just a one-time task — it’s an ongoing process that keeps your business visible, competitive, and ready to attract local customers. By understanding where you currently stand, using smart tools like local rank trackers, and applying proven strategies like optimizing your Google Business Profile, building citations, gathering reviews, using location-specific keywords, and earning local backlinks, you can steadily climb the rankings and strengthen your local presence.

Remember: local SEO success comes from consistency, attention to detail, and the willingness to adapt as search behaviors evolve. Keep tracking, keep improving, and watch as your local visibility — and customer base — grows.

The following article is an introduction to Google Search Console to help businesses understand what they’re doing when setting up and integrating the platform. If you’re after something a little more senior, take a look at our Advanced Guide to Google Search Console for Local Search.

Google Search Console. The ubiquitous beast felt by all. Menacing, looming…

Okay, maybe I’m being dramatic, but to the unindoctrinated, that thing is scary! A dashboard of figures and foreign lingo, it can be a lot to get your head around. But, not to fear, that’s what I’m here for: let’s run through (in the simplest terms possible…) what it is, why it’s important, and how to get it integrated with your website and GA4. 

What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console (GSC), also referred to simply as Search Console, is Google’s tool to help you measure your site’s traffic and performance in Google’s search results. It’s free to use for anyone with a website and can be used to not only keep an eye on your rankings but figure out ways to improve them.

Okay, so… why should I care?

The information GSC provides offers a solid foundation for you to continue to build your strategy upon. Some of its insights are invaluable when it comes to your local SEO—and that’s before you consider some of its other handy features like managing sitemaps. 

With Google Search Console, you can identify your highest-ranking pages, identify your lowest-ranking pages, see how many total backlinks your site has, identify increases and decreases in ranking, and more. 

Essentially, to know where you’re going and how to get there, you first need to know where you’re at. 

How to get started with Google Search Console

The only requirement to use Google Search Console is having a Google account. In that account, you can have up to 1,000 sites—referred to by Google as properties. 

From Google: “A property is Search Console’s term for a discrete thing that you can examine or manage in Search Console. A website property represents a website: that is, all pages that share the common domain or URL prefix that you specify. You can manage multiple properties, and choose which one to see or manage using the property selector in Search Console.”

That being said, to actually view the information on a particular site, you must be able to prove that you’re that site’s owner. There are a few ways to do this.

First, it’s important to know which type of property you’re looking to add: a URL-prefix property, which will only include URLs with a specific prefix, or a domain property, which will include all subdomains underneath a particular site.

If you’re looking to verify a domain property, the only way to verify is through DNS record verification. On the other hand, a URL-prefix property can be verified in a variety of ways, including HTML file upload; HTML tag; Google Analytics; tracking code; Google Tag Manager; Google Sites, Blogger, or Domains account; or domain name provider. 

If you are unable to do any of the above, it’s also possible to have a property owner grant you access. 

You can read more about each method as well as common verification errors on Google’s Search Console Help. 

Once you’re verified, you’re ready to start exploring GSC and its many features!

Navigating a Search Console Report

Before you dive in completely, it’s good to have an idea of what you’re jumping into. In terms of general navigation, Google’s got you covered with this handy article on the different parts of a Search Console report.

The main thing you’ll be focusing on is the Performance Report—it is the bread and butter of your GSC experience. It shows you a variety of insights on how a particular site is performing in search. 

Locating the Performance Report

To find the Performance Report, ensure that you are on the correct property by checking the navigation bar. 

Once you have confirmed that you are where you need to be, find the Performance section and then click on ‘Search results.’

Search Types

There are 4 search types that you can view in the Performance Report; web, image, video, and news, with the additional option to compare any of the prior. Merely toggle between the options with the search type button. 

This allows you to see where your site is ranking beyond just the standard results page. 

Performance Report Metrics

In any of these search types, four main metrics are being measured: total clicks, total impressions, average click-through rate (CTR), and average position. You can have any of these four metrics displayed visually on a graph. Total clicks and total impressions are selected by default, but you can also view the average CTR and average position on the graph. 

