A local SEO audit is the diagnostic that tells you why you are not ranking where you should be — or why a campaign that held top three positions for 18 months has started to slip. Whether you are managing a large brand or running local SEO for a small business, the same audit framework applies. I run audits for clients at Salterra Digital Services before any campaign strategy is finalized, and again quarterly as a maintenance checkpoint. Here is the exact process I follow.

Step 1: Google Business Profile Health Check

Start with the GBP listing because it is the highest-leverage asset in local search and the most frequent source of correctable problems. Most issues here are quick fixes with immediate impact.

  • Confirm the listing is claimed and verified. An unclaimed listing can be edited by anyone, and many unclaimed listings accumulate wrong information from user-suggested edits.
  • Check the primary category against the top three competitors in the local pack for your main target phrase. Use GMB Everywhere or PlePer to reveal competitor categories. The most specific, accurate category that the top-ranking competitors share is almost always the right choice. See how to choose GBP categories for the full evaluation method.
  • Review all secondary categories for accuracy and completeness. Are relevant services missing? Are any categories listed that you no longer offer?
  • Read the business description. Does it use the primary service phrase in the first sentence? Is it close to the 750-character limit?
  • Count and review photos: total count, recency of the most recent upload, whether they show real work and staff versus generic stock images.
  • Check post activity: when was the last GBP post? A listing with no posts in the past month reads as inactive.
  • Review the Q&A section for unanswered customer questions and for any misleading questions that may have been posted by competitors.
  • Check the GBP dashboard for any Google-suggested edits that were accepted without your knowledge. Inaccurate suggested edits are surprisingly common.

Step 2: NAP Consistency Audit

Pull a citation report using BrightLocal, Whitespark, or Moz Local. Document every instance of your business name, address, and phone across the web. Flag any variation, however minor:

  • Name variations: abbreviations (Co. vs. Company), DBA names listed differently, old business names still active on directories.
  • Address variations: suite number formats (Suite 100 vs. Ste 100 vs. #100), old addresses from a previous location, missing unit numbers.
  • Phone variations: old phone numbers, different area code formats (with vs. without country code prefix), call-tracking numbers that were never removed.

Every inconsistency is a conflicting entity signal. Prioritize corrections at the highest-authority directories first: Google, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp, Facebook, and BBB. Then work down the authority list. See NAP consistency for detail on how these conflicts affect ranking confidence.

Step 3: Citation Coverage Audit

Inconsistent citations are one problem; missing citations are another. Cross-reference your citation report against a benchmark list of core universal directories, industry-specific directories for your vertical, and local directories (Chamber of Commerce, city business listings, local news outlets). Build a gap list of directories where your top competitors appear and you do not. These gaps are the highest-priority citation-building targets. Before prioritizing the build-out, read about citations vs. backlinks to calibrate how much effort each deserves relative to your current authority. A complete, consistent citation footprint builds the corroboration signal that contributes to local prominence. See local citations for how to prioritize the build-out.

Step 4: Review Profile Audit

Document your current review standing across all platforms, but focus primarily on Google:

  • Total Google review count.
  • Current average star rating.
  • New reviews in the last 30 days and last 90 days (velocity check).
  • Response rate: what percentage of reviews have received a response?
  • Compare all of the above against the top three local pack competitors. How large is the gap in count? How large is the gap in rating?

If you are 60 reviews behind the top competitor, that is roughly a 12 to 18 month gap to close at a steady, ethical ask rate. Set the expectation accordingly. If you have outstanding reviews with no response — especially older negative reviews — respond to all of them immediately. A negative review that sat unanswered for six months tells every prospective customer something about how the business handles problems.

Step 5: On-Page Signals Audit

Check your website for the signals Google uses to confirm local relevance:

  • NAP in the footer: is it plain text (not an image or JavaScript-rendered block), and does it match GBP exactly?
  • Title tags on core service pages: do they include both the service phrase and the city?
  • Meta descriptions: are they manually written (not auto-generated), under 160 characters, and do they include the city?
  • One H1 per page that matches the page topic accurately?
  • Is LocalBusiness schema markup present and validated on every page, and does it match GBP data precisely?
  • Is there an embedded Google Map on the contact page?
  • Run a Core Web Vitals check on mobile. A page that loads in 6 seconds on a mobile connection is failing both Google and the user, regardless of how well everything else is optimized.

Step 6: Local Content Audit

Inventory your existing content against the full target keyword list:

  • Does a dedicated page exist for each core service? Or are multiple services buried on a single Services page with minimal depth?
  • Are service pages substantive — 600 words or more with genuine information — or thin pages that exist only to rank?
  • For businesses serving multiple cities: do location pages exist, and are they genuinely distinct or effectively duplicate pages with the city name swapped?
  • Does the blog target local + service queries, or is it generic industry content with no geographic signal?

Cross-reference these findings against a local keyword research report to identify gaps between what potential customers search and what your site currently addresses. These content gaps become the roadmap for the next content build phase.

Step 7: Local Pack Ranking Benchmarks

Run a grid-level local pack rank check for your top five to ten target phrases across the full service area. This data feeds directly into Google Maps marketing decisions about where to concentrate effort. Tools like Local Falcon and BrightLocal’s Grid Tracker show where you appear in the pack at different geographic points — not just in the center of your city. Many businesses that believe they rank consistently are only visible within a half-mile of their address; the near me result. This is especially critical for service-area businesses that need visibility across an entire metro. The grid report reveals exactly where ranking is strong and where there are gaps that need attention.

Turning Findings Into a Prioritized Action Plan

An audit without a prioritized fix list is a diagnosis without a treatment plan. After documenting all findings, sort them by the combination of impact and effort. Fixing a miscategorized primary category is high impact and low effort — do it the same day. Correcting 40 NAP inconsistencies is high impact and moderate effort — schedule it over three to four weeks. Rebuilding thin service pages is high impact and high effort — plan it as a focused content sprint with realistic timelines.

A quarterly audit keeps a campaign on track and catches drift early — a single accepted Google edit that changed the business category, a new citation source with an old phone number, a WordPress plugin update that broke the schema output. These small problems compound when undetected. Running a structured audit process is how you maintain rankings instead of reacting after a drop. For how the audit process integrates with ongoing campaign management, the local SEO services page covers the full approach I use with clients.