The free local SEO audit tool for service businesses.
75+ checks in under a minute. No email, no signup. See exactly what is holding your map pack ranking back — and the order to fix it in.
- No signup required
- 75+ checks across 6 categories
- Shareable report link
Built and maintained by the LocalHero SEO team | Last updated August 2026
A factual, reproducible read on your local search health.
Every check runs against your live page. No sample data, no fluff, no lock in.
One minute scan
Enter your URL and get an instant A to F grade with a category breakdown.
19 local signals
NAP in HTML, schema type and completeness, map embed, service area, hours. The map pack essentials.
75+ point report
Local, Google Business Profile, technical, on page, speed and trust checks — each with the fix.
No signup, no spam
Run as many audits as you want. No email required, no credit card, no follow up sequence.
Why local SEO makes or breaks a service business
Most local service businesses lose 60–80% of potential customers before they ever get a call — because their website fails basic local SEO checks.
76%
of local searches lead to a call or store visit within 24 hours
Google Consumer Insights
44%
of all clicks on a local search result go to the Google Map Pack top 3
BrightLocal Research
92%
of searchers pick from the first page — if you're not there, you don't exist
HubSpot Research
This free audit checks the exact signals Google uses to decide whether to show your business in local search — phone visibility, NAP consistency, LocalBusiness schema, page speed, and more. It takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.
Unlike generic SEO checkers that simply measure page speed and word count, this free local SEO audit was purpose-built for service businesses. It validates the exact signals Google's local algorithm uses to populate the Map Pack: structured NAP data, trade-specific LocalBusiness schema, location keywords, and embed signals that most audit tools never check. Local service businesses that run this local SEO audit tool typically discover 3–5 critical issues they did not know existed — issues that directly explain why calls from Google are lower than expected. Each issue comes with a clear fix priority so you can tackle them in order of impact.
How the audit works
Three steps. Thirty seconds. A full local SEO picture.
Enter your URL
Type your website address — no login, no email, no credit card. Add your business name and city to unlock the Google Business Profile checks.
We run 75+ checks
We fetch your live page, robots.txt, and sitemap, parse your structured data, look up your Google Business Profile, and measure Core Web Vitals.
Get your grade & fix list
An A–F grade with a score per category, plus every issue ranked by impact and paired with the specific fix — so you know exactly what to do first.
What your audit report looks like
Here's a real example audit for a plumbing company in San Antonio, TX. This is the exact output you'll receive — with every issue ranked by impact.
38/100 — Significant local SEO issues.
Audited: summitplumbingsa.com
6 issues found · 4/10 checks passed
4 local SEO issues found — these directly affect your map pack ranking
Phone visibility, business address, LocalBusiness schema, map embed
Local SEO Issues (4)Affects map pack ranking
Your phone number must be visible in plain text — not just as an image or inside a JavaScript widget. Google and customers need to read it directly.
Your street address must appear in readable text so Google can match your website to your Google Business Profile and map listing.
Without LocalBusiness schema, Google has to guess your business type, service area, and hours. Adding it directly tells Google what you are and where you operate.
A Google Maps embed signals to Google that your business is tied to a real physical location. It is a measurable trust and relevance signal for map pack rankings.
On-Page SEO Issues (2)
Largest Contentful Paint of 6.2 seconds is well above Google's 2.5s threshold. Slow sites rank lower in mobile search — where 70% of local searches happen.
Your page has no H1 tag. The H1 is one of the strongest on-page signals for telling Google what your page is about.
What's Working (4)
Run the free audit on your website and get your personalized report in 30 seconds.
Run my free audit →The 5 local SEO signals most audit tools miss
Generic SEO tools check title tags and page speed. They were built for e-commerce sites. These 5 checks are what actually determine whether your business shows up when someone in your city searches for your trade.
Phone number visible in plain text
CriticalYour phone number must appear as readable HTML text — not inside an image, not rendered by JavaScript, not hidden in a click-to-call button that hides the digits. Google's crawler reads static text. If your phone number isn't in the HTML when the page loads, Google cannot confirm you are a reachable local business. This is the most common critical failure we find: a beautifully designed header with a phone number that is technically invisible to every search engine crawler.
Business address in readable text (NAP)
CriticalNAP — Name, Address, Phone — consistency is one of the core local SEO ranking signals. Your full street address must appear as plain text on your website. Addresses inside Google Map iframes, background images, or JavaScript widgets do not count. Google needs to read your address as text to match your website to your Google Business Profile listing and confirm you belong in local search results for your area.
