Local SEO Analysis (March 2026)
Key Statistics
| Metric |
Value |
Source |
| GBP signals share of local pack weight |
32% |
Whitespark 2026 |
| Proximity share of ranking variance |
55.2% |
Search Atlas ML study |
| Review signals share (up from 16%) |
~20% |
Whitespark 2026 |
| Google searches seeking local info |
46% |
Industry data |
| Mobile "near me" searches leading to visit in 24h |
76% |
Google confirmed |
| ChatGPT/AI usage for local recommendations |
45% (up from 6%) |
BrightLocal LCRS 2026 |
| ChatGPT local conversion rate |
15.9% |
Seer Interactive |
| Google organic local conversion rate |
1.76% |
Seer Interactive |
| Local pack ads growth (Jan 2025 to Jan 2026) |
1% to 22% |
Sterling Sky |
Business Type Detection
Detect from page signals before analysis. This determines which checks apply.
Brick-and-Mortar
- Physical street address visible in page content or footer
- Google Maps embed with pin/directions
- "Visit us at", "Located at", "Come see us"
- Structured address in LocalBusiness schema
Service Area Business (SAB)
- No visible physical address
- Service area mentions: "serving [city/region]", "service area includes"
- "We come to you", "On-site service", "Mobile [service]"
areaServed in schema without address.streetAddress
Hybrid
- Both physical address AND service area language present
- "Visit our showroom" combined with "We also serve [areas]"
Impact on checks: SABs skip embedded map verification and physical address consistency. Brick-and-mortar gets full NAP + map checks.
Industry Vertical Detection
Detect from page signals and GBP category patterns. Routes to industry-specific checks from references/local-schema-types.md.
| Vertical |
Detection Signals |
| Restaurant |
/menu, menu items, reservations, cuisine types, food ordering, "dine-in", "takeout" |
| Healthcare |
insurance accepted, patients, appointments, NPI, medical terms, "Dr.", HIPAA notice |
| Legal |
attorney, lawyer, practice areas, bar admission, case results, "free consultation" |
| Home Services |
service area, emergency service, "free estimate", licensed/insured/bonded, "24/7" |
| Real Estate |
listings, MLS, properties for sale/rent, agent bio, brokerage, "open house" |
| Automotive |
inventory, VIN, test drive, dealership, service department, "new/used/certified" |
If no vertical detected, use generic LocalBusiness analysis path.
Analysis Dimensions
1. GBP Signals (25%)
Primary category is the single most important local pack factor (Whitespark #1, score: 193). Incorrect primary category is the #1 negative factor (score: 176).
Check for:
- GBP embed or reference detectable on page (Maps iframe, place ID, reviews widget)
- Primary category appropriateness (infer from page content vs visible GBP data)
- Evidence of secondary categories (optimal: 4 additional per BrightLocal)
- GBP posts presence (no direct ranking impact per WebFX, but triggers Post Justifications)
- Photos/video evidence (45% more direction requests with photos, Agency Jet)
- Q&A content (deprecated Dec 2025, replaced by Ask Maps Gemini AI -- recommend recreating Q&A content as FAQ sections on website; GBP removed existing Q&A with no export available)
- Google Verified badge eligibility (replaced Guaranteed/Screened in Oct 2025)
- GBP link URL strategy: do NOT link to strongest website page (Sterling Sky Diversity Update -- risks suppressing organic rankings)
- Business hours visibility on page (businesses open at search time rank higher, factor #5)
Scoring guide:
- Full: GBP embed present, category signals align, posts active, photos present
- Partial: Some GBP signals present but incomplete
- Low: No visible GBP integration on website
2. Reviews & Reputation (20%)
Review velocity matters more than total count. The 18-day rule (Sterling Sky): rankings cliff if no new reviews for 3 weeks.
Check for:
- Total Google review count visible on page or schema (magic threshold: 10, Sterling Sky)
- Star rating (31% of consumers only use 4.5+, 68% only use 4+, BrightLocal 2026)
- Review recency indicators (74% only care about reviews in last 3 months)
aggregateRating in schema (ratingValue, reviewCount, bestRating)- Third-party review presence (consumers use average of 6 review sites, BrightLocal 2026)
- Owner response patterns (88% would use business that responds, BrightLocal)
- Review gating detection: any pre-screening of satisfaction before directing to review platform is prohibited by Google (fake engagement policy) and FTC ($53,088/violation)
Industry-specific:
- Healthcare: HIPAA prohibits confirming/denying reviewer is a patient in responses
- Legal: attorney-client privilege considerations in review responses
Scoring guide:
- Full: 10+ reviews, 4.5+ stars, recent activity, owner responses, multi-platform presence
- Partial: Some reviews but gaps in recency, rating, or response rate
- Low: <10 reviews, no recent activity, no responses, single platform only
3. Local On-Page SEO (20%)
Dedicated service pages = #1 local organic factor AND #2 AI visibility factor (Whitespark 2026).
