How to do a local SEO audit yourself

An audit sounds big. For a small local business, the useful version takes about an hour and uses free tools. You’re looking for what’s broken, what’s missing and what’s inconsistent, then fixing the biggest items first.

Written by Thys du Plooy. I’d rather you fix the three things that matter than chase 100 warnings from a tool.

You’ll need: your website address, your Google Business Profile login, a phone, and a notepad or spreadsheet.

The seven checks

Give yourself 0, 1 or 2 points for each. 2 means it’s right, 1 means it’s partly there, 0 means it’s missing or wrong. The total is out of 14.

1. Can people reach you? (0-2)

Call your number from the website and send your own contact form.
2: both work and the email arrives in your inbox. 1: one fails or the email lands in spam. 0: neither works properly.

2. Is your Google Business Profile complete? (0-2)

Search for your business name on Google and look at the profile panel.
Check the main category, hours, phone, website, services, description and photos.
2: all complete and current. 1: a few gaps. 0: unclaimed, unverified or badly out of date.

3. Does your website match your profile? (0-2)

Compare the business name, address and phone number on your site with your profile, letter for letter.
2: identical everywhere. 1: small differences (Street vs St, a different phone). 0: missing or different.

4. Do you have a page for each main service? (0-2)

List your top services. Does each have its own page that says plainly what you do and where?
2: every main service has a page. 1: some do. 0: everything’s on one page.

5. Is the site fast and safe on a phone? (0-2)

Run your home page and a service page through Google’s PageSpeed Insights. Make sure the site uses HTTPS.
2: good on mobile and on HTTPS. 1: slow in places. 0: very slow or “Not secure”.

6. Are your listings accurate? (0-2)

Search your phone number and your business name. Look at what appears. Check Google, Bing and Apple.
2: consistent details and no duplicates. 1: a few errors. 0: many errors, old addresses or duplicates.

7. Do you have recent, good reviews, and do you reply? (0-2)

Look at the number, the latest date and whether you’ve responded.
2: steady recent reviews, all answered. 1: few or old reviews, or unanswered ones. 0: very few, or none in a year.

What your score means

Score	Where you are	What to do first
12-14	Solid base	Content and steady monthly work
8-11	Good, with gaps	Fix every item you scored 0 or 1, starting with 1, 2 and 3
4-7	Basics missing	Work through the checklist from the top
0-3	Starting again	Start with contact paths and your profile, nothing else yet

The order of the checks is deliberate. A broken contact path costs you more than a slow page.

Check where you appear

On a phone, search for your main service plus your town, from a few streets around you and from the other side of town. Note where you appear in the map results each time. Results change with where the searcher stands, which is why a single ranking number can mislead.

Then open Google Search Console, if you have it, and look at which searches bring people to your site. Search Console guide

Don’t do this

Don’t chase every warning from an automated SEO tool. Many don’t affect enquiries. Fix what affects customers finding and contacting you.
Don’t change many things at once without noting what you changed. You won’t know what worked.

Want it done for you?

Book a free discovery call and, within 48 hours of the call, we’ll send you an audit of your site. You keep it, whether or not you work with us.