Are You a Small Business Owner Wanting to Enhance Local SEO Efforts? Conducting a 10-Point Local SEO Audit Can Be Beneficial. Doing this will enable you to identify areas for improvement and ensure that your website is optimized for local searches. Here is a step-by-step checklist for conducting a 10-point local SEO audit for small businesses: Your Domain Name Your website domain name should include both your business name and location. For instance, if your restaurant in Denver is called Joe's Diner, its domain should contain "joesdinerdenver.com." This will help search engines recognize that it should appear in local search results. Question to consider: For your domain name to be memorable and spell correctly, should it include both your business name and location information? Secondly, ensure it can easily be remembered and written out - otherwise people could easily mistype or misspell it. Content Review Your website content should be tailored towards the target audience you have in mind and include relevant keywords related to your business and location. Also make sure that every page on your website contains your business address and phone number for easy identification by visitors. Consider these key questions about your website content: Does the text on it include relevant keywords for your business and location? Are your address and phone number easily visible on it? Optimize Your Google My Business Listing Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool that enables businesses to manage their presence across Google Search and Maps, including search and maps results. Make sure to claim and optimize your GMB listing so that all information regarding your company remains up-to-date and accurate. Consider this: Do you own and have verified your Google My Business listing? Have you optimized it by adding photos, reviews and any relevant details? More Than 50% Of Searches Occur on Mobile Gerates More than 50 percent of online searches occur on mobile devices, so it's essential that your website is mobile-friendly. Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to test its mobile responsiveness. Question to Ask: [x] X Is My Website Mobile-Friendly (or, more generally) Do Your Mobile Pages Load Quickly on Devices [y] (px)? (pp) Verifying Your NAP Consistency NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number and it is critical that it remains consistent across websites, GMB listings, and other directories online. Any discrepancies could confuse search engines and reduce local SEO efforts. Questions to Consider: Keeping Your NAP Information Consistent across Website, GMB Listing and Online Directories. Have You Updated It If Your Company Moves Or Changes Phone Numbers Website Speed Optimization Page speed is an essential element of local SEO, as slow loading times can negatively impact search engine rankings and turn away potential customers. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to test the speed of your website page load time. Are You Wondering: Does Your Page Speed Meet Expectations? Or Is There Anything Slowing It Down on Your Site? Here Are Some Questions To Keep An Eye Out For Conduct Keyword Research Keyword research entails identifying which search terms customers are using to find businesses similar to yours. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer to identify relevant keywords for your industry and location. Question to Consider: Have You Conducted Keyword Research for Your Business and Location? Are Relevant Keywords Utilized on Your Site's Content & Meta Tags Build Local Citations A citation is any mention of your business's NAP information on another website, and building local citations can help increase local SEO efforts. Submitting business info to online directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages and Angie's List is one way of doing this. Are You Present at Online Directories and Directories for Citations of Your Business? Are Your Citations Consistent across Multiple Directories? Monitor Your Citations. After Implementing Change, It Is Vital To Monitor Progress Regularly It is vitally important that once changes have been implemented that they be monitored regularly using tools like Google Analytics and Search Console in order to track website traffic, search queries and rankings on a regular basis - this will allow you to identify any potential issues and implement necessary adjustments in order to improve rankings and achieve greater success. Questions to consider include: How is my website traffic changing over time? Are my rankings for target keywords increasing? Do any issues need addressing with my website? And are my local listings accurate and up-to-date? Stay Up-To-Date With Local SEO Trends SEO is constantly evolving, so keeping abreast of new trends and best practices is crucial to maintaining rankings and beating out your competition. Ask these questions: (attn: I need help with local SEO!) Are there any new tools or strategies I should be employing? Are any changes to Google's algorithm that could impact my rankings? Local SEO is key for small businesses looking to attract more customers in their local area. By following this step-by-step checklist, you can optimize your website and local listings in order to improve rankings and drive more traffic back to it. It is also essential to keep up-to-date with trends and best practices so as to maintain rankings over time.