20 Local SEO Audit Tips for Real People and Businesses
I’m Ehab Aboud, a Google Business Profile Gold Product Expert, and for the past decade or so, I’ve been identifying pain points and helping local businesses unlock opportunities to fuel sustainable growth. From optimizing local marketing campaigns to leveraging data for competitive insights, I’ve built a reputation for turning marketing challenges into wins.
Over my career, I’ve worn many hats — data engineer, customer success expert, and now, Principal Solution Engineer at Uberall. Drawing from my experience, I’m going to share some of the most underrated tips that I’ve discovered from my local SEO audits, and those of my peers. I also shared these insights during my talk at BrightonSEO.
What’s in a Local SEO Audit?
Well, for the purpose of my talk, I focused on three areas:
Apple Business Connect
But your audit, of course, shouldn’t stop there. You can also check the consistency of your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across major directories, such as Yelp, Bing Places, review your presence on social media, and explore sentiment analysis tools, for example.
These are the tips for local SEO I would give businesses keen to make smart, incremental improvements to boost their online visibility and outperform their competitors.
Your Google Business Profile
Google rewards businesses that optimize their local presence. These tips for local SEO will help you boost your visibility on Google, build trust, increase engagement, and get more customers.
1. Combine Your Ranking Factors
Leverage optimized reviews, images, menus, and services to signal what you want to rank for — for example, “best caesar salad near me.” Using this particular example, this might look like:
Including SEO-optimized images/video of caesar salads
Ideally, leveraging reviews, in which customers have commented on the superiority of your caesar salad
Uploading a menu, on which your caesar salad is listed
Combined, these elements signal your authority in a certain topic/product.
2. Fix Unpublished Reviews
Some businesses notice that their customers are not able to publish reviews to them. Sometimes, this is because Google has blocked the review Google has blocked the review after identifying it as likely spam or not genuine, whereas in other instances, Google has just taken a while to process the review and decide what to do with it.
Oftentimes, legitimate reviews fall through the cracks and I see this often in the Google forum. Here’s a great article posted by the Google Forum Community managers providing more troubleshooting tips.
That said, one of my amazing Product Expert colleagues, Vinay Toshniwal, noticed that you can sometimes pull the good old “turn it off and on again” approach with reviews too.
So, do you have a missing review? Try getting the customer to visit the Google listing, call the business or go to the website (or better yet, go directly to the business if they’re nearby), wait a minute and then post again again.
3. Use Rich Media and CTAs
Videos are super important and give users a better insight into customer experiences. These can appear as the second item on the carousel. This is how much Google values video. I’ve also seen instances where Google has experimented displaying the user-generated video as the first item.
Google also rewards Local Guides with extra points if they add videos, so the company is really trying to push more for videos!
4. Post Photos and Videos Regularly
It’s all about engagement recency. Update little and often. If you have 100 photos, upload (for example) 40 now and then two every week for a year. Start drip-feeding. This signals that your business is relevant and up-to-date. You can apply this to opening hours and other fields in your listing as well!
5. Knowledge Panel Lookup
Use this online Knowledge Panel API Explorer find out what Google is sharing about your business. You'll see which entities the real-time knowledge panel contains that are related to your business (news, events, products, people, etc.), and you’ll be able to see where you can make further optimizations.
6. Spot Fake Competitors
Audit your local area for keyword-stuffed, old, or fake profiles. Report them to Google. It makes your life easier when you’re trying to suss out who your real local competitors are.
7. Avoid Triggering Suspensions
Trust is important — you should avoid the following on your Google Business Profile:
call-center phone numbers
purchased reviews
spammy owners
keyword stuffing
ultra-edited photos
conflicting website info
spam posts
fake or virtual offices
You can find out more here from Google’s guidelines on representing your business.
8. Translate Your Bilingual Business Name
If you’re in a territory where multiple languages are spoken, ensure you fill out both fields, like I’ve demonstrated in this screenshot below. You’ll only be able to do this on Google Maps, not Google Business Profile! So if you’re struggling to find it in GBP, this is why.
