How to Run a Local SEO Audit in 60 Minutes: 10 Checks

A local SEO audit checks whether Google and AI assistants can trust your business facts, and whether your site gives them a reason to recommend you. These 10 checks are the same first pass I run on every prospect before recording a short Loom walkthrough for them. You need a browser, a phone, and a timer.

Before you start (2 minutes)

Write down your exact business name, address, phone, website URL, and top three services. That is your reference record. Every check compares the live internet against it.

The 10 checks

1. Map Pack position from the street (5 min)

On your phone, search "[main service] near me" while standing at your business, then again about a mile away. Note where you appear. Distance is one of Google's three local ranking factors (Google), so results genuinely change by block.

2. Business Profile accuracy (8 min)

Compare category, name, hours, phone, website link, and service area against your record. A wrong primary category is the most expensive single mistake. Use the GBP optimization checklist for the full field list.

3. Review health (6 min)

Count reviews from the last 90 days, the share with owner replies, and the average rating. BrightLocal's 2026 survey found 47% of consumers won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews (BrightLocal).

4. NAP consistency across the web (8 min)

Search your phone number in quotes, then your business name plus town. Check Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing, Facebook, and your industry directory. On the Maximus Visions audit, this step surfaced a Yelp listing marked closed. We also found an hours mismatch between the website (weekdays only) and the real schedule (seven days).

5. Duplicate or ghost listings (4 min)

Search Google Maps for old addresses, old phone numbers, and former business names. Duplicates split reviews and confuse Google.

6. Homepage title, H1, and service pages (6 min)

Does the title name your service and market? Does each core service have its own real page? A site with one "Services" page listing everything rarely ranks for any single service.

7. Thin or cloned location pages (5 min)

Open three town or city pages side by side. If only the town name changes, you have a doorway-page risk under Google's spam policies. One client's service-area pages were roughly 47% unique words. We set a 65–70% target before adding any new pages.

8. Schema and technical identity (5 min)

Run the homepage through Google's Rich Results Test. Confirm the LocalBusiness name, phone, and hours match the profile. Also check whether www and non-www versions both resolve. Pick one and redirect the other. Our schema guide covers the stack.

9. AI answer check (6 min)

Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode: "Who is a good [service] in [town]?" Note who is named and which sources are cited. Those cited sites are your next citation targets. More in AI citation monitoring.

10. Conversion path (5 min)

Call the number on your profile. Submit your own contact form. Time the response. Ranking without answering is the most common leak I see, and our guide to increasing leads from local SEO covers the rest.

Scoring your audit

Use red, yellow, or green for each check:

• Red: wrong category, a duplicate listing, a "closed" status anywhere, or calls that go unanswered. Fix these this week.
• Yellow: few recent reviews, thin service pages, or missing schema. Fix these this month.
• Green: maintain monthly. Track it with a monthly local SEO report.

Free audit vs. paid audit

A free SEO audit tool will catch technical errors. It won't call your phone line or compare your profile to the competitor ranking above you. If you want a second set of eyes, Adatek's free audit includes a recorded walkthrough of these exact checks, and it's the first step of our local SEO services.

Sources: Google Business Profile Help (7091); BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026; Google Search spam policies.

Also read

• a full citation audit →
• what a monthly report should show →
• request a free audit from Adatek →
• a real audit: the Maximus Visions case study →