SEO Local

Local SEO Analysis (March 2026)

Key Statistics

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Business Type Detection

Detect from page signals before analysis. This determines which checks apply.

Brick-and-Mortar

• Physical street address visible in page content or footer
• Google Maps embed with pin/directions
• "Visit us at", "Located at", "Come see us"
• Structured address in LocalBusiness schema

Service Area Business (SAB)

• No visible physical address
• Service area mentions: "serving [city/region]", "service area includes"
• "We come to you", "On-site service", "Mobile [service]"
• areaServed in schema without address.streetAddress

Hybrid

• Both physical address AND service area language present
• "Visit our showroom" combined with "We also serve [areas]"

Impact on checks: SABs skip embedded map verification and physical address consistency. Brick-and-mortar gets full NAP + map checks.

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Industry Vertical Detection

Detect from page signals and GBP category patterns. Routes to industry-specific checks from ../seo/references/local-schema-types.md.

If no vertical detected, use generic LocalBusiness analysis path.

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Analysis Dimensions

1. GBP Signals (25%)

Primary category is the single most important local pack factor (Whitespark #1, score: 193). Incorrect primary category is the #1 negative factor (score: 176).

Check for:

• GBP embed or reference detectable on page (Maps iframe, place ID, reviews widget)
• Primary category appropriateness (infer from page content vs visible GBP data)
• Evidence of secondary categories (optimal: 4 additional per BrightLocal)
• GBP posts presence (no direct ranking impact per WebFX, but triggers Post Justifications)
• Photos/video evidence (45% more direction requests with photos, Agency Jet)
• Q&A content: Google discontinued its Q&A API on 2025-11-03 and public Q&A is reportedly being phased out; answer common questions on the website and in the business description instead, and treat any remaining public Q&A as a bonus
• Google Verified badge eligibility (replaced Guaranteed/Screened in Oct 2025)
• GBP link URL strategy: do NOT link to strongest website page (Sterling Sky Diversity Update -- risks suppressing organic rankings)
• Business hours visibility on page (businesses open at search time rank higher, factor #5)

Scoring guide:

• Full: GBP embed present, category signals align, posts active, photos present
• Partial: Some GBP signals present but incomplete
• Low: No visible GBP integration on website

2. Reviews & Reputation (20%)

Review velocity matters more than total count. In Sterling Sky's 2025 study of 8,186 businesses, one case-study business that stopped getting reviews for 18 days lost rankings sharply while steadier competitors held. Treat it as an illustrative example, not a fixed threshold.

Check for:

• Total Google review count visible on page or schema (magic threshold: 10, Sterling Sky)
• Star rating (31% of consumers only use 4.5+, 68% only use 4+, BrightLocal 2026)
• Review recency indicators (74% only care about reviews in last 3 months)
• aggregateRating in schema (ratingValue, reviewCount, bestRating)
• Third-party review presence (consumers use average of 6 review sites, BrightLocal 2026)
• Owner response patterns (88% would use business that responds, BrightLocal)
• Review gating detection: any pre-screening of satisfaction before directing to review platform is prohibited by Google (fake engagement policy) and FTC ($53,088/violation)

Industry-specific:

• Healthcare: HIPAA prohibits confirming/denying reviewer is a patient in responses
• Legal: attorney-client privilege considerations in review responses

Scoring guide:

• Full: 10+ reviews, 4.5+ stars, recent activity, owner responses, multi-platform presence
• Partial: Some reviews but gaps in recency, rating, or response rate
• Low: <10 reviews, no recent activity, no responses, single platform only

3. Local On-Page SEO (20%)

Dedicated service pages = #1 local organic factor AND #2 AI visibility factor (Whitespark 2026).

