Local SEO Checklist: Setup and Audit
By Chris Lourenco · Last updated 16 October 2026
This is the order of work I follow on local SEO for service businesses.
Part 1 sets up a Google Business Profile and the website behind it, and Part 2 audits a profile you already have.
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- A profile set up to bring calls and direction requests from nearby searchers
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Meet Chris →Key Takeaways
- The primary category on your Google Business Profile is the heaviest relevance lever you have, so it's the first field to get right.
- Distance to the searcher shapes the map results, so judge your visibility from a grid of points across your area.
- A steady weekly flow of reviews is a stronger and safer signal than a burst followed by quiet months.
- Citations work as a consistency check. Fix the listings that feed other listings first, then move on.
- The website backs the profile up with real location pages, matching schema and a tappable phone number.
In short: To set local SEO up, pick the primary category that matches what customers search, fill out services and photos properly, agree 1 version of your details and use it everywhere, back it with real location pages and matching schema, then build a review habit you can keep up. To audit a profile you already have, compare your category with the businesses showing above you, check rankings from a grid of points, look for duplicate listings, and read the performance report for calls and direction requests.
Which half of this checklist do you need?
No Google Business Profile yet, or a profile you set up a while ago and left alone? Work through Part 1 in order. Already have a profile that shows in some places, and you'd like it showing in more? Go straight to Part 2, the audit, then come back to whichever Part 1 stages it points to. Every item comes with a specific reason or a stated threshold.
The service side lives on my local SEO services page. If you're weighing local SEO against paid search, read SEO vs Google Ads first.
Optional: the spreadsheet and PDF
The local SEO setup checklist: 24 steps to build a local presence properly.
In order. Stages 1 and 2 are the Google Business Profile, the part that does the most work in the map results. Stages 3 to 5 keep it accurate, backed up and active.
Stage 1: The profile foundations
5 fields that decide most of your local ranking before you touch anything else.
- 1
Set the primary category to the thing you most want to be found for
The heaviest relevance lever on the profile, and the field most businesses get wrong. A workshop filed under Car wash competes in a different result set to one filed under Car detailing service. Match the search, not the business.
- 2
Add secondary categories only where you genuinely deliver
Each one broadens the queries you can appear for, and each one invites an accuracy complaint. Add the 2 to 5 you really do. A category you cannot back with a service page is a liability.
- 3
Use your real-world business name in the name field
The most commonly abused field on the profile and the easiest for a competitor to report. Use what is on your signage and registration. Keyword-stuffed names rank until somebody submits an edit, then the listing is under review.
- 4
Choose storefront or service area, and choose honestly
If customers come to you, show the address. If you go to them, hide it and set service areas. A virtual office listed as a storefront is the fastest route to a suspension, and reinstatement takes longer than the ranking was worth.
- 5
Set hours, special hours and the opening date
Hours feed the open-now filter, which quietly drops you out of searches when they are wrong. Load public holidays as special hours ahead of time. Fill in the opening date too: almost nobody competing with you bothers.
Stage 2: Fill the profile out so it earns the click
Ranking gets you shown. These 5 decide whether the person shown taps you or the business under you.
- 6
Add every service as its own item with its own description
Services are a structured field, not decoration. List each separately with specific wording rather than 1 catch-all entry. It is a relevance signal, and it is what a customer skims to check you do their exact job.
- 7
Load real photos of real work, and keep adding them
Interiors, exteriors, team and finished jobs. Stock imagery reads as stock imagery to somebody choosing between 3 listings. Geotagging does nothing measurable, so put the effort into quantity and quality instead.
- 8
Post regularly, and treat it as a freshness habit
Not a ranking silver bullet, but a profile with recent activity looks alive to both Google and a customer. A short update every week or 2, tied to a real job or a seasonal reminder, is enough. Consistency beats length.
- 9
Seed and answer the Q&A section yourself
Q&A is public and anyone can answer, including a competitor. Post the 5 questions you field on the phone every week and answer them from the business account, so the useful answers are already sitting there.
- 10
Set the website and booking links, and tag them
Point the website field at the page matching the profile, not always the homepage. Tag the links so profile traffic reports separately in analytics, otherwise it lands in direct and you can never prove the channel works.
Stage 3: NAP consistency and citations
4 items on the same problem: Google cross-checks your details against the rest of the web and loses confidence when they disagree.
