This is a self-assessment, not an audit. It covers the six components a proper Local SEO audit looks at, in plain language, so you can see roughly where you stand without needing to know what any of it means first. Some items are a straight yes or no.

Others are questions you may not be able to answer from where you are sitting, and “I don’t know” is a real answer here. If you have written it six times by the end, that is a good outcome.

It means you know what to ask.

The six components a Local SEO checklist covers

A Local SEO checklist covers six things. Your Google Business Profile, your name, address and phone number, your website’s local signals, your listings elsewhere, your reviews, and whether you measure any of it.

They run below in the order a real audit works through them, foundations first. If you want what Local SEO actually is before you start, the hub piece has it.

How to use this checklist: yes, no, or I don’t know

Mark every item yes, no, or I don’t know, and the pattern at the end tells you where to focus first. It takes about 15 minutes, and there is nothing to open but your own profile and website.

Answer from what you can see.

Section 1: Is your Google Business Profile claimed, specific and current?

Your profile is in reasonable shape when the category is the most specific one available, the service area matches where you work, and the hours, photos and posts are current. It is the free listing Google shows in the map results and beside the search results. For a local business it is often the most visible thing there is, and the easiest to leave half-finished.

The eight items below test each of those, and the full Google Business Profile guide has the rest.

  • Is your profile claimed and verified, so you control it?
  • Is your primary category the most specific one available, rather than a generic parent like “business” or “shop”?
  • Does your description say what you do and where you operate, in the words a customer would search?
  • Is your service area set to the suburbs you actually serve?
  • Have you added a photo in the last three months?
  • Have you posted an update in the last month?
  • Are your opening hours current, including public holidays?
  • Have you listed your services or products on the profile?

Section 2: Is your name, address and phone number identical everywhere?

Your name, address and phone number have to match exactly across your website, your profile and every directory, because a detail Google cannot corroborate is one it trusts less. The industry calls this NAP consistency, NAP being name, address and phone.

It is the least glamorous work in Local SEO, and why NAP consistency matters makes the case for doing it anyway.

  • Is your business name written exactly the same way on your website, your profile and every directory?
  • Is your address in the same format everywhere, down to the unit number?
  • Is your phone number current and the same on every listing?
  • Have you searched your old address or old phone number to see whether any listings still carry them?

Section 3: Does your website back up what your profile claims?

Your website should back up what your profile says, because a suburb the profile claims and the website never mentions tells Google two different things.

Some of that backing up is code. Structured data, or schema, states your business details in a form Google reads directly instead of inferring them.

LocalBusiness schema beyond the basics covers what a full one looks like. Plenty of sites have an empty one.

  • Does your website clearly state where you operate, by suburb, city or service area?
  • Do your service pages mention the specific places you serve?
  • Does your website have LocalBusiness schema? If you don’t know, that’s the honest answer.
  • Do the address and phone number on your website match your profile exactly?

Section 4: Are your citations on directories worth being on?

A citation is worth having when the directory has real traffic, real authority, and your details on it match everything else. A citation is any listing of your name, address and phone number on another website, and a useful one sits where people and Google actually look.

Which directories matter covers how to choose, and what makes a source worth being on covers the test.

  • Are you listed on the major general business directories for your area?
  • Are you listed on the directories specific to your industry, where they exist?
  • Are your details consistent across every site you’re listed on?
  • Are you listed on the platforms that actually carry weight in Australia, rather than through a bulk submission service?

Section 5: How do your reviews compare with the businesses above you?

The comparison that counts is with the businesses ranking above you in the map results. What matters against them is how many reviews you have, how recent they are, and whether you reply.

All three tell Google how active you are. A business that stopped collecting reviews two years ago reads rather like one that stopped trading. How reviews and citations work together covers the rest.

  • How many reviews do you have compared with the businesses appearing above you in local search?
  • Have you received a review in the last month?
  • Do you reply to reviews, including the negative ones?
  • Is your average rating in the same range as the businesses above you?

Section 6: Do you know where you appear in local search today?

Knowing where you currently appear for the searches that matter is what makes every later change measurable. It starts with a baseline, a record of where you rank before anybody touches anything.

A quick check of where you stand today gets you most of the way there in 15 minutes. Reading the numbers once they arrive is a skill of its own.

  • Do you know where you appear in the map results for your most important searches?
  • Do you track enquiries from local search separately from other sources?
  • Do you have Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console set up, and does anyone look at them?

What your answers say about your Local SEO

Mostly yes means the foundations are sound and the work is the handful of nos. Mostly no means sections 1 and 2 come first, because everything else builds on the profile and your business details.

Mostly I don’t know is the commonest result, and the most useful. A list of don’t-knows is a list of questions to ask your developer, or someone who does this for a living.

Three items on this list need a closer look, namely whether your schema is populated, whether your citations are on sources worth having, and how you compare with the businesses above you. A structured Local SEO assessment does that looking, and it starts from the same six components.

FAQ

What should a Local SEO checklist cover? The six components a proper audit covers. Those are your Google Business Profile, your name, address and phone number, your website’s local content, your listings elsewhere, your reviews, and whether you measure any of it.

What are the most important items on a Local SEO checklist? The profile and the NAP consistency sections, taken together. A specific primary category, a service area matching where you work, and identical details everywhere are the foundations the other four sections build on.

What if I don’t know the answers to a Local SEO checklist? That is normal, and it is useful. Each “I don’t know” is a question to ask, of your web developer, of your profile, or of someone who assesses Local SEO for a living.

A checklist tells you where the gaps might be. An assessment tells you where they are and what to do first.

TL;DR

  • Six sections: profile, name-address-phone consistency, website local signals, listings, reviews, measurement. Mark each item yes, no, or I don’t know.
  • “I don’t know” is a valid answer. A list of them is a list of questions to ask.
  • The profile and NAP sections come first. Everything else builds on them.
  • Some items need a closer look than a checklist gives, and that is what an assessment is for.

If working through this raised more questions than answers, get in touch with JB.