What is in it
Forty checks in six groups, ordered so the fastest wins come first. Every check has a pass condition and names the tool you need, where one is needed.
1. Google Business Profile, 12 checks
Primary and secondary categories, services, service areas, attributes, hours, photos and posts. This is the section that moves the map pack fastest, and it is the one most profiles fail.
2. Baseline measurement, 4 checks
How to run a grid rank check and what to record before you change anything, so you can tell later whether a change worked.
3. Listings and citations, 8 checks
Which listings actually matter, in what order, and which ones to ignore. Includes the duplicate listing check that most audits miss.
4. Reviews, 6 checks
Setting your target from the businesses already in the map pack, the ask process, timing, reply templates, and the shortcuts that get a profile penalised.
5. Website, 7 checks
Service pages, genuine location pages, LocalBusiness schema, and the templated city page trap that makes your whole site look worse.
6. Local links, 3 checks
The sources available to a local business that a national brand cannot use.
Who it is for
Service businesses that want more calls from their own city: dentists, lawyers, clinics, trades, agencies and anyone with a van or a front door.
It assumes no technical background. Around three quarters of the list is work an owner or an office manager can do without a developer.
How to use it
Work through sections one and two first, then wait two weeks before judging anything. Local rankings are noisy, and changing five things in one afternoon means learning nothing from any of them.
The reasoning behind every check is in the local SEO guide. If you want it done for you, that is local SEO, and SEO for local businesses is the short version of what we would change first.