Total Clicks

Clicks are the amount of, well, clicks you’ve gotten on your website from the search results. Ideally, you’re aiming for high clicks and high impressions. 

Total Impressions

Impressions account for any time a website has appeared in the search results for a query. When a website appears on the search results page of a user’s search, then it counts as an impression. The user does not have to click the link for it to count, and even if the link is at the bottom of the page and the user did not technically scroll to that point, it still counts. 

Average CTR

The average CTR is a percentage representation of how often users clicked through to the site from the search results. The higher the CTR, the better. 

Average Position

Average position accounts for… the average position of a website in search results. Generally speaking, any average position 1 through 10 is a good place to be. 20 through 29 means that your site could use a little more work, and anything lower than 30 means that your website needs some serious updates. 

Generally, all of these metrics need to be taken into account and looked at holistically when considering the status of your website.

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Performance Report Dimensions

Once you’re past the primary graph and metrics, you reach the additional Performance Report dimensions: queries, pages, countries, devices, search appearance, and dates. These give you an even more granular view of where and how you’re appearing in the search results.

Queries

This shows the top queries associated with a keyword phrase alongside the corresponding clicks and impressions. This part of the report shows the top 1,000 queries that encouraged traffic to your website. 

Pages

This shows your top-performing pages alongside the number of clicks and impressions that they garnered. 

Countries

This shows the top countries that your website is performing in, alongside clicks and impressions (perhaps not the most helpful dimension for our sector…) 

Devices

This section shows the top devices that are accessing your site. It is split into mobile, desktop, and tablet, and can help give an idea of which formats you need to pay special attention to optimizing for. 

Search Appearance

This takes a look at search statistics for rich results, meaning how much traffic is coming through from results enhanced with rich data. 

Dates

This section orders all of the clicks and impressions by date and can be set to descending or ascending order. 

It’s additionally possible to add all of the above aside from dates (which is a default marker) to the graph. You do this by clicking ‘new’ next to the Search Type and Date buttons and selecting the dimension you would like to add.

Just the Beginning

While you may have found a whole new foundation to work from just from the Performance Report, GSC doesn’t stop there, and you shouldn’t either. A quick look at the navigation panel shows just how much you can do with GSC, from viewing your various enhancements to to taking a look at your page experience to seeing a list of your internal and external links. 

GSC is a treasure trove of potential insights, so take your time and familiarize yourself with the possibilities.

How to Get the Most Out of GSC

If you’re what Google calls a ‘light user’ of Google Search Console, meaning that you use your website to promote your business, but your website isn’t your entire business, then GSC can be viewed as more of a monthly endeavor than a daily one. Google will email you if anything unusual happens in terms of crawling or indexing, or anything regarding search guideline violation or hacking. 

Other than this, Google encourages you to keep an eye on your dashboard to ensure that you’re not having any unusual dips in clicks or increases in errors. They also note that you need to keep an extra close eye on things when new content is uploaded to the site, as this is a common time for fluctuation in the search results. 

For the more hardcore users among us, GSC offers a variety of possible uses, from monitoring the total number of indexed pages and indexing errors to finding and fixing AMP errors. 

Integrating with GA4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a powerful tool in its own right. Google describes GA4 as “an analytics service that enables you to measure traffic and engagement across your websites and apps.” 

And, unbeknownst to many, it can be combined with GSC to give you an even more comprehensive look at how your website is performing. 

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In order to integrate the two, you must link a GA4 data stream with a Search Console property—something that can be done in either GA4 or GSC. Then, you’ll be able to view your Organic Search Query Reports and Organic Search Traffic Reports from within the GA4 platform. 

Ultimately, this simple integration will allow you to view more of your site’s data from one platform and ensure that your various profiles stay linked. 

Conclusion

Google Search Console is a tool that you don’t want to miss out on. Free and easy to use (once you get the hang of it!), it can offer invaluable insights as to how your page is ranking and why it’s ranking that way. 

