More than 46% of all searches have local intent. Hence, any local firms that want to prosper in the digital-first world need to prioritize their online visibility. Whether you have a law firm, a local plumbing company, or a family-owned home improvement store, showing up on SERP (Search Engine Result Page) can take your business to a new height. 

To enhance your visibility online, you need a well-structured local SEO checklist. A comprehensive checklist ensures that all the important elements, such as optimizing Google Business Profile and building NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number), are covered. 

So, as the best SEO agency, we have created a detailed checklist of local SEO for small business owners! Keep reading to make sure everything is structured and updated!

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO helps you be found by the right people at the right time. It is the process of optimizing your online presence to attract more customers and from relevant local searches – 76% of the people who search for something nearby visit a business within 24 hours.

For small businesses, local SEO means being seen by potential customers when they’re actively looking for services you offer. Whether it’s a restaurant, law firm, or salon, showing up consistently on the SERP increasingly boosts sales and drives foot traffic. 

With nearly half of all Google searches having local intent, investing in local SEO is a smart decision to stay competitive in the digital rush!

Want More Local Customers? Optimize Your Business with SEO Now!

Local SEO Checklist For Small Business Owners

Set Up Your Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile is one of the most effective ways to boost your local SEO as a small business owner. Your GBP is your digital storefront that makes it easier for potential customers to find you when they search for products or services in your area. 

It is considered one of the most important tasks when setting up local SEO. This is because many users discover businesses through Google’s local results. Here’s a checklist for setting up your GBP profile – 

  1. Add or claim your business on the GBP website
  2. Verify your business
  3. Fill out your profile
  4. Create a plan to manage your profile

It is important to claim or add your business on the official GBP website. When you do so – your business can appear in local search results, Google Maps, and the “Local Pack” (the three businesses that show up under the map on Google). This helps Google understand your location and services to attract more customers. 

Now, outline a plan to optimize the GBP. Here’s how you can do it – 

  • Claim and verify your profile on the Google Business Profile website. Google will verify it through a call, email, or postcard. 
  • Add the correct NAP, such as name, address, and phone number. It is important to ensure they match the details on your website. 
  • Be specific when choosing the category that describes your services. For example – if you own a pizza restaurant, select pizza restaurant instead of Restaurant. 
  • Add visuals such as – photos and videos of your storefront, product, or team. Also, include a convincing business description. 
  • Lastly, enable messaging and include a website link. 

Pro Tip: Post regular updates, promotions, or events on your GBP to stay active. Google favors businesses that frequently update their profiles. This has a positive impact on your local SEO ranking. 

Manage Your Online Reviews

For small business owners, online reviews can enhance the results and bring in more customers. Reviews not only influence potential customers but also affect how Google ranks your business in the local search results. 

When determining local rankings, Google considers review quantity, quality, and recency. The more positive reviews you have, the higher your chance of showing up in the Local Pack will be. Plus, customer reviews instil trust and credibility, making potential clients more likely to choose your business. 

Here’s a review checklist that’ll help you manage your reviews efficiently – 

  1. Add your business to relevant review platforms
  2. Update your existing business profiles on review platforms
  3. Choose a primary review platform
  4. Ask your customers for reviews
  5. Create a review response strategy

Start with adding your business to review platforms such as Yelp. This allows you to expand your business and help you receive reviews from multiple platforms. When choosing a primary review platform, it is advisable to go for Google – as Google reviews for local businesses can boost your visibility in search results. 

Next, ask your customers for genuine reviews. Ask them to be as descriptive as possible. The review should be meaningful so that it supports your claims of superior service. Here are some options that you can choose to get reviews – 

  • Send an email to the customer with a review request link
  • Add a review widget to your website so visitors can easily see and submit reviews
  • Convert your review page link into a scannable QR code that you can incorporate into business cards, posters, etc. 

Also, how you respond to the reviews matters. So, try adding keywords to your response. For example – Thank you for visiting our nail salon in Reno! We are glad you loved our mani and pedi session! Moreover, don’t avoid negative reviews – respond to them politely and apologize for the inconvenience the customer has to face. 

Pro Tip: Use Google’s review request tool to generate a custom link that you can send your customers to leave feedback.

