Local Search Audit: A Small Business Guide

You do not need an agency or expensive software to find out how your business looks to people searching nearby. With a free afternoon, a phone and a notepad, you can spot the problems that cost most small businesses calls and customers. Here is how to spend those few hours.

Hour One: Search like a Customer

Pick three to five things a customer would actually type, such as “plumber near me” or “bookkeeper in [your town].” Search each one on your phone with location turned on, then again on a laptop. Write down where you appear in the map results and the regular results, and who shows up above you. Use a private browser window so your own search history does not flatter the results, and if you serve several towns, repeat a couple of searches with each town name.

Then search your exact business name. Note whether your Google Business Profile appears on the right or at the top, whether the photos look current, and whether anything is wrong: old hours, a former address, a phone number that rings somewhere else.

Hour Two: Check Your Google Business Profile

Your profile is often the first thing people see, before your website. Sign in and work through it with fresh eyes.

• Is your primary category the most specific one that fits? “Bookkeeping service” beats “Consultant.”
• Are all your services listed, with short descriptions?
• Do your hours match reality, including holidays?
• Have you added photos in the last few months?
• Are there reviews with no reply? Answer them, good and bad, politely and briefly.

Google says local results are ranked on relevance, distance and prominence, and prominence includes your reviews and how well known your business is. A complete, active profile helps with the parts you can control. Reviewing these factors is an important step in a Local Search Audit.

Hour Three: Check Your Website and Listings

Open your website on your phone. Can someone find your phone number and the service they want within a few seconds? Does each main service have its own page, or is everything crammed onto one? Is your town or service area mentioned in plain words? Fill out your own contact form and tap your own phone number from the site. A surprising number of forms still send messages to an inbox nobody checks.

Next, check that your business name, address and phone number are written exactly the same way on your website, your Google profile, Yelp, Facebook, your chamber of commerce listing and any industry directories. Small differences, such as “Suite 3” in one place and “#3” in another, are worth cleaning up, and an old address is worth fixing right away. Consistent business information is an important part of a Local Search Audit.

Hour Four: Make a Short Fix List

Go back through your notes and sort everything into three groups.

1. Fix today: wrong hours, wrong phone numbers, unanswered reviews, missing services.
2. Fix this month: weak or missing service pages, old photos, inconsistent listings.
3. Ask for help: technical issues, a slow site, or a competitor who outranks you everywhere and you cannot see why.

Most owners finish the afternoon with a list of easy fixes they can handle themselves, which is exactly the point.

Repeat It Every Few Months

Search results change, competitors improve, and listings drift out of date. Put this audit on your calendar every quarter and compare your notes each time. If you are climbing, keep going. If you are not, you will know exactly where to look first.

AUTHOR BIO

Casey Andrews

Casey Andrews owns Fairhaven Web Design, a web design and Bellingham SEO agency in Washington’s Fairhaven district.

 

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