Free SEO resource
Local SEO checklist
Free local SEO checklist with 35 checks for Google Business Profile, citations, reviews and local content, plus an XLSX GBP audit template and PDF.
Thirty-five local SEO checks in six groups, tickable on this page, plus an Excel Google Business Profile audit template and a printable PDF. Google Business Profile is group one because it is the single page that controls whether you appear in the local pack, and most local SEO problems are not ranking problems at all. They are profile problems: wrong category, missing hours, no reviews strategy, or a NAP mismatch that tells Google two listings are two businesses.
- Best for
- Any business that serves customers in a specific area and wants to appear in the local pack
- Includes
- 35 tickable checks + Excel GBP audit + printable PDF
- Time to use
- 3 hours for a first pass, then monthly maintenance
Free to download and use in your own client work. No email address required.
Local SEO isn’t a separate discipline from SEO. It is the same discipline with one additional surface: Google Business Profile. And that surface is where most local businesses lose, not because the competition is fierce, but because the profile is incomplete, inconsistent, or abandoned.
The checklist
Tick these here (progress saves in your browser), or take the PDF.
Google Business Profile 8
Citations and directories 5
Reviews and reputation 5
On-site local signals 5
Local content 4
Tracking and reporting 4
The six groups
Group 1: Google Business Profile. Category, NAP (name, address, phone), hours, description, attributes. The primary category is the single most important local ranking factor you control. Choosing “Restaurant” when you should have chosen “Italian Restaurant” is the kind of mistake that costs position one and looks like nothing went wrong.
Group 2: Citations and directories. Your business name, address and phone number appearing identically across the directories that matter: Google, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Yelp, and the two or three industry-specific directories for your sector. Inconsistency is the problem, not absence. A phone number that differs by one digit tells Google these might be two businesses.
Group 3: Reviews and reputation. A review strategy isn’t “ask for reviews.” It is a process: when to ask (after delivery, not at checkout), how to ask (a direct link to the review form, not “find us on Google”), and how to respond (every review, positive or negative, within 48 hours). Volume and recency both matter. A business with 200 reviews and none in the last three months looks abandoned.
Group 4: On-site local signals. NAP on every page (footer is fine), a dedicated contact page with an embedded map, LocalBusiness schema with the same data as your GBP, and location pages if you serve multiple areas. Location pages that are the same template with the city name swapped are spam, and Google has been filtering them since the Helpful Content Update.
Group 5: Local content. Content that demonstrates you actually operate in this area: case studies naming the location, posts about local events, service pages that mention the areas you cover with genuine local knowledge. This is where the “add real value” instruction matters most. A page that says “plumber in Manchester” twelve times and describes nothing about Manchester is not local content.
Group 6: Tracking and reporting. GBP Insights, local pack position tracking, and call tracking if phone is your primary conversion. The tools directory has verified pricing for BrightLocal, Local Falcon, and Whitespark if you need dedicated local rank tracking.
The GBP audit template
The Excel workbook scores your profile completeness and tracks your citation consistency across directories.
Preview of the file
Primary category is the highest-leverage field
If you only do one thing from this checklist, check your primary category. Google uses it to decide which searches trigger your listing in the local pack. A business listed as “Marketing Agency” will not appear for “SEO agency near me” even if the description mentions SEO ten times.
Google publishes a list of valid categories. You can’t create your own. Pick the most specific one that accurately describes what your business is, not what you wish it ranked for.
Do not stuff secondary categories
Secondary categories exist for businesses that genuinely do multiple things: a restaurant that also does catering, or a dentist who also does cosmetic procedures. Adding every vaguely related category dilutes the signal from your primary. If your business does one thing, one category is correct.
NAP consistency is simpler than people make it
Name, address, phone number. Identical everywhere. Not “mostly the same.” Not “Suite 4” in one place and “#4” in another. Not a tracking number on Yelp and your real number on Google.
The audit template has a citation tracker tab for exactly this. List your top ten directories, enter your NAP as it appears on each, and the mismatches are visible immediately.
Local SEO tools worth knowing about
| What you need | Use | Note |
|---|---|---|
| GBP management and auditing | Google Business Profile (free) | The tool and the listing are the same thing. |
| Local rank tracking | BrightLocal or Local Falcon | Grid-based rank tracking shows position by location. |
| Citation auditing and building | BrightLocal or Whitespark | Find and fix NAP inconsistencies across directories. |
| Review monitoring | BrightLocal or GBP directly | GBP notifications work. Paid tools add multi-location aggregation. |
| Local competitor analysis | BrightLocal or Pleper | See which categories and attributes competitors use. |
| Map position heatmaps | Local Falcon or Local Viking | Visualise ranking differences across a service area. |
For what each of these costs, where it stops, and whether I have tested it, the SEO tools directory carries the verified pricing with the date it was checked. BrightLocal and Local Falcon both have detailed listings with limitations and alternatives.
Where this fits
This checklist is standalone for local businesses. If you also run a content-driven site alongside your local presence, the technical SEO checklist covers the site-level infrastructure, and the on-page SEO checklist covers the individual page optimisation that supports your location and service pages.