Build Local Citations

Building local citations means ensuring your NAP (Name, Address and Phone Number) is consistent across all online directories. This boosts your local SEO authority and makes it easier for search engines to verify your business information. Here’s a checklist for building local citations – 

  1. Add your phone number, name, and address to your social media profiles
  2. List your business in relevant directories
  3. Make sure all the citations are consistent

Google uses citations to confirm the legitimacy and accuracy of your business details. The more consistent and accurate your citations are, the better your local SEO ranking will be. Inconsistency can hurt your visibility. Here’s how you can build your local citations – 

  • List your business in major directories, such as Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Yellow Pages, and Facebook.
  • Use niche and service-based local directories. For example, if you’re a plumber, list your business in the home service directories. 
  • Keep the NAP consistent. Even a small discrepancy, such as St. or Street – can confuse your potential customers.
  • Include business details such as – working hours, website URL, and a brief description of the services or products you offer. 

Pro Tip – Use citation management tools like Moz Local or BrightLocal to automate and track your citation-building efforts. 

Obtain Local Backlinks

Local backlinks are the links to your site from other websites. These links help drive valuable traffic, and for small businesses, they serve as a major ranking factor. Links from local websites carry more weight because they signal to Google that your business is relevant to a specific area. 

Here’s a checklist to obtain local backlinks – 

  1. Check for unlinked mentions of your brand and get them linked
  2. Sponsor local events, awards, coalitions, etc. 
  3. Find local influencers and work with them
  4. Try getting links from business affiliates
  5. Submit guest posts to local websites

Ensure to get backlinks only from websites with immense traffic. Use an organic traffic checker such as Ahref or SEMrush on your website. If you see a website with over 1000 visitors per month, they are most probably the trusted one. You can also improve the backlink strategy through social media, social media bookmarking, etc. 

Local backlinks also improve your website’s domain authority and signal to search engines that other local entities trust your business. Before you start, understand Google’s link spam policies. This is because violating these policies can lead to penalties that may harm your website and visibility. 

Pro Tip – Use Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker to monitor your current backlinks and identify potential local link opportunities.

Improve Your On-Page SEO

On-page SEO refers to the optimization you make directly on your website. This helps improve its ranking potential. For local businesses, this makes sure that the site clearly communicates with your audience about your location and what you offer. 

Improving on-page SEO means optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, and content with keywords searched locally. This makes the chance of ranking higher in local searches. Thus increasing your website traffic. Here’s how you can improve your on-page SEO – 

  • Include your city or neighborhood in the title and meta description. For example – Best Plumber In Sacramento|XYZ Plumbing And Drains!
  • Distribute the location-specific terms throughout your content. For example – We offer roofing services in Reno, Nevada!
  • If you serve several regions, include a dedicated page for each location. This helps you rank for geo-specific searches. 
  • Link relevant pages together to help search engines crawl your website more effectively. 

Here’s a checklist to improve your on-page SEO – 

  1. Perform keyword research
  2. Choose the primary keyword for each page
  3. Optimize your title tags, meta tags, meta titles, meta descriptions, header tags, URL slugs, and body content.

Finding local keywords can help potential customers find local businesses like yours. These keywords must be included in the title tag, meta description, URL slug, H1 tag, and wherever appropriate. Here are a few easy ways to find relevant local keywords – 

  • Take help from Google’s related searches
  • Use Google Search Console to see what terms you’re ranking for
  • Type relevant terms into Google’s search bar and look at the suggestions
  • Use tools such as Ahref or SEMrush to check trending keywords with high search volume

Pro Tip – Use tools like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to optimize your on-page SEO easily!

Add NAP Information To Your Website

Add your business’s name, address, and phone number to your website. This helps potential customers and search engines find you easily. If you have one location, add NAP information to the website footer. In addition, create a “Visit Us” page or something that includes – 

  • Contact details
  • Opening hours
  • High-quality photos of your premises
  • An embedded Google map showing your location
  • Other useful information that can help your customers find you on SERP

However, if you serve or operate in multiple locations, create a page for each location. 

A consistent NAP strengthens your local authority. Here’s a checklist to follow for NAP – 

  1. Create a contact page featuring your NAP and other information in case of single location
  2. Add NAP information to your website footer
  3. In case of multiple locations, create a contact page for each location

Pro Tip – If your business has multiple locations, create. It helps search engines display your service in that particular geographical area. 