While you may not be able to directly change those rankings with the platform, it gives you a solid foundation of data on which to base your local SEO strategy. 

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.

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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.

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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.

Essentially, it’s the work done by or for local businesses to ensure they appear in front of potential customers when those customers search for related terms.

If someone searches for ‘best pizza place in Manhattan’, what they’re hoping to find is just that. While many may believe that the results they’re being shown are literally the best, the reality is that the Local Pack uses a special local algorithm to determine which businesses’ Google Business Profiles (GBP) it will show.

Performing local SEO is a concerted effort to tell the local algorithm that your business is one of the ones it should showcase in local search results. It’s not just about leaving it to chance and hoping your quality will bring you out on top.

So it’s as simple as getting a Google Business Profile, adding some geographic keywords to your website, and moving on, right?

If only! There’s a bit (a lot!) more to it than that. Let’s look a little deeper.

How does local SEO work?

So, how do you actually get local SEO to work for you? That’s the big question you’ll have, whether you’re trying to get your single-location coffee shop to rank, or a client’s multi-location laundrette brand. I’m going to help answer the key questions: ‘How do I do local SEO?’ and ‘How does Google’s local algorithm work, and how can I optimize for it?’ 

Let’s start with that algorithm I keep on mentioning.

What does Google’s local algorithm look at?

Google’s local algorithm (or ‘system’ as Google calls its algorithms) looks at factors that it uses to decide what to show for traditional searches alongside factors that are more specific to local searches.

Google’s local algorithm focuses on three key pillars:

• Relevance: Google assesses how relevant your business is to the search a user has made. It does this by looking at a number of factors, like the category you’ve chosen on your Google Business Profile, other local listings you’ve built, and the description for your business. It also looks at the content your website, among other things.
• Proximity: This is the one that really makes this a truly local algorithm. Google looks at the location of the searcher when they perform the search to try and give them the most useful information, assuming they’re looking for a business nearby.
• Prominence: How well does your business or brand stand out, and how well known is it for the things being searched? A bunch of other businesses will likely be just as relevant and well-located, so in order to present the best results, the algorithm looks at what sets the leading businesses apart. Think reviews, links to your website from reputable sources, mentions in the press, and so on.

With the above in mind, local SEO works by having someone perform a series of tasks that help Google understand that your business is the best one to rank for that search. Some of these tasks are quick, like claiming your GBP and picking your categories, and some need to be consistently performed over a long period of time, like review management or link building.

Why is local SEO important?

Without local SEO, your business probably won’t be found when someone performs a local search.

For example, if someone in Chicago searches ‘nail salon in lincoln park’ and you’re up against tons of businesses that have hundreds of reviews, a well-maintained GBP and a bunch of well-optimized local landing pages, you’re unlikely to show up. And, if you don’t show up, the chances of someone coming across your business online drastically decrease.

Google themselves put out a key statistic in 2018 that’s still used widely across the industry to help highlight why local SEO is so important: 46% of all search queries have local intent. If that isn’t enough to convince you that it’s worth focusing on your visibility in local search, I don’t know what is. But if you want to see some more local SEO statistics, we’ve got you covered.

Local SEO vs Traditional SEO: What’s the Difference?

The core difference between SEO for local businesses and SEO for other kinds of businesses (such as e-commerce) is in the tasks you’ll need to undertake to improve the local business’s visibility.

Tasks for traditional SEO are aimed at helping a website rank in non-localized searches. Tasks for local SEO are aimed at helping a real-world business rank for a local search.

You’ll notice that I’ve said “business” there rather than a website. That’s because a business can technically rank for local searches on Google without a website, as long as they’ve claimed their Google Business Profile.

Let’s have a look at what a search term with local intent returns in Google compared to a search term without local intent.

Here is a search for ‘car tires’, one that Google sees as a more generic e-commerce search. As you can see, there are a number of Google Shopping options, some paid ads, and then links to websites.

Now take a look at the results of a search for ‘car tires lincoln park chicago’.

As you can see, there’s a stark difference. The local search shows the ‘Local Pack’, which I mentioned previously, and the organic results underneath that are localized, too.

