The 15-Step Local SEO Guide: How to Find Hidden Opportunities

1. Check For Google Penalties

The first step is the easiest place to look for a hidden opportunity to help skyrocket your rankings. Is your website currently under any penalties from Google?

To check for penalties, your website must be connected to Google Search Console. If not, you or the site owner will need to connect and verify first.

Screenshot from Google Search Console, August 2022

Then, in the left sidebar, click on Security & Manual Actions and select Manual Actions.

Screenshot from Google Search Console, August 2022

If it says, “No problems found,” great!

If it says anything else, you have your first batch of problems to solve.

2. Run A Keyword Audit

This is your first exciting journey into finding hidden opportunities with local SEO. There is a lot you can discover and improve within this step!

For this step, you will need a list of keywords that you want to rank for.

You can probably extract some of those keywords yourself.

For example, if you have a bakery in London, that’s already one relevant keyword candidate – “bakeries in London”.

Once you’ve found your keywords, check them for two things:

Let’s start by finding out keyword rankings.

How To Discover Keyword Rankings

First, you need to determine if your website appears on a search engine results page (SERP) at all. Your ultimate goal is to appear on page 1 or in Pack 3.

You can try Googling the keywords from your keyword list one by one, but it will be faster to use an SEO tool and check them all at once.

Screenshot from WebCEO.com, August 2022

Simply scan your site rankings in the WebCEO Rank Tracker tool.

The settings of this tool allow scanning in specified locations, which is exactly what we need for local SEO.

It can even detect more interesting search results such as the local pack, hotels or Information Panel.

When you get the report, look at the Position and SERP columns; they show where your site ranks.

It doesn’t hurt to just check the monthly local searches column, as it shows how often users type those keywords into Google.

If none of these columns are in the report, press the Manage columns button to add them.

Screenshot from WebCEO.com, August 2022

Now, let’s analyze your keywords for user search intent.

How To Discover Keyword Search Intent

Search intent is about understanding what potential shoppers type into Google to get different results that match what they want.

For example, a shopper might type in “buy blue iced sugar cookie in London” – this type of search has a “Transactional” intent. You want to make sure your keywords are relevant to transactional or commercial intent.

So ask yourself these questions:

Now that you understand your position within keyword searches and the intent behind those keywords, you now have the information you need to modify your content strategy to boost your website’s rankings.

3. Check Your Google Business Profile

First, do you or your customer have a Google Business Profile (GBP) listing?

If not, that’s really bad news for your local SEO. Setting this up is a quick win for your local search efforts, making it a great hidden opportunity!

If you do, log into your Google Business Profile and find out:

Is Any Information Missing From Your Google Business Profile?

A blank field in GBP is a hole in your local SEO. All fields should be filled in with accurate, up-to-date information about the business:

Are Keywords Present & Used Properly On Your Google Business Profile?

Keywords (especially local ones) are a big ranking factor in your GBP.

They can ensure that your business appears in Google’s highly competitive local pack.

The catch is, you can’t just put them in the title and call it a day: that goes against Google’s guidelines, which require the real-life name of the business to be used.

However, craftier owners only include keywords when naming their businesses. It’s a perfectly valid escape route that meets the guidelines and ranking algorithm.

The only thing you have to worry about is that the name sounds natural.

Screenshot from Google, August 2022

GBP categories should also include relevant keywords. Putting them in the description is optional, although encouraged.

Are Photos & Other Images Uploaded On Your GBP?

There are a variety of images that you can upload to your Google Business Profile. The more you have, the better.

It goes without saying that all images should be of high quality.

Video also deserves a mention as another form of visual. If there are any, look at them, and see if you can find any problems.

What Is The Posting Activity Like?

GBP allows you to create posts to communicate with your target audience. View the posting activity on the page.

Posting once a month is considered the minimum, so ask yourself these questions:

Frequent and varied jobs can ensure that this feature is used effectively. It is also good to have links, photos and geolocations in the posts.

Is There An FAQ Page?

FAQs are a powerful asset for any website, and customers are guaranteed to have questions.

4. Find On-Page SEO Issues

On-page optimization is extremely important, making it a great hidden opportunity – especially if your competition isn’t doing this.

We admit that it can be a lot of work, and there’s also a lot of room for mistakes, but if you get them right, you’ll come out on top!

Don’t waste any time dealing with problems. Find them all in WebCEO’s Site Issues Overview report.

Screenshot from WebCEO.com, August 2022

This tool will scan all site pages at once, so you can catch all SEO errors on the page.

For a local SEO audit, here are the most important issues to keep an eye on:

Of course, any other issues highlighted in the report should not be ignored. All of them have a negative impact on site rankings.

5. Perform A Backlink Audit

Backlinks are the most powerful ranking factor of all, making it, you guessed it, a hidden opportunity to rank higher than your competition.

Backlinks can make or break your SEO, even when you’ve done everything else right. No SEO audit is complete without a backlink analysis, and local SEO is no exception.

