Generate informative local SEO reports that actually matter

A local SEO report is a document that collects data pertaining to a business’ performance in search engines in a given geographical area. A well-crafted local SEO report should include the business’ rankings, average review ratings and an audit of its citations.

Local SEO reports require a specialist tool to get you the most objective data. Semrush’s Listing Management features a local rank tracker and can generate attractive reports for managers, clients or for your own reference. Reports can quickly be shared by email or downloaded in PDF format, and can even be scheduled so you can set it and forget it.

It can be daunting to put together a local SEO report from scratch, so it makes sense to look at some examples and templates to work out what elements you want for your own report. Semrush’s Listing Management features ready-to-go templates that lay out your local SEO data in a simple, minimalist style, so you don’t have to worry about making it look pretty all by yourself.

You can include as much or as little data in your local SEO report as makes sense for your business. At a minimum, you should be tracking your local rankings and average review ratings, which are important for positioning your business in Google’s Local Finder. You might also include local links earned, Google Business Profile metrics, traffic data, local keyword performance in organic results, and a written summary. Ultimately, you should be demonstrating the return on investment that local SEO is bringing in for your business, so definitely feature the data that best achieves that.

Google Analytics is a powerful tool for analyzing your website’s search performance and audience behavior. With Google Analytics, you can segment traffic by location and device, allowing you to drill down into local traffic and focus on data from the users that matter most. And while it should definitely factor into your local SEO reporting, it can’t paint the entire picture of your local search performance. Combine free tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console with dedicated local SEO tools like Semrush’s Listing Management for the most comprehensive local SEO reporting.

A local SEO audit is a great place to start to get a clear understanding of your current situation. Fortunately, you can get started with a free local SEO audit before you commit to a tool that will help you improve your rankings and online prominence. Listing Management allows you to run audits for five locations per day.

It really depends on your business and how many metrics you’re tracking. Start with the most essential information so you don’t overwhelm yourself or those receiving it. If you can get all your metrics on one page and it’s useful, then that’s how long it needs to be. But if you’re managing multiple locations, it probably makes sense to give each one its own page so it’s not confusing.

Good local SEO reports show data that can inform your local search strategy moving forward. For example, if your local SEO report reveals that a competitor that’s outranking you has a significantly higher number of reviews, it’s clear you should divert some resources to reaching out to current and past customers in a review generation campaign. You might also discover that you’re ranking poorly in a specific area, so you might plan out some content and local landing pages for the location, as well as making it clear you serve that area in your business listings.

Local SEO reports should be shared with stakeholders at least every month, but the frequency of your local SEO reporting really depends on the scale of your strategy. More frequent reporting might see you worrying about small fluctuations in rankings that don’t matter in the long run, while less frequently might mean missing important metrics that could really help improve your rankings.