9. Monitor Google’s Edits
Google can update your business info without warning – download the Google Export to see what’s required. You can find more information about this on Google’s support pages.
10. Switch Off Automated Calls from Google
Sometimes, Google tries to call you to see if you’re around and the info you’ve got on your profile is correct.
If you’re a business that is not answering calls during peak hours when you’re busy (for example, if you’re a packed restaurant), Google might take this to mean you’re closed. Google might also change your opening hours on your behalf, so make sure you switch off automated calls, if you think it’s necessary.
11. Fix Ownership
Primary owners can instantly upgrade another owner, but what if your primary owner account has gone missing or is inaccessible?
Other owners can request primary ownership but must also wait seven days. If a third party (like a former agency or employee) is the primary owner, this can delay your ability to manage your listing, which can become critical if you, for example, have received bad reviews or want to fix outdated business information.
This seven-day delay can cost you visibility and customer trust.
12. Location Spoofer
Use a SERP checker, such as valentin.app, to emulate a specific location and monitor how your brand appears on the SERP. This will give you ideas on how you appear to your potential customers from their locations and whether you need to optimize further.
13. Check Claimed Listings
Don’t let third parties own your listings. Take control of your online presence and ensure accuracy. When you own and manage your listings, you strengthen your visibility in local search and build trust with both search engines and potential customers.
Your Local Landing Pages
Your website needs to be fast, localized, and conversion-friendly. Remember, optimizing your local landing pages is your chance to own the narrative of your business outside your listings.
Google and other search engines also rely on your website as the first means of a “web presence” when checking if your business is legit and you have the correct info online. These expert tips will help you optimize not only for search visibility but also for UX and conversions.
13. Align H1/H2s with Your GBP Business Name
Keep your headings (and address) clear, relevant, and consistent with your Google Business Profile for SEO consistency
14. Optimize Your Local Page Content
You should include rich images, videos, and clear call-to-actions that are specific to that location. If you want to add a human touch, you can include the name of, for example, the chef of that particular restaurant.
15. Link Local Pages in Google
Link your local page URLs (not just your homepage) in your Google Business Profile. If you’re a multi-location business, providing more than just your homepage is a far better user experience and is more likely to drive traffic and conversions to your location.
16. Complete Structured Data
When you update your information on the frontend of your website, don’t forget to update it in your website code! Search engines and generative engines will better understand your business with the right and up-to-date schema markup. While you won’t be penalized for not updating information, you certainly won’t be rewarded either for consistency.
Your Apple Business Connect
Apple Business Connect (ABC) is your direct line to Apple Maps, Siri, and the iPhone’s native apps. If you don’t optimize your ABC, you might be missing out on engagement or store visits from billions of customers with Apple devices. So, here are some expert tips on how to unlock the power of ABC.
18. Add Rich Data
When you update Apple Business Connect, you then empower Apple to add rich ABC data to your customers’ iPhone Phone app – not just Apple Maps!
Apple likes to integrate its tools a lot, so this rich data is an easy way to provide more information about your business. So, it’s important to add high-quality photos to help your business stand out, pin your locations accurately, sync consistent business information, and get native Apple reviews here!
19. Use Apple Showcases
With Apple Showcases — that is, Apple’s version of Google Posts – you can highlight offers, events, or business updates and other promotional content and include a call-to-action. You can find out more about these on Apple’s support pages.
20. Get Native Apple Reviews
Don’t rely on third-party sites like Yelp or Trustpilot – Apple Maps will pull data from these sites if it can’t find enough native Apple reviews or photos. Apple will prioritize its own reviews if you collect enough of them. Push down those third-party ratings and give yourself more control over your reputation by actively asking your customers to leave Apple reviews.
Want to share these tips with the rest of your team or clients? Download my cheat sheets from BrightonSEO for free.
Don’t Delay Your Local SEO Audit
Google updates its algorithms all the time; businesses that stay proactive will win.
If you see anything new in the this space, or you’ve got new tips for local SEO to share — or if you simply want to share your experiences – reach out to me on LinkedIn! You can also contact my colleagues for a local SEO audit to get your business on track.
