| name | local-seo-audit |
| description | When the user wants to audit, review, or diagnose a business's local search presence. Also use when the user mentions "local SEO audit," "why am I not showing up on Google Maps," "local search issues," "local ranking problems," "GBP audit," or "local presence check." For geogrid-specific analysis, see geogrid-analysis. For GBP-only optimization, see gbp-optimization. |
| metadata | {"version":"1.1.0","author":"Garrett Smith"} |
Local SEO Audit
Default data tool: LocalSEOData (localseodata-tool). Use local_audit for a comprehensive audit in one call (50 credits). For individual checks: business_profile, citation_audit, review_velocity, profile_health, page_audit. For geogrid: geogrid_scan for one-time, Local Falcon for ongoing.
You are an expert in local search optimization. Your goal is to perform a comprehensive audit of a business's local search presence and deliver prioritized, actionable recommendations.
Initial Assessment
Before auditing, understand:
-
Business Details
- Business name, address, phone, website
- Business type: storefront, SAB, hybrid
- Single or multi-location
- Primary services and target keywords
-
Current State
- Is the GBP claimed and verified?
- Any known ranking issues?
- Recent changes (move, rebrand, phone change)?
-
Scope
- Full audit or specific area?
- Which geographic markets?
- Which keywords matter most?
Audit Framework
Priority Order
- Google Business Profile (most direct ranking impact)
- Website Local Signals (on-page local optimization)
- Citations & NAP Consistency (trust signals)
- Reviews & Reputation (ranking + conversion factor)
- Local Link Profile (authority signals)
- Content & Local Relevance (topical authority)
- Technical SEO (crawling/indexing foundation)
1. Google Business Profile Audit
Profile Completeness
Category Assessment
Visual Content
Engagement Signals
Issues Check
Duplicate & Related Listings Workflow
Duplicate and fragmented listings are one of the most damaging local SEO issues. They split review signals, confuse Google's entity understanding, and cannibalize rankings.
Step 1: Find all related listings
Search for ALL of these on Google Maps:
- Exact business name
- Business name variations (abbreviations, old names, "doing business as")
- Owner/practitioner names (especially for medical, legal, financial)
- Phone number (search the raw number in Google Maps)
- Address (other businesses listed at the same address)
- Old addresses if the business has moved
Step 2: Catalog what you find
For each listing found, document:
- Business name as listed
- Address
- Phone number
- Review count and rating
- Categories
- Claimed or unclaimed
- Relationship to main listing (duplicate, practitioner, old location, related business)
Step 3: Determine the strategy
Not all related listings should be merged. Decision framework:
MERGE when:
- Same business, slightly different name (e.g., "Bob's HVAC" and "Bob's Heating & Cooling")
- Old address listing that's no longer valid
- Unclaimed duplicate with few/no reviews
- Test or accidentally created listings
KEEP SEPARATE when:
- Distinct physical locations that both serve customers
- Different business entities (even if same owner)
- Practitioner listing where the practitioner sees patients independently AND at the practice (healthcare-specific — see Vertical Edge Cases)
REDIRECT/CONSOLIDATE when:
- Old listing has significant reviews you don't want to lose
- Practitioner listing is cannibalizing the practice listing
- Department listing that should roll into the main business
Step 4: Execute consolidation
For listings to MERGE/REMOVE:
- If unclaimed: Use "Suggest an edit" → "Close or remove" → "Duplicate" and point to the correct listing
- If claimed by you: Delete through GBP dashboard, or mark as "Permanently closed" then delete
- If claimed by someone else: Report as duplicate through Google Business support with evidence
- Document the before state (screenshots) in case Google needs proof
For listings with reviews to PRESERVE:
- Google does NOT merge reviews between listings. There is no review transfer process.
- If the duplicate has significant reviews (20+), weigh the cost of losing them vs. the SEO damage of keeping the duplicate
- Strategy: Keep the listing with the most reviews as the primary. If that's not the "right" listing, update it to have the correct information rather than deleting it
Step 5: Monitor
- Check monthly for 3 months after consolidation
- Duplicates often reappear through data aggregators pushing old info
- Set a Google Alert for the business name to catch new auto-generated listings
2. Website Local Signals Audit
NAP on Website
Local Schema Markup
⚠️ Schema detection note: web_fetch and curl cannot reliably detect JSON-LD injected via JavaScript (common with WordPress plugins). Use browser DevTools or Google's Rich Results Test to verify.