LocalBusiness schema markup
HighSchema.org's LocalBusiness markup tells Google explicitly: what type of business you are (Plumber, HVACBusiness, Dentist, RoofingContractor…), where you're located, what your hours are, and how to contact you. Without it, Google infers all of this from your page content — a process full of ambiguity. With it, Google has a direct, structured answer. We check for valid LocalBusiness JSON-LD using the most specific trade subtype available. This is missing from roughly 60% of service business sites we audit.
Location keyword in your title tag
HighYour page title is the strongest single on-page signal for what your page is about. For a local service business, the title must include your city or service area alongside your primary service. "Joe's Plumbing" tells Google you are a plumber. "Joe's Plumbing — Plumber in Austin, TX" tells Google exactly who you are, what you do, and where you do it. We check for a geographic reference in your title tag. This affects both your organic ranking and your eligibility to appear in the local Map Pack.
Google Maps embed on your page
HighEmbedding a Google Map creates a direct link between your website and your verified Google Maps listing. It reinforces that your website corresponds to a real, located business — not just a service area keyword page. It also improves conversions: visitors can get directions without leaving your site. We check for a Google Maps iframe and flag its absence as a high-impact local signal. Most generic audit tools don't check for this at all.
How a local SEO audit works — and exactly what this one checks
A local SEO audit is not a page-speed test with a logo on it. It is a systematic check of the signals Google's local algorithm reads when it decides which three businesses to put in the Map Pack. Here is every category this tool evaluates, and why each one matters.
Local SEO signals
19 checksPhone number in readable HTML, click-to-call link, street address, city and state, ZIP, and whether the phone number on the page matches the one in your schema and your tel: link. Then the schema itself: is a LocalBusiness node present, does it use a trade-specific type rather than the generic one, does it carry a PostalAddress, geo coordinates, and opening hours. Then geography in your copy: city in the title tag, city in the H1, a service-area section, visible business hours, a Google Maps embed, and a link to your Google Business Profile.
Google Business Profile
13 checksEnter your business name and city and the audit looks up your live profile. It checks that a profile exists at all, that it is marked operational, that it links back to your website, that its phone number matches the one on your site, and that hours, a primary category, a description, and a public address or service area are all set. It then benchmarks your review count, average rating, and photo count against what businesses holding the Map Pack top three actually carry.
Technical SEO
26 checksHTTPS, whether http:// redirects to https://, and whether the www and non-www versions of your site both resolve as duplicates. Indexability via robots meta and X-Robots-Tag headers. Whether robots.txt exists and is not blocking crawlers, whether it declares your sitemap, and whether an XML sitemap is actually reachable. Canonical tags and whether they are self-referencing. Viewport configuration and zoom. JSON-LD validity — every block is parsed, because Google silently discards malformed schema. Then mixed content, page weight, render-blocking scripts, stylesheet count, web font count, inline style bloat, and iframe count.
On-page and content
19 checksTitle tag presence, length, and brand separator. Meta description presence, length, and whether it contains a call to action. H1 presence and uniqueness, H2 usage, and whether the heading hierarchy skips levels. Word count against both an indexability floor and a competitive floor. Image count, alt text coverage, and modern image formats. Internal link count, outbound links, generic anchor text like "click here", and the HTML lang attribute.
Speed and Core Web Vitals
12 checksLargest Contentful Paint, First Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, Total Blocking Time, and Speed Index, measured on a mobile profile — because mobile-first indexing means the mobile numbers are the ones that count. Plus the Lighthouse performance, accessibility, and best-practices scores, crawlability, mobile-friendliness, image sizing, and unused JavaScript.
Trust and conversion
11 checksWhether there is a call to action above the fold, a contact page, a lead capture form, an email address, and a privacy policy. Whether you link out to social and directory profiles, whether the copyright year is current, and whether favicon, Open Graph, and Twitter card tags are set. These do not move rankings directly, but they decide whether the traffic you already have turns into calls.
How the grade is calculated
Every check carries an impact weight — critical, high, medium, or low — and every category carries its own weight on top of that. Local signals and Google Business Profile checks are weighted most heavily, because they are what separate a business inside the Map Pack from one below it. Technical, on-page, and speed sit in the middle. Trust and conversion checks are weighted lightest, since they affect what happens after the click rather than the ranking itself. Your overall score is the weighted percentage of available points earned, mapped to an A–F grade. Nothing is estimated or simulated: each check reads your live page, your robots.txt, your sitemap, and — where available — the Google Places and PageSpeed Insights APIs. You can verify every result yourself by viewing your own page source.
How to run a local SEO audit manually
- 1Open your homepage, right-click, and choose View Page Source. Search for your phone number and street address. If they are not in the raw HTML, Google cannot read them.
- 2Search the same source for "LocalBusiness". If nothing comes back, you have no local schema and Google is guessing what kind of business you are.
- 3Read your title tag. If it does not name your city, you are competing without telling Google where you operate.