- 11
Write the canonical NAP once and never deviate
One agreed format for name, address and phone, down to Road or Rd. Put it in a document and use that exact string everywhere. Most inconsistency comes from nobody having decided what the right version is.
- 12
Fix the listings that feed other listings first
The major Australian directories and data aggregators syndicate onward, so a wrong address in 1 reappears in places you never signed up for. Correct those before building anything new.
- 13
Find and merge duplicate profiles
Duplicates come from an old office, a previous owner, or a listing Google generated itself, and they split your reviews across 2 records. Search your name, your number and every old address on Maps, then claim and merge.
- 14
Stop chasing citation volume once the important ones are clean
Citations are a consistency signal, not a scoreboard. A few dozen accurate listings on directories people use beats 300 auto-submitted ones. Past the majors, the return flattens fast.
For Australian businesses
2 listings outside Google worth claiming
Apple and Microsoft keep business listings of their own, and those listings feed their maps and assistants. Claim both and give them the exact NAP from step 11. They sit beside the 38 numbered items, which match the spreadsheet and PDF.
Apple Business Connect
Sets your place card in Apple Maps, the default maps app on every iPhone, and how you show in Siri and Spotlight. Claim your business, then enter the same name, address, phone, hours and category as your Google profile.
Bing Places for Business
Sets how you show in Bing search and Bing Maps, and Bing's results also sit behind Microsoft Copilot. Bing Places can import your Google Business Profile, so start from there and check every field matches.
Stage 4: The website underneath the profile
5 on-site signals. The profile does the heavy lifting in the map pack, and the site is what backs it up.
- 15
Build 1 page per service per real location
Not a page for every postcode in the state. A page for a place you genuinely work, carrying detail only somebody working there could write. Thin duplicated suburb pages are a liability under current quality guidelines.
- 16
Add LocalBusiness schema that matches the profile exactly
Name, address, phone, hours and geo coordinates in structured data, identical to the profile, with sameAs pointing at your Business Profile. Schema does not rank you: it removes ambiguity about which business the page describes.
- 17
Embed the map and link the profile from the site
An embedded map on the contact page plus a link to the Business Profile gives Google and the customer an explicit connection between site and listing, and puts directions 1 tap away.
- 18
Put the NAP in the footer as selectable text
Site-wide, in HTML, not baked into an image or rendered by a script a crawler may not run. Use a tel: link so a phone can dial it. A 10-minute job half the sites we audit have skipped.
- 19
Write local content only a local could have written
The suburb name repeated 14 times is not local content. Naming the streets where parking is impossible, or the housing stock you deal with, is. That material also survives an AI Overview, because it is not on 40 other sites.
Stage 5: The review flywheel
5 habits, not a campaign. Reviews compound, and the compounding is the point.
- 20
Ask at the moment of relief, every single time
Ask when the job is finished and the customer is visibly happy, not 3 days later by email. Build it into the invoice handover or the sign-off text. A process that runs every job beats a campaign that runs once.
- 21
Use the short review link and hand them the phone
Every extra step loses people. Put the short link in your job-completion text and on a card, and where you can, open it on your own phone and pass it over. Friction, not willingness, kills most review requests.
- 22
Optimise for velocity, not for a total
A steady trickle week after week is stronger and safer than 30 arriving in a fortnight and then nothing for a year. A burst also looks exactly like a business that bought them. Set a weekly target you can sustain.
- 23
Reply to every review, briefly, in service language
Replies are public, they show the profile is managed, and they are 1 of the few places the words describing the job appear naturally. On a bad review, answer the factual point calmly for the reader who has not decided yet.
- 24
Never gate, never buy, never bulk-import
Screening so only happy customers get the link breaches Google's policy. Bought reviews get removed in waves, taking real ones with them. Migrating reviews from another platform is not possible. No shortcut here is worth the profile.
3 things worth understanding before you start ticking.
These sit underneath most of the items above, and they'll help you work the checklist well.
The primary category is the heaviest lever on the profile
Choose the category that matches what your customers type into Google, which can differ from the label you'd put on your business. It's 1 field with a lot of weight behind it, and it's easy to check against the businesses already showing for your main search.
Distance to the searcher shapes every map result
Where the searcher is standing is a real input into the map results, and good profile work widens the radius you show in. Searching from your own premises gives you the closest-range view there is, so check from a spread of points across your area and set goals for the radius you can realistically win.