The Local Pack is a box that contains a selection of Google Business Profiles and a map. It’s this section:

That’s very different from a traditional SERP, so it’s logical that the work you need to do isn’t exactly the same.

Traditional SEO tasks include things like:

• Link building and PR
• Technical SEO (although this encompasses a lot of different tasks)
• Content optimization and creation

All of these tasks do form part of any local SEO work, it must be said. So if you’re performing local SEO, then using these as a foundation is a good idea. Content and link building, for instance, just need to be done with a localized slant. Traditional SEO tactics are still important, but they simply become part of a wider tapestry.

So with that in mind, what do you need to consider for local optimization?

What are the key tasks involved in local SEO?

There are a whole host of ways to improve your local rankings. If you’re new to this, though, there are a few simple places you can get started.

1. Claim, then optimize, your Google Business Profile
2. Do your keyword research
3. Look at your competitors
4. Build local listings
5. Get more reviews
6. Create localized content

Use our local SEO checklist for a more exhaustive plan.

Claim, then optimize your Google Business Profile

Do it. Now. Maybe even yesterday if you’ve got access to a time machine. Before you start on anything else, this is a simple first step to take.

Do it here. I’ll be waiting to carry on once you have.

Done that? Great. Need help doing it? We’ve got a guide on claiming your Google Business Profile.

A GBP is how Google understands your business, from the business category you select through to the reviews you get. In addition to that, Google populates the Local Pack with GBPs. Starting to see why it’s so important now?

There’s a lot you need to consider with GBP, so we’ve gone into much more detail in our Google Business Profile Handbook.

Work out the keywords you want to rank for

This is the start of any SEO work, whether it’s local or otherwise.

It’s such a big deal that some businesses even include their keywords in their business name. While I wouldn’t necessarily always recommend that, it does highlight that you need to think about how your customers are going to find you as early in the process as possible.

Every SEO expert you talk to will have a different way of recommending performing more detailed keyword research. But a good start is simply searching for your business in the same way that you think your potential customers would, and seeing what comes up in the search results.

Gather a small selection to begin with, and think of the ones with a more transactional intent.

For instance, if you’re a nail salon in Lincoln Park, Chicago:

Nail salon near me

Nail salon in lincoln park

Lincoln park manicure

Best pedicure lincoln park

Other, more “longtail” or informational terms, can come later. For now, you’re just at the beginning of your journey.

There’s a lot more to local keyword research than that, though, so we’ve gone through it in detail as part of another guide in this Handbook.

As you’ll see when you’re optimizing your GBP, having those keywords handy will be useful. A search below shows how Google pulls the information from each GBP to match the searcher’s query.

Look at your competitors

With these keywords in hand, you can quickly discover who your local competitors are going to be.

Of course, you may just be able to look out of a window, or already have market research in hand. Even so, it’s worth remembering that you may have different competitors in online search.

Once you’ve seen who is ranking for your keywords, you can see how they’re doing it. This gives you an idea of how quickly you can be competitive and where your quicker wins will be.

Are they struggling with reviews on their Google Business Profile? Try to get more than them, and prioritize this activity. Is their GBP a mess? Make yours make more sense. Have they engaged with the local community to get a bunch of links? See if you can do that, too. You get the idea.

One way to check this is simply by Googling. Another is  byusing a local SEO tool like BrightLocal’s Local Search Grid.

Build local listings

While they may not be the one-shot to the top three rankings they used to be, local citations (or business listings) are still an important brick in your local SEO foundation.

Not only does Google use them to assess whether the information they have on you is correct, but they’re also an important way of building trust.

Citations are just as the name suggests: mentions of your business’s important information (Name, Address, Phone Number) on trusted sources. It’s worth investing in a number of key citations to get your foundations in order.

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Once you’ve built your citations, it’s important that you keep them maintained and accurate.

Why? Well, it’s important that search engines can rely on the business details they scour the web for, but it’s important for consumer trust, too. In fact, The Local Business Discovery & Trust Report 2023 found that 62% of consumers would avoid using a business if they found incorrect information online. 

