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Local SEO Grader

Answer a few honest questions and get a letter grade for how ready your business is to show up in Google’s local results — plus the highest-impact things to fix first.

Google Business Profile

The single biggest lever for the map pack — a complete, accurate profile.

Is your Google Business Profile claimed and verified?
Is your primary category the most specific fit, with relevant secondary categories added?
Are your services, hours, and business description filled out completely?
Have you added real photos in the last few months?
Reviews & Reputation

Volume, recency, and responses — Google and customers both weigh these.

How many Google reviews do you have compared with local competitors?
Are you getting new reviews regularly (say, most months)?
Do you respond to your reviews?
NAP & Citations

Consistent name, address, and phone across the directories that matter.

Is your business name, address, and phone identical everywhere it appears online?
Are you listed on the major directories (Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp, industry sites)?
Do you have any duplicate or outdated listings floating around?
On-Page Local Signals

Your website telling Google clearly what you do and where you do it.

Do your key pages mention your city and service area in titles and content?
Do you have dedicated location or service-area pages with real, unique content?
Is LocalBusiness structured data (schema) implemented on your site?
Is your name, address, and phone shown on your site and matching your profile?
Website Foundation

A fast, mobile, secure site — the base everything else sits on.

Is your website fast and mobile-friendly?
Is your site on HTTPS with clear ways to call or contact you?

What this local SEO grade measures

Showing up when someone nearby searches for what you do comes down to a handful of things you can actually control. This grader scores the five that matter most — and where you land in each one is usually the difference between appearing in the map pack and being invisible.

  • Google Business Profile. The single biggest lever. A claimed, complete, accurate profile with the right categories and fresh photos.
  • Reviews & reputation. Volume, recency, and your responses — for both Google and the customer deciding whether to call.
  • NAP & citations. Your name, address, and phone identical across the directories that matter, with no stale duplicates.
  • On-page local signals. Your website clearly stating what you do and where — in titles, content, real location pages, and local SEO structure.
  • Website foundation. A fast, mobile, secure site with obvious ways to get in touch — the base everything else sits on.

How Google decides who ranks locally

Google’s own guidance comes down to three factors: relevance (how well you match the search), distance (how close you are to the searcher), and prominence (how established and trusted you look online). Most local SEO work is really about improving one of those three — and the five areas above are how you do it. For the full picture, see how local SEO rankings actually work.

How to improve your grade

Work the biggest levers first — they compound:

  • Start with your profile. Claim it, verify it, pick the most specific category, fill in everything, and add real photos. See Google Business Profile optimization.
  • Build a review habit. Ask every customer at the right moment and respond to what comes in. Review automation makes it consistent.
  • Clean up your citations. Make your business details identical everywhere and remove duplicates.
  • Strengthen your site. Add genuine local content and structure, and make sure the foundation is fast and mobile — the heart of local SEO.

Prefer a step-by-step you can work through? The Fresno local SEO checklist walks it item by item, and Fresno businesses can start with a local SEO review.

Local SEO grader — frequently asked questions

What is a local SEO grade?

It’s a quick, honest read on how well your business is set up to show up in Google’s local results and map pack. This grader scores five areas — your Google Business Profile, reviews, citations, on-page local signals, and website foundation — and gives you a letter grade plus the highest-impact things to fix. It’s based on what you tell it, not a live scan of your listing.

What are the most important local SEO ranking factors?

Google weighs relevance (how well you match the search), distance (how close you are to the searcher), and prominence (how established and trusted you look). In practice that means a complete Google Business Profile, a steady stream of genuine reviews, consistent business information across the web, and a fast site that clearly states what you do and where.

Is this the same as a paid local SEO audit?

No. A paid audit involves actually checking your live profile, rankings, and citations with tools. This grader is a free self-assessment — a fast way to see where your gaps are and what to prioritize. If you want a real audit of your live presence, that’s a conversation, not a form.

Will fixing these things guarantee I rank in the map pack?

No honest tool can promise placement — Google decides based on factors no provider fully controls. What a strong profile, real reviews, clean citations, and a solid site do is make you eligible and competitive instead of ruling yourself out. That’s the part you control.

Do you store my answers?

No. The grader runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you select is sent to a server, stored, or tracked, and you don’t need to enter any contact details to see your grade.

Want us to grade your real listing?

The grader is a self-check. For a look at your actual Google presence and a plan to climb the local results, start a conversation — no obligation.

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