Check for:
- Title tag contains city/service keywords
- H1 tag with local intent (city + service)
- NAP (Name, Address, Phone) visible in page HTML (footer, contact section, header)
- Dedicated service pages (one page per core service)
- Location page quality for multi-location sites:
- >60-70% unique content minimum (industry consensus, no Google-confirmed threshold)
- Swap test: if you can swap the city name and content still makes sense, it's a doorway page (RicketyRoo method). HVAC company lost 80% rankings + 63% traffic after March 2024 Core Update for this pattern
- Local photos, area-specific testimonials, local FAQs
- Embedded Google Map (geographic signal reinforcement, not direct ranking factor -- lazy-load to mitigate speed impact)
- Click-to-call button (
tel: link) and contact form above the fold
- Internal linking architecture: hub-and-spoke, every critical page within 3 clicks of homepage
- 2-5 contextual internal links per 1,000 words with descriptive anchor text
Multi-location specific:
- Store locator with individual crawlable URLs (SSR/SSG preferred over CSR)
- Subdirectory structure:
domain.com/locations/city-name/ (subdirectories consolidate link equity better, Bruce Clay: 50%+ traffic lift)
- Each location page has unique LocalBusiness schema with
@id
Scoring guide:
- Full: City in title + H1, NAP visible, dedicated service pages, no doorway patterns, good internal linking
- Partial: Some local signals but missing service pages or doorway page risk
- Low: Generic title/H1, NAP not visible, thin location pages
4. NAP Consistency & Citations (15%)
Citations declining for traditional pack rankings but 3 of top 5 AI visibility factors are citation-related (Whitespark 2026). Google's July 2025 documentation update removed "directories" from prominence definition.
Check for:
- NAP extraction: compare Name, Address, Phone from:
- Visible page HTML (footer, contact page)
- LocalBusiness JSON-LD schema
- Any visible GBP data
- Flag any discrepancies between these three sources
- Citation presence on Tier 1 directories (check via WebFetch or site: search patterns):
- Google Business Profile signals on page
- Yelp:
site:yelp.com "Business Name"
- BBB:
site:bbb.org "Business Name"
- Facebook business page references
- Apple Business Connect awareness (usage doubled to 27%, BrightLocal 2026 -- recommend claiming)
- Bing Places awareness (powers ChatGPT, Copilot, Alexa -- recommend claiming and optimizing)
- Industry-specific directory recommendations: load
references/local-schema-types.md for per-vertical citation sources
- Data aggregator awareness: Data Axle, Foursquare, Neustar/TransUnion (recommend submission for downstream distribution)
Scoring guide:
- Full: Consistent NAP across page/schema, Tier 1 citations detected, industry directories present
- Partial: NAP present but inconsistencies, some citations missing
- Low: NAP discrepancies, no detectable citations, no schema address
5. Local Schema Markup (10%)
Schema is NOT a direct ranking factor (John Mueller confirmed). But enables rich results (43% CTR increase, Webstix case study) and helps AI systems parse business information.
Check for:
- LocalBusiness schema presence (extract JSON-LD blocks)
- Required properties:
name, address with PostalAddress sub-properties
- Recommended properties:
geo (minimum 5 decimal places, Confirmed), openingHoursSpecification, telephone, url, priceRange (<100 chars), image, aggregateRating
- Correct subtype for industry -- load
references/local-schema-types.md:
- Restaurant using
Restaurant not generic LocalBusiness
- Legal using
LegalService not deprecated Attorney
- Auto dealer using
AutoDealer not deprecated VehicleListing
- Healthcare using
MedicalClinic/Hospital/Dentist not generic MedicalBusiness
- SAB-specific:
areaServed with named cities (recommended, not in Google's official list but Schema.org supported)
- Multi-location: each location page has own LocalBusiness with unique
@id, linked via branchOf to Organization on homepage
- Industry-specific schema patterns (per
references/local-schema-types.md):
- Restaurant: Menu + MenuSection + MenuItem + ReserveAction
- Healthcare: Physician (Person) + MedicalSpecialty + sameAs to NPI
- Legal: LegalService + Person + Service (practice areas)
- Home Services: Subtype + areaServed + Service
- Real Estate: RealEstateAgent + Person + RealEstateListing
- Automotive: AutoDealer + Car + Offer (separate dept schemas)
Scoring guide:
- Full: Correct subtype, all recommended properties, industry-specific patterns, valid JSON-LD
- Partial: LocalBusiness present but generic type or missing recommended properties
- Low: No local schema, or schema with errors/placeholder content
6. Local Link & Authority Signals (10%)
Links declining for local pack but remain ~26% of local organic ranking (Whitespark 2026, #2 factor group). "Best of" list placements = #1 AI visibility citation factor.