Location Pages (Multi-Location)
Service Pages
Title Tags & Meta
3. Citation & NAP Consistency Audit
Core Citations
Check NAP accuracy on:
NAP Consistency Rules
- Business name must be character-for-character identical
- Address format must match (St vs Street, Ste vs Suite)
- Phone number must be the same primary number
- Website URL should be consistent (www vs non-www)
Common NAP Issues
- Old addresses from a previous location
- Tracking phone numbers creating inconsistencies
- Abbreviation mismatches
- Suite/unit number present on some, missing on others
- Duplicate listings on the same directory
Citation Quality Assessment
- Total citation count vs. competitors
- Percentage with accurate NAP
- Presence on industry-specific directories
- Data aggregator submissions (Data Axle, Neustar/Localeze, Foursquare)
4. Review Audit
Metrics
Quality Signals
Issues
5. Local Link Profile
Assessment
Red Flags
6. Content & Local Relevance
Local Content Assessment
Topical Authority
7. Technical Foundation
Mobile & Speed
Indexation
HTTPS & Security
Vertical Edge Cases
Standard audit steps apply to all businesses, but certain verticals have unique requirements that change what you check and how you prioritize.
Healthcare (Medical Practices, Dentists, Chiropractors)
Practitioner vs. Practice listings:
Medical practices often have a listing for the practice AND individual listings for each doctor. This is allowed by Google guidelines when the practitioner operates independently at the location. But it creates ranking fragmentation.
- Audit all practitioner listings — are they helping or hurting?
- Each practitioner listing should have a unique phone number (direct line or extension) per Google guidelines
- If practitioner listings have few reviews and are cannibalizing the practice listing, consider removing them
- If a star doctor has more reviews than the practice, consider making their listing the primary focus
Medical directories (check in addition to standard citations):
- Healthgrades, WebMD, Vitals, ZocDoc, RateMDs, Doximity
- Hospital/health system directories (if affiliated)
- Insurance provider directories (often have outdated info)
- State medical board listing
- These carry HIGH authority for medical searches — inaccurate info here is worse than a wrong Yelp listing
HIPAA compliance for review responses:
- NEVER reference patient care details, diagnoses, treatments, or appointment information in review responses — even if the patient mentioned it first
- Response template: Acknowledge → express empathy generically → take offline. "We appreciate your feedback. Please contact our office at [phone] so we can address your concerns directly."
- Train staff: even confirming someone IS a patient is a HIPAA violation
Schema: Use MedicalOrganization or specific subtypes (Physician, MedicalClinic, Dentist) instead of generic LocalBusiness. Add medicalSpecialty and healthcareService properties. → See local-schema for implementation.
Content considerations:
- Medical content needs to demonstrate E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
- Author attribution on all medical content (doctor bylines)
- Procedure/condition pages need clinical accuracy — don't let SEO content compromise medical accuracy
Legal (Law Firms, Solo Attorneys)
Attorney vs. firm listings:
Similar to healthcare — individual attorney listings AND firm listing. Google allows both when the attorney operates at the location.
- For solo practitioners: one listing is usually sufficient
- For firms: firm listing as primary, individual attorney listings may help for specialized practice areas (e.g., personal injury attorney vs. the firm listing categorized as "law firm")
Legal directories:
- Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, Lawyers.com, FindLaw, Justia, Super Lawyers
- State bar association directory (verify bar number and standing)
- Court-specific directories
Review considerations:
- Clients may be reluctant to leave public reviews (especially in criminal defense, family law, bankruptcy)
- Review generation strategy needs to account for client sensitivity
- Some jurisdictions have ethical rules about soliciting testimonials — check state bar guidelines
Content: Attorney advertising rules vary by state. Some states prohibit terms like "specialist" or "expert" unless board-certified. Verify before optimizing title tags and content.
Home Services (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Roofing)
Service Area Business (SAB) specifics:
Most home service businesses hide their address in GBP (SAB model). This means:
- No address displayed to customers
- Ranking is based on service area settings + centroid of service area, not a pin on the map
- Geogrid analysis must account for this — weak rankings far from the "centroid" are expected for SABs
Seasonal keyword patterns:
- HVAC: AC repair peaks June-August, heating repair peaks November-February
- Scan timing matters — rankings during peak season may differ from off-season
- Content and GBP posts should align with seasonal demand
License/certification verification:
- Many home service businesses display license numbers on GBP
- Verify the license is current — an expired license shown on a listing is a red flag
- Some markets require specific licenses to appear in LSA (Local Services Ads)
Review dynamics:
- Home services live or die by reviews — customers almost always check before hiring
- Emergency services (burst pipe, no heat in winter) generate the most emotional reviews
- Photo reviews showing completed work are extremely high-value
Restaurants & Hospitality
Platform-specific review weight:
- Google reviews matter most for map pack
- But Yelp, TripAdvisor, and OpenTable reviews significantly impact consumer decisions in this vertical
- DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub listings are now local signals too
Menu and ordering integration:
- Google supports menu URLs and ordering links in GBP — these should be configured
- Third-party menu/ordering platforms (ChowNow, Toast, Square) create additional citation-like signals
Photo frequency:
- Restaurant GBP listings need photos updated weekly minimum — food photos go stale fast
- User-generated photos often outweigh business photos in this vertical
Multi-Domain Businesses
Some businesses operate multiple websites (e.g., one for the main practice, one for a specific service line). Audit considerations:
- Which domain is linked from GBP? Only ONE can be the primary URL.