A steady flow of reviews outweighs a big total
Reviews arriving week after week send a stronger signal than a large batch followed by a long quiet patch, and they look natural to Google. A profile keeps growing when asking becomes part of every finished job, which is why Part 1 treats reviews as habits.
The local SEO audit checklist: 14 checks on a profile you already have.
Work top to bottom. Stage 1 is the profile, Stage 2 is everything Google cross-references it against, and Stage 3 is the website and how you measure what's working.
Stage 1: Audit the profile itself
Start here on any profile that already exists. Most of what holds a listing back was set once, years ago, and never revisited.
- 1
Compare your primary category against whoever out-ranks you
Search your main service, open the top 3 map results and check what each is categorised as. If they share a primary category and you have a different one, that gap is very often the whole story.
- 2
Check your rankings from a grid, not from your own desk
Proximity to the searcher is a genuine ranking factor you cannot optimise away, and searching from your own premises is the most flattering result you will ever get. Check a spread of points across the suburbs you want work from.
- 3
Check for suspensions, pending edits and changes you did not make
Google accepts edits from the public and applies some automatically. Confirm hours, category, name and address still say what you set. A listing quietly moved to a different category will not announce itself.
- 4
Check the recency of photos, posts and answers
A profile whose newest photo is 4 years old reads as a business that may not exist. Note the date of the newest photo, post and Q&A answer. Anything older than a few months is a habit problem.
- 5
Read the whole profile as a customer choosing between 3 options
Open it on a phone. Is the category what they searched? Do the photos look like your work? Does the newest review answer their actual worry? Most problems are visible in 60 seconds this way and invisible from the dashboard.
Stage 2: Audit everything off the profile
4 checks on the data Google cross-references. This is where an old address does quiet damage for years.
- 6
Search your phone number in quotes and see what comes back
The fastest inconsistency audit there is. Every page carrying that number with a wrong address or an old trading name is pulling against you. Repeat it for your business name and each previous address.
- 7
Look specifically for duplicate and unclaimed listings
Search Maps for your name, your number and every address you have traded from. An unclaimed duplicate collecting reviews of its own is splitting the signal, and the fix is a merge, not a new listing.
- 8
Check anything that changed when you last moved or rebranded
A move, a name change or a new number is the most common source of citation rot. Work through the places carrying your details and confirm each caught up. Something almost never did.
- 9
Check what your citations say about your categories
Directory listings carry a taxonomy of their own, set years ago by whoever created the entry. When those disagree with your current positioning, they are describing a business you no longer are.
Stage 3: Audit the site and the measurement
5 checks on the half of local SEO that is not the profile, including whether you can prove any of it is working.
- 10
Check whether your location pages are genuinely distinct
Open 2 side by side. If the only difference is the suburb name, Google is looking at the same page twice and neither earns the trust a single strong page would. Consolidate the thin ones rather than adding more.
- 11
Validate the structured data against the live profile
Run the pages through a schema validator, then read the output against the profile field by field. An old phone number in schema is a contradiction you are publishing about yourself, and it usually survives a redesign.
- 12
Load the site on a real phone, on mobile data
Local search is overwhelmingly mobile and mostly urgent. Time the load, check the number is tappable without scrolling, and try to complete an enquiry. A profile that ranks and a site that will not load hands the lead onward.
- 13
Read the performance report, not the vanity numbers
Calls, direction requests, website clicks and messages are the outcomes. Views are not. Compare against the same period last year rather than last month, because most local businesses are seasonal.
- 14
Check the review pattern for gaps and for spikes
Plot the last 24 months. Long gaps show the asking habit lapsed. A sharp spike followed by nothing is the shape that draws scrutiny. What you want is a boring, steady line.
Run this audit at least once a year, and straight after a move, a rebrand, a change of phone number or a website rebuild, which are the times local details most often fall out of step. Check 2, ranking from a grid, is easier to picture with the real grid scans further down this page.
If a rebuild is what brought you here, the wider reasons a site stops ranking are worth reading alongside this. If your listing has vanished from Maps altogether, my guide covers what to do if your profile has been suspended.
Optional bonus
Real grid scans
What a grid scan shows across your service area.
A grid scan checks a business's position on Google Maps from a set of points spread across an area, such as a 13 by 13 grid, so you see the results the way customers see them from their own streets. Share of local voice is the share of those points where the business shows in the first 3 map results.
Here are 3 Google Maps results from my own clients, each with the search and the area it was measured in.