Check for:
- Local backlink indicators detectable from page:
- Chamber of Commerce mentions or links (high Trust Flow, ~80% more consumer visits, GlueUp)
- BBB accreditation/badge (Google uses BBB for business verification)
- Local news/press mentions
- Community involvement signals (sponsorships, local events, partnerships)
- "Best of" list presence (top AI visibility factor per Whitespark 2026)
- Digital PR signals: 66.2% of PR practitioners now track AI citations as KPI (BuzzStream 2026)
- Brand mentions correlate 3x more strongly with AI visibility than traditional backlinks (Ahrefs: 0.664 vs 0.218 correlation)
- Link velocity benchmark: 5-10 quality local links/month for small businesses (consensus)
Scoring guide:
- Full: Local authority signals visible (chamber, BBB, press), community involvement evident
- Partial: Some authority signals but limited local link indicators
- Low: No detectable local authority signals
AI Search Impact on Local
Do not duplicate seo-geo analysis. Provide local-specific AI context and recommend /seo geo <url> for full analysis.
Key local AI facts:
- AI Overviews appear on up to 68% of local searches (Whitespark Q2 2025)
- ChatGPT converts at 15.9% vs Google organic at 1.76% (Seer Interactive)
- 3 of top 5 AI visibility factors are citation-related (Whitespark 2026)
- ChatGPT does NOT access GBP directly -- sources from Bing index, Yelp, TripAdvisor, BBB, Reddit
- Bing Places is critical: powers ChatGPT, Copilot, Alexa
- AI-powered local packs (mobile US) show only 1-2 businesses, 32% fewer shown (Sterling Sky)
Recommendation: Run /seo geo <url> for comprehensive AI search visibility analysis including citability scoring, llms.txt check, and brand mention audit.
Reference Files
Load on-demand as needed:
references/local-seo-signals.md: Ranking factors, review benchmarks, citation tiers, GBP feature status, algorithm updatesreferences/local-schema-types.md: LocalBusiness subtypes by industry, schema patterns, citation sources per vertical
Output
Generate LOCAL-SEO-ANALYSIS-{domain}.md with:
- Local SEO Score: XX/100 with dimension breakdown table
- Business type: Brick-and-mortar / SAB / Hybrid
- Industry vertical detected + industry-specific findings
- GBP optimization checklist (detected signals vs missing)
- Review health snapshot (rating, count, velocity indicators, response patterns)
- NAP consistency audit (page vs schema discrepancies, cross-source comparison)
- Citation presence check (Tier 1 directory status)
- Local schema status (present/missing/malformed + ready-to-use fix)
- Location page quality (if multi-location: unique content %, doorway risk, store locator)
- Top 10 prioritized actions (Critical > High > Medium > Low)
- Limitations disclaimer: What this analysis could NOT assess (geo-grid ranking, Domain Authority, comprehensive backlinks, GBP Insights data, real-time local pack position) and which paid tools can fill those gaps
Quick Wins
- Claim and optimize Apple Business Connect (usage doubled to 27%)
- Claim and optimize Bing Places (powers ChatGPT, Copilot, Alexa)
- Fix any NAP discrepancies between page, schema, and GBP
- Add LocalBusiness schema with correct industry subtype
- Add
geo coordinates with 5+ decimal precision
- Ensure phone number uses
tel: link for click-to-call
- Add city + service keyword to title tag and H1
Medium Effort
- Create dedicated page for each core service (Whitespark: #1 local organic factor)
- Build review generation strategy maintaining 18-day minimum cadence
- Submit to three data aggregators (Data Axle, Foursquare, Neustar/TransUnion) for downstream distribution
- Claim industry-specific directory listings (per vertical recommendations)
- Add industry-specific schema patterns (Menu for restaurants, Physician for healthcare, etc.)
- Implement hub-and-spoke internal linking for service/location pages
High Impact
- Build local digital PR strategy targeting "best of" lists (#1 AI visibility factor)
- Develop unique, non-swappable content for each location page (>60% unique)
- Establish presence on platforms ChatGPT sources from (Yelp, TripAdvisor, BBB, Reddit)
- Pursue Chamber of Commerce and BBB membership (authority + verification signals)
- Create community involvement content (sponsorships, local events, partnerships)
DataForSEO Integration (Optional)
If DataForSEO MCP tools are available, use local_business_data for live GBP data extraction, google_local_pack_serp for real-time local pack positions, and business_listings for automated citation auditing across directories.
Error Handling
| Scenario |
Action |
| URL unreachable (DNS failure, connection refused) |
Report the error clearly. Do not guess site content. Suggest the user verify the URL and try again. |
| No local signals detected on page |
Report that no local business indicators were found. Suggest the user confirm this is a local business and provide the GBP listing URL if available. |
| NAP not found in page HTML |
Check schema and meta tags. If still absent, flag as Critical issue. Recommend adding visible NAP to footer and contact page. |
| Industry vertical unclear |
Present the top two detected verticals with supporting signals. Ask the user to confirm before applying industry-specific recommendations. |
| Multi-location with 50+ location pages |
Apply the quality gates from seo orchestrator: WARNING at 30+ pages (enforce 60%+ unique), HARD STOP at 50+ pages (require user justification before continuing). |