Check for:

• Title tag contains city/service keywords
• H1 tag with local intent (city + service)
• NAP (Name, Address, Phone) visible in page HTML (footer, contact section, header)
• Dedicated service pages (one page per core service)
• Location page quality for multi-location sites:
  • >60-70% unique content minimum (industry consensus, no Google-confirmed threshold)
  • Swap test: if you can swap the city name and content still makes sense, it's a doorway page (RicketyRoo method). HVAC company lost 80% rankings + 63% traffic after March 2024 Core Update for this pattern
  • Local photos, area-specific testimonials, local FAQs
• Embedded Google Map (geographic signal reinforcement, not direct ranking factor -- lazy-load to mitigate speed impact)
• Click-to-call button (tel: link) and contact form above the fold
• Internal linking architecture: hub-and-spoke, every critical page within 3 clicks of homepage
• 2-5 contextual internal links per 1,000 words with descriptive anchor text

Multi-location specific:

• Store locator with individual crawlable URLs (SSR/SSG preferred over CSR)
• Subdirectory structure: domain.com/locations/city-name/ (subdirectories consolidate link equity better, Bruce Clay: 50%+ traffic lift)
• Each location page has unique LocalBusiness schema with @id

Scoring guide:

• Full: City in title + H1, NAP visible, dedicated service pages, no doorway patterns, good internal linking
• Partial: Some local signals but missing service pages or doorway page risk
• Low: Generic title/H1, NAP not visible, thin location pages

4. NAP Consistency & Citations (15%)

Citations declining for traditional pack rankings but 3 of top 5 AI visibility factors are citation-related (Whitespark 2026). Google's July 2025 documentation update removed "directories" from prominence definition.

Check for:

• NAP extraction: compare Name, Address, Phone from:
  1. Visible page HTML (footer, contact page)
  2. LocalBusiness JSON-LD schema
  3. Any visible GBP data
  • Flag any discrepancies between these three sources
• Citation presence on Tier 1 directories (check via WebFetch or site: search patterns):
  • Google Business Profile signals on page
  • Yelp: site:yelp.com "Business Name"
  • BBB: site:bbb.org "Business Name"
  • Facebook business page references
• Apple Maps / Apple business listings awareness: claim and maintain Apple listings; treat Apple Business unified-platform launch/rename claims as TechRadar-sourced and verify against Apple primary before asserting.
• Bing Places awareness (powers ChatGPT, Copilot, Alexa -- recommend claiming and optimizing)
• Industry-specific directory recommendations: load ../seo/references/local-schema-types.md for per-vertical citation sources
• Data aggregator awareness: Data Axle, Foursquare, Neustar/TransUnion (recommend submission for downstream distribution)
• Regional Search units: in the EEA, Google's aggregator and supplier units also cover local business queries since 2026-09-18; Türkiye has separate places-site features (see seo-hreflang section 5c); note this for businesses serving those markets

Scoring guide:

• Full: Consistent NAP across page/schema, Tier 1 citations detected, industry directories present
• Partial: NAP present but inconsistencies, some citations missing
• Low: NAP discrepancies, no detectable citations, no schema address

5. Local Schema Markup (10%)

Schema is NOT a direct ranking factor (John Mueller confirmed). But enables rich results (43% CTR increase, Webstix case study) and helps AI systems parse business information.

Check for:

• LocalBusiness schema presence (extract JSON-LD blocks)
• Required properties: name, address with PostalAddress sub-properties
• Recommended properties: geo (minimum 5 decimal places, Confirmed), openingHoursSpecification, telephone, url, priceRange (<100 chars), image, aggregateRating
• Correct subtype for industry -- load ../seo/references/local-schema-types.md:
  • Restaurant using Restaurant not generic LocalBusiness
  • Legal using LegalService not deprecated Attorney
  • Auto dealer using AutoDealer not deprecated VehicleListing
  • Healthcare using MedicalClinic/Hospital/Dentist not generic MedicalBusiness
• SAB-specific: areaServed with named cities (recommended, not in Google's official list but Schema.org supported)
• Multi-location: each location page has own LocalBusiness with unique @id, linked via branchOf to Organization on homepage
• Industry-specific schema patterns (per ../seo/references/local-schema-types.md):
  • Restaurant: Menu + MenuSection + MenuItem + ReserveAction (note: Reservation/Order actions are not Google-supported rich results; value is machine-readable business data)
  • Healthcare: Physician (Person) + MedicalSpecialty + sameAs to NPI
  • Legal: LegalService + Person + Service (practice areas)
  • Home Services: Subtype + areaServed + Service
  • Real Estate: RealEstateAgent + Person + RealEstateListing
  • Automotive: AutoDealer + Car + Offer (separate dept schemas)

Scoring guide:

• Full: Correct subtype, all recommended properties, industry-specific patterns, valid JSON-LD
• Partial: LocalBusiness present but generic type or missing recommended properties
• Low: No local schema, or schema with errors/placeholder content