- Do the domains compete for the same keywords? If so, one is cannibalizing the other
- Canonical strategy: is there a clear primary domain with the other supporting it?
- Consolidation is almost always better than maintaining multiple domains for SEO purposes
- Exception: genuinely different business entities that happen to share an owner
Managed Platform Businesses
Businesses on managed website platforms (InboundMD, Scorpion, Yext Sites, etc.) have limited technical control:
- Identify the platform early in the audit — it changes what's feasible to implement
- Note which recommendations require platform access vs. what the business can do themselves
- Common limitations: can't add custom schema, limited URL structure control, can't modify Core Web Vitals
- Scope your recommendations to what's actually implementable
- Flag platform limitations in the audit report so the client knows WHY certain fixes require their vendor
Output Format
Audit Report Structure
Executive Summary
- Overall local search health score (1-10)
- Top 3 priority issues
- Quick wins available
- Estimated impact of fixes
Section-by-Section Findings
For each issue:
- Finding: What's wrong
- Impact: High / Medium / Low
- Evidence: How you found it
- Recommendation: Specific fix
- Priority: Rank order
Prioritized Action Plan
- Critical (blocking visibility)
- High impact (significant ranking improvement)
- Quick wins (easy, immediate benefit)
- Ongoing (maintenance items)
Translating Findings for Clients
Technical findings need plain-language translations. Every finding should answer: "What does this mean for my business?"
Category mismatch: "Your Google listing tells Google you're a 'Doctor' — but people searching for 'pain management' see results for 'Pain Management Physicians.' Changing your category to the specific match means Google shows you to the right searchers."
NAP inconsistency: "Your phone number is different on Yelp than it is on Google. This confuses Google about which listing is really you, and can push you down in results."
Missing schema: "Your website doesn't include the structured data that tells Google your address, hours, and services in a format it can read directly. Adding this helps Google confidently show your business info in search results."
Duplicate listings: "You have 6 separate Google listings. Instead of all your reviews and signals building up one strong listing, they're spread across 6 weak ones. Consolidating these would concentrate your ranking power."
Low review velocity: "Your competitor gets 15 new Google reviews per month. You get 3. Google interprets review volume as a signal of a active, trusted business."
Finding → Next Skill Action Bridges
Each audit finding should connect to the specific skill that addresses it:
| Audit Finding | Next Action | Skill to Use |
|---|
| GBP categories wrong | Optimize full profile | gbp-optimization |
| No local schema | Implement structured data | local-schema |
| Duplicate listings | Consolidation workflow | Duplicate workflow above |
| Low review count | Build review strategy | review-management |
| Weak geographic coverage | Run geogrid scan | geogrid-analysis |
| Missing location pages | Create landing pages | local-landing-pages |
| Citation inconsistencies | Citation cleanup | local-citations |
| No local links | Link building campaign | local-link-building |
| Competitor outranking you | Competitive analysis | local-competitor-analysis |
| Keyword gaps | Research opportunities | local-keyword-research |
Task-Specific Questions
- What's the business name, address, phone, and website?
- Storefront, SAB, or hybrid?
- What keywords/services matter most?
- What geographic area needs coverage?
- Any known issues or recent changes?
What to Do Next
Use the Finding → Next Skill Action Bridges table above to route each audit finding to the right skill. Then:
- Package findings → Use
client-deliverables to create the audit report and SOW
- Prioritize by impact → Fix Critical items first (duplicates, suspensions, category mismatches), then High Impact (reviews, citations, content), then Quick Wins
- Measure baseline → Run geogrid scans for priority keywords BEFORE starting optimization so you can prove improvement
- Set 90-day targets → Define what "success" looks like for each finding and track monthly
Default next step: An audit without a prioritized action plan is just a list of problems. Always end with "here's what to fix first and why."
Tools for This Skill
See docs/tool-routing to pick based on what's connected.
- Geogrid scan (ranking baseline) → Local Falcon (only option)
- Citation audit → citation tools (multiple options)
- Technical crawl → technical audit tools (multiple options)
- Keyword data → keyword research tools (multiple options)
- Organic search performance → Google Search Console (only source of truth)
- Traffic and conversions → Google Analytics (only option)
- Backlink audit → backlink tools (multiple options)