So hurry up. Scan your link profile with WebCEO’s Backlink Checker.

Screenshot from WebCEO.com, August 2022

Once your report is ready, it’s time to evaluate your backlink profile.

Based on this analysis, you will be able to fix the flaws in your customer’s link building strategy.

6. Evaluate Your Online Reputation

A local business lives or dies by its reputation among customers. Good thing we have the internet, right? There’s no place like it to find out what people think of you, and to lose all sleep.

Hopefully your customers will keep sleeping well after you do this step. What should you check for?

Collect Reviews For Your Website & Potential Keywords

Any self-respecting local business should be collecting customer reviews on its website. Positive and negative reviews, detailed feedback – be sure to pay attention to everything. A review is especially valuable when it comes to the keywords your site is leading for.

The Google Business Profile review section is another place you can’t overlook. And if your client has created listings for their business on any review platforms, be sure to check there as well.

Be Sure Ratings Are Included In Your Reviews

Where there are reviews, there are usually star ratings on the same page as well. In fact, paired, they are very beneficial for SEO.

But it’s also common for business directories to show rating scores separately from user reviews.

If your client’s website appears in Google’s local pack, that’s the fastest way to see your client’s rankings. Of course, a thorough local SEO audit will require more information from other locations.

Get Notified When Your Brand Is Mentioned

Everyone wants their brand to be the talk of the town. The problem is, there’s only so much you can hear with your own ears and only so much self-Googling you can do on your own.

Thankfully, there are tools to get the word out on the e-streets.

Who, where, what, and when – find your online citations with WebCEO’s Web Buzz Monitoring tool. Add the keywords related to the local business whose SEO you are investigating (its name will do best). The tool will show you the sites and tweets where it was taken.

Improve Social Media Engagement

If your client has created social media pages for their business (as anyone should), you need to look at them as well.

How do you know if they are being run well? Give your judgment by answering these questions:

As a general rule, a lot of activity (from the owner and users) on a social media page is good. If you find any problems there, write them down.

7 – 15. Download The Free Local SEO Guide

Want more expert tips for a DIY local SEO audit?

Download your local SEO guide below. With this and pro-level SEO tools at your fingertips, you’ll be able to assess the local SEO situation of any website – whether it’s yours or your customer’s.

This guide was created exclusively for WebCEO users. Register now to enter the world of experts!

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the sponsor.

Why do we need local SEO?

Benefits of local SEO Better online visibility: Local SEO activity, such as citations and link building, increases your online visibility. So it’s easier for your business to find new customers. More in-store foot traffic: Greater local visibility brings more foot traffic to your brick and mortar location.

What is important for local SEO? Local SEO Tips

Optimize for Google My Business.
Participate on social media and add posts to Google My Business.
Make sure your name, address and phone number are consistent online.
Optimize online directories and citations.
Do a local SEO audit.
Improve your internal linking structure.

Why should I opt for local SEO services?

One of the main benefits of local SEO is that it improves your search rankings so you could gain more visibility and, as a result, trust. This is because when you optimize your content for a specific area it signals to Google that your business is local and that you are relevant for queries made in your location.

What is local SEO and why is it so important?

Simply put, local SEO is where you focus to improve your rankings and visibility in local search results such as Google Maps/Local Pack. Organic SEO is how you improve the rankings of a web page in organic search. How your website is ranked in those organic results can positively impact your Local Pack rankings, as well.

How do you know if you need local SEO?

How do you know if you need Local SEO? If your customer base is primarily located in the same city or metropolitan area where your business is located (i.e. local business), you will need local SEO. If you have a brick-and-mortar site (or sites), you need local SEO.

Who benefits from local SEO & Why?

One of the benefits of local SEO is that it drives potential customers to your site and improves the conversion rate. According to Joel House Search Media, 28% of local searches lead to sales. So local SEO undeniably leads to a better conversion rate – increased traffic flow leads to increased sales.

Who should use local SEO?

Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO. If you search Google for any important keywords related to your business and a map with 3 listings appears below (also known as a map package), local SEO can help you grow your business.

How local SEO can help your business?

Local SEO boosts your visibility in local search rankings, resulting in more site traffic, leads and sales. It also allows your business to consistently move up in the local search rankings.

What is local SEO and why it is important for SEO?

How local SEO helps your business?

Local SEO is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps your business become more visible in local search results on Google. Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO.

What is SEO indexing?

Indexing is the process by which search engines organize information before searching to enable super-fast responses to queries. Searching through individual pages for keywords and topics would be a very slow process for search engines to identify relevant information.

What is crawling & indexing? Crawling: Scouring the Internet for content, looking over the code/content for every URL they find. Indexing: Store and organize the content found during the crawling process. Once a page is in the index, it is in the process of being displayed as a result of relevant queries.

Is indexing important for SEO?

As mentioned above, indexing is an essential part of SEO. Without being crawled and indexed by Google, you have no chance of being ranked by Google. This means that indexing is one of the most essential (if not THE most important) part of SEO.