For more of a deep dive into local citations, check out our Local Citations Handbook. If you want to start building your own, we’ve got a lengthy list of business listing sites to help, too.

Get more reviews, then actively manage the ones you receive

Review management is a task that falls somewhere between SEO and customer service. While it can benefit both, your online reputation is particularly important for your rankings.

Google has a review functionality in Google Business Profile for a reason: it sees user and customer feedback as a key signal for ranking businesses in local searches.

It’s worthwhile taking time to look into review guidelines for Google and other major platforms. Our Review Management Handbook also has tips on those guidelines and on how to get more reviews.

Optimize your website for local search

As mentioned above, you technically don’t need a website to rank in local search. But I strongly recommend you have one. Once you get it, you need to make sure it’s designed to help you rank locally.

There are a host of generic on-page SEO tasks you can do to help your local SEO. These includes things like:

• Optimizing meta-data and page titles,
• Implementing local business schema 
• Creating an efficient structure for your site
• Making it mobile-friendly (you can use Chrome Lighthouse to check how you’re doing)
• Building relevant internal links
• Providing a positive user experience

Once you’ve got those basics down, you’ll need to look at your website content.

Mentioning geo-targeted keywords

Think ‘replacement car tires in lincoln park’ or ‘manicure in lincoln park’. If you’re a single location, then this is super easy, as your homepage can do a lot of the heavy lifting. If you’ve got a few locations, or you’re a service area business, then your homepage will be more general, but should still include some important keywords— they may just be city or state-based, rather than borough or small-town based.

Creating location pages

If you have specific business locations all talked about on the same website, then you need to have a way for people to find them. Optimize these location pages for ‘[keyword] in [location]’ as a bare minimum. Then, look at how you can make them truly useful to your potential customers.

We have a more in-depth guide to creating powerful location pages.

Creating local content

If you’re in a highly competitive market, you can then take this even further. Creating localized content can help increase your overall authority and help Google understand that you’re truly the expert in that area.

The type of local content will vary depending on your niche. But a couple of examples for different niches are below:

Law: If you’re performing local SEO for a law firm, you can consider whether there are any laws in your state or city that are unique. Write a guide to help people understand that. Think ‘Divorce law in Texas’, or something like that, and then how you can write a compelling and informative guide on the subject. If someone is searching for those differences, you want to be the site they find that information on.

Real estate: Similarly, if you’re doing a real estate company’s local SEO you could consider creating area guides that really sell why a specific area is good to move to. Roundups of coffee shops or features on schools in those areas could be a great idea.

This is all just scratching the surface. There’s a lot you can do with your content.

Anything else?

That’s just scratching the surface. As I alluded to earlier, building links is something you’ll likely need to consider. The key here, though, will be getting them from relevant local sources.

Other tasks that you may need to consider include:

• Monitoring changes to Google’s algorithm or SERPs
• Fighting spam by reporting businesses that go against Google’s guidelines.
• Engaging with your local community
• Creating social media profiles and actually using them

Tracking Your Work and Reporting Results

Part of any form of optimization process, whether that’s local SEO or your fitness routine at the gym, is taking time to assess how that work is going.

The following are free tools to help you start tracking your results. We have created guides for each to help you set them up and interpret the results.

• Google Business Profile Performance
• Google’s Search Console
• Google Analytics 4

If you’re taking things seriously, investing in a local rank-tracking tool is also worth it. Geo-grid rank trackers are a great way to visualize how your business is ranking as they show how you’re performing for your keywords based on the search location on a map. There are a few different geo-grid rank trackers available, but we’d recommend our own Local Search Grid.

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What next?

I’ve gone over the basics to help you understand what local SEO is. Hopefully, you’re feeling ready to get started with some of these tasks (or at least know what local SEO services to look for providers of—consider BrightLocal’s if you are!) If you’re still unsure about anything, you’re in the right place—the rest of our local marketing handbooks can help.