Add Local Business Structured Data To Your Website

Adding local business structured data, also known as schema markup, can be beneficial for your local SEO. It is a form of microdata that helps search engines better understand your business details. This can enhance your visibility in search results by making your listing more informative with rich snippets. 

Structured Data labels different types of local business information on the website. This ensures search engines can properly display the information when searched.  Here’s a checklist for your local business structured data implementation – 

  1. Identify relevant properties on your website
  2. Use the Schema Markup Helper to create structured data
  3. Publish the structured data to your website

Before adding schema to your pages, first, figure out the “item type” of the content you create. Then, here’s how you can further add local business schema – 

  • Add LocalBusiness schema markup to your website’s HTML
  • In the schema, add NAP, business hours, services, payment methods, and customer reviews
  • After adding schema, test it using Google’s Rich Result Test to ensure it is correctly done.
  • If you offer a product or service, then add the Product Or Services Schema to highlight them in local searches. 

Google provides the structured data for you to add to your site, and you can choose either JSON-LD or microdata format. If you are not sure which format to pick – talk to an SEO company Sacramento.

Pro Tip – If you use WordPress, you can simplify the process by installing an SEO plugin like Rank Math or Yoast SEO. They offer built-in schema markup options.

Run A Technical SEO Audit

Performing a technical SEO audit ensures your website is free from any issues and is search-engine friendly. This prevents the ranking from dropping, as it involves identifying and fixing issues related to site speed, broken links, crawlability, and indexing. 

Here’s the checklist of technical audits – 

  1. Set up your website on Google Search Console
  2. Review and fix issues flagged through the Google Search Console
  3. Run a detailed audit through the Site Audit tools and schedule future audits
  4. Create a plan to manage your technical SEO tasks

It is important to set up the Google Search Console platform, which is free and helps you manage your website’s visibility on Google. After you set up GSC, here’s what you need to check the following – 

  • Page Indexing – It shows which pages on your website are indexed and which aren’t. Also, it identifies crawling and indexing issues. 
  • Core Web Vitals – Core web vital shows the speed and performance of a webpage. This is flagged for any URLs classed as “poor” or “need improvement.”
  • HTTPS – Google recommends that you use HTTPS (a secure version of the HTTP protocol) across your website. It flags any non-HTTPS URLs on your website. 
  • Manual Actions – It shows whether you’ve received a manual penalty that harms your search visibility. You may receive penalties for violating Google’s link spam policies.
  • Sitemaps – It shows the latest XML sitemap submitted to Google. An updated sitemap reduces the risk of indexing risks. 
  • Security Issues – It highlights if the content is hacked, infected by malware, or unwanted software. It reduces the risk of indexing issues. 

Monitor Your Local SEO Results

Lastly, it is important to track your SEO performance. It is essential to measure the effectiveness of your efforts and make necessary adjustments. It allows you to identify what’s working and what’s not. By analyzing metrics like website traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion, you can refine your local SEO strategy for better results. 

Here’s a checklist for some ideas on how you can track the results – 

  1. Decide which local SEO metrics you want to track
  2. Set up tools of your choice such as – Map Rank Tracker, Position Tracking, Google Analytics
  3. Create a plan to monitor your SEO performance

To monitor your local SEO – 

  • Use Google Analytics – Track organic traffic, bounce rates, and conversion. Also, it monitors how visitors interact with your website.
  • Use Google Search Console – Identify which local keywords drive traffic and see how your website ranks for them.
  • Track Google Business Profile Insight – It gives you an idea of how many people have clicked on your profile, clicked for direction, or called your business.
  • Use Local Ranking Tools – Tools like BrightLocal or SEMrush let you monitor your local keyword rankings and track progress over time. 
Ready to Rank Higher? Get Professional SEO Services Today!

Takeaway

With the increase in competition, it is important to have a strong local presence. Small businesses, with the help of local SEO, can achieve new heights of success. However, with a good strategy and local SEO checklist, they can do wonders and stay ahead of their competitors. 

But don’t forget to check your progress. This will help you understand the scope of improvement and do better in the future!

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Need Help Ranking In Your Local Searches? Partner With Velocity Media Lab – The Leading Local SEO Company In Sacramento!

At Velocity Media Lab, we offer customized solutions to local and small business owners to increase conversion and result in business growth. We help you get found by nearby customers using keyword optimization, consistent NAP citations, and review management. 

Get in touch with Velocity Media Lab for the best SEO services in Sacramento!

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