Fentons Conveyancing · Christies Beach, SA
100% share of local voice for “conveyancer christies beach”
On a 13 by 13 grid, Fentons showed first at every point on scans dated 3 May, 20 May and 3 June 2025, 3 November 2025 and 3 February 2026. The December and January scans read 96.49% and 92.98%.
Cornerstone Conveyancing · Mount Barker, SA
1 scan, 2 different pictures
A single scan on 7 May 2026 showed 97.53% share of local voice for generic and “near me” searches around the office, and 0% for “conveyancer mount barker”. Searches that name the town follow their own pattern, and the grid is what shows it.
Fine Automotive Detailing · Adelaide, SA
Position 9 to 2 in month 1, then 1 in month 2
Ali Haque's profile on Google Maps for “car detailing Adelaide”, measured within a 5km radius. Ali had been renting in Broadview, and about 3 months in he opened his own workshop in Mile End.
The radius matters as much as the position. A map position describes the area it was measured in, so I report every one with its grid and radius beside it. That's also why check 2 in the audit uses a grid, which shows how far your profile reaches and which searches to work on next.
See your own grid
Book a free strategy call and I'll look at how your profile shows across the suburbs you want work from, then tell you which items on this checklist I'd start with.
Book a Free Strategy Call“His work makes you think how lucky I have been to find Chris. … Since being with Chris, his expertise has given my business the attention it needed.”
How AI answers use your Business Profile.
Ask Google's AI Mode, ChatGPT or Gemini for a plumber in your suburb, and the answer is built from business facts the assistant can find and cross-check: name, category, address, hours, services and what reviewers say. Those facts come from your Google Business Profile, your website and the listings that repeat them. When all 3 agree, an assistant can describe your business clearly and with confidence.
On this checklist, Stage 1 (the profile foundations), the services in Stage 2 and the NAP work in Stage 3 matter most for AI answers. Reviews that name the job and the suburb add helpful detail too. For the website side of it, see my page on AI search.
4 pieces of local SEO checklist advice to ignore.
All 4 still turn up in local SEO advice today. Here's what I do in their place.
✕Stuff keywords into the business name field
Use your real-world name, exactly as it reads on your signage. That keeps the listing in good standing with Google's guidelines, and the keywords go where they earn their place: categories, services and reviews.
✕Geotag your photos before uploading them
Spend that time on the photos themselves. Location data in image files is usually stripped on upload, while clear photos of real work show a customer what they're paying for.
✕Blast your details to 300 directories
Keep a short list of accurate listings on sites people actually use. You control every one of them, and there's far less to update the next time you move.
✕Build a page for every suburb in the state
Build pages for the places you genuinely work, each with something specific to say: jobs done there, photos and local detail. Those pages give Google and your customers a real reason to choose you there.
The pattern is the same each time: a shortcut that substitutes volume or a trick for the slower work of being accurate, complete and consistently active. It also makes a fair test of anyone you might hire: a local SEO agency Adelaide businesses shortlist should be able to explain why all 4 are wrong before you ask.
Local SEO checklist questions.
Is there a PDF version of this local SEO checklist?
Can I do local SEO myself?
What is the difference between a local SEO checklist and a local SEO audit checklist?
What is the single most important thing on a Google Business Profile?
What is the 80/20 rule in local SEO?
Why does my business show first from my own office and lower elsewhere?
How many reviews do I need to rank in the map pack?
Does this local SEO checklist work outside Australia?
Related Resources
Where to go next from the checklist.
Local SEO Services
The service side: Google Business Profile optimisation and Google Maps syndication, with the prices published.
SEO Pricing Guide
What SEO and local SEO actually cost in Australia, and what sits inside each price.
Google Ads Checklist
The same treatment for paid search: a setup checklist and an audit checklist, free and ungated.
Web Design
The website half of stage 4: location pages, schema and a site that converts the calls your profile earns.
Prefer to have the 38 items done for you?
The checklist is free to use, whether you work through it yourself or hand it to whoever runs your marketing.
If you'd like it done for you, I start with a Google Business Profile optimisation at $750+GST, paid once. Google Maps syndication can follow, to bring more calls and bookings from Maps: $800+GST a month for 1 or $1,450+GST for 2, sold separately and month to month.
160+ 5-star Google reviews across Australia · 9 years Adelaide-based
“Thank you Chris for your valuable insight on how to optimise our Google Business profile. The number of calls we received improved dramatically after applying your recommendations.”