Should search results be indexed?

No, Google and other search engines should not index your website’s search results pages in most cases. Search engine wisdom has long held that the results pages from your site search should block search engine bots and not be included in a search engine’s page index.

Why is indexing important for SEO?

Proper website indexing allows search engines to see all of your important pages and boosts your site significantly. It can even send you on your way to page one.

What does indexing a website mean?

Website indexing is the process by which a search engine adds web content to its index. This is done by “crawling” web pages for keywords, metadata, and related signals that tell search engines if and where content should be ranked.

What does it mean when a site is indexed by Google?

A page is indexed by Google if it has been visited by the Google crawler (“Googlebot”), analyzed for content and meaning, and stored in the Google index. Indexed pages can be shown in Google Search results (if they follow Google’s webmaster guidelines).

How can I tell if a website is indexed?

The Google indexed page checker can be used in the following way: Enter your URL in the Google indexed page checker. The URL is the website you want to check the ranking or content value of a web page. Click next to get the results of your scan.

What is SEO and how it works?

Well, SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization’, which is the process of getting traffic from free, organic, editorial or natural search results in search engines. It aims to improve your website’s position on search results pages. Remember, the higher the website is listed, the more people will see it.

What is SEO and how is it used? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is the process used to optimize a website’s technical configuration, content relevance and link popularity so that its pages can be easily found, more relevant and popular for user search queries, and as a result therefore, search engines rank them better.

How does SEO work in simple words?

How Does SEO Work? SEO works by making certain changes to your website design and content that make your site more attractive to search engines. You do this in the hope that the search engine will show your website as the main result on the search engine results page.

How do you explain SEO simply?

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.’ In simple terms, it means the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google, Bing, and other search engines.

What are SEO tools?

What are SEO Tools? SEO tools provide data and alerts about the overall health and success of your website. They help find areas of opportunity and identify weaknesses or issues that may prevent you from ranking and earning visibility in the SERPs.

What does SEO tool stand for? What does SEO stand for? SEO stands for “search engine optimization,” but to fully answer your question, the simple meaning of SEO in marketing your business is the process of improving your website so that it is more likely to show up on search engines such as Google your business in user search results.

What are the 3 types of SEO?

There are three main types of SEO: Technical SEO Internal (On-Page SEO) External (Off-Page SEO).

What are the 7 seas of the world?

The Seven Seas include the Arctic Ocean, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian and Southern oceans. The exact origin of the phrase ‘Seven Seas’ is not certain, although there are references in ancient literature that go back thousands of years.

What is the sea made up of?

sea water, water that makes up the oceans and seas, which cover more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface. Seawater is a complex mixture of 96.5 percent water, 2.5 percent salts, and smaller amounts of other substances, including dissolved inorganic and organic materials, particles, and a few atmospheric gases.

What is SEO tools used for?

SEO tools investigate the potential of web pages for high placement on search engine ranking pages. They provide information on backlinks and keywords as well as insights into SEO competition on the Internet.

What does SEO cost per month?

Average SEO costs are $100-$250 per hour for US SEO agencies. SEO costs are often between $2,500 – $10,000 per month for US agencies. The average SEO plan costs $2819 per month (per Ahrefs) SEO companies abroad may charge $10-$50 per hour.

How much does SEO cost for small businesses? According to a survey of 1,200 business owners and over 350 agencies, freelancers, and consultants, the average cost of SEO for Small Businesses is $501-$1,000 per month worldwide. The average cost of SEO for small businesses in the United States is $2,501 to $5,000 per month.

Is it worth it to pay for SEO?

SEO is worth it if you have the right strategy in place and work with a partner who knows how to get results. About 93% of online experiences start with a search engine, and SEO’s conversion rate is much higher than traditional marketing. Therefore, SEO provides a significant return on investment (ROI).

Is SEO still relevant in 2022?

Will SEO still be relevant in 2022? Yes of course. Although some SEO tactics that were effective in the past stopped working, SEO kept evolving. Constantly reinventing itself to better match the user’s intent, cutting back on the spammy, ineffective tactics to become better.

Is it worth spending money on SEO?

For a small business, however, spending money on an SEO strategy is almost a no-brainer. Traffic and site visits are critical to the success of an SME. THIS is by far the most efficient and cost effective way to get this traffic.

What is a good budget for SEO?

If you are hiring a quality SEO firm to provide comprehensive SEO services, be prepared to pay at least $3,000 to $5,000 per month. Many companies are spending thousands of dollars per month on SEO.

How much does SEO cost in 2021?

Hiring an experienced SEO freelancer or agency usually costs between $50-$150 per hour. Of course, you can find people who charge much less or more than this hourly rate. For example, this SEO hourly rate breakdown found that 6% of SEO providers charge over $200/hour.

How much does SEO cost on average?

The average cost of SEO for small businesses is $750 to $2000 per month or $5000 to $30,000 for one-time projects. Smaller companies that invest in SEO consulting services can expect to pay $80 to $200 per hour.