- 4Visit yoursite.com/robots.txt and yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. Both should load, and robots.txt should point at the sitemap.
- 5Open your Google Business Profile. Check the website link, phone number, hours, primary category, photo count, and review count against your website.
- 6Run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights on the mobile tab and note LCP. Above 2.5 seconds is a problem.
That is the manual version of roughly six of the checks above. The tool at the top of this page runs all of them, plus the other seventy, in under a minute.
What to fix after your audit — in this exact order
Most businesses try to fix everything at once and fix nothing properly. These four priorities, done in order, deliver the fastest ranking improvement.
Phone number + address in page HTML
~15–30 minutesAdd your phone number and full street address (name, street, city, state, zip) as visible text in your website footer. This is the single fastest fix with the highest direct impact. Open your CMS or website builder, find the footer template, and type the text in. Most service businesses can do this without a developer.
LocalBusiness schema markup
~1–2 hours or hire outAdd a JSON-LD LocalBusiness block to your homepage using the most specific type for your trade (Plumber, HVACBusiness, Electrician, Dentist, RoofingContractor, AutoRepair). Include: name, address, telephone, url, openingHours, and geo coordinates. Validate it at Google's Rich Results Test before publishing. If you're not comfortable with JSON, this is a one-time task worth hiring out — it takes a developer 30 minutes.
City keyword in your title tag
~5 minutesUpdate your homepage title tag to: "[Business Name] — [Primary Service] in [City], [State]". Keep it under 60 characters. Do this in your CMS's SEO settings or meta tag field. This is the fastest possible fix and one of the highest-impact local ranking changes you can make.
Page speed — compress images, reduce fonts
~2–4 hoursIf your LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) is above 4 seconds, convert your hero image to WebP format and compress it under 200KB. Remove unused font families — one Google Font is enough. Defer non-critical JavaScript. Over 70% of local searches happen on mobile, and Google ranks mobile-first. Slow LCP is a direct ranking penalty that compounds every other issue on your site.
Don't have time to fix these yourself? Our team fixes all of this as part of a managed local SEO campaign — typically in the first week of onboarding. Want the full playbook first? Read our step-by-step local SEO audit guide or our local SEO checklist for small businesses.
The 17 core checks, in detail
The 17 checks below carry the most weight in your grade. Our free local SEO audit runs these plus another 58 covering technical SEO, content, speed, trust, and your Google Business Profile.
Local SEO Signals (5 Checks)
Phone Number Visible on Page
CriticalChecks that your phone number appears as readable HTML text, not inside an image or JavaScript widget, so Google can confirm you are a reachable local business.
Business Address on Page (NAP)
HighVerifies your full street address is present as plain text so Google can match your website to your Google Business Profile listing.
LocalBusiness Schema Markup
HighDetects whether your page includes structured data that explicitly tells Google your business type, location, hours, and contact information.
Location Keyword in Title Tag
HighChecks that your title tag includes a city or service-area keyword so Google knows which geographic market you serve.
Google Maps Embed on Page
MediumChecks for a Google Maps iframe or API embed, which reinforces your connection to a physical location and improves user trust.
On-Page SEO Checks (12 Checks)
HTTPS Secure Connection
CriticalConfirms your site is served over HTTPS; Google penalizes non-secure pages and modern browsers label HTTP sites as 'Not Secure'.
Page Is Indexable (No Noindex)
CriticalEnsures no noindex meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header is blocking Google from including this page in search results.
Page Has a Title Tag
HighVerifies an HTML title tag exists; pages without one fail one of the most fundamental on-page SEO signals.
Title Tag Length (50–65 Characters)
MediumMeasures title length; titles under 50 characters may be too vague, while those over 65 get truncated in search results.
Meta Description Present
HighChecks for a meta description tag; without one, Google auto-generates a snippet that may not represent your business or include your keywords.
Meta Description Length (120–160)
MediumValidates description length; overly long descriptions are truncated, while short ones miss keyword opportunities in the snippet.
Page Has an H1 Heading
HighConfirms exactly one H1 tag describes the page content; missing H1s weaken topical relevance and confuse crawlers.
Mobile Viewport Configured
HighChecks the mobile viewport meta tag is present; over 70% of local searches happen on mobile and Google ranks mobile-first.
Canonical URL Set Correctly
MediumVerifies a canonical tag prevents duplicate content issues and consolidates ranking signals to your preferred URL.
Structured Data / Schema.org Markup
MediumDetects additional JSON-LD or microdata (beyond LocalBusiness) that helps Google display rich results like star ratings and FAQs.
Open Graph Tags for Social Sharing
LowChecks for OG tags that control how your page appears when shared on social media — improves click-through from platforms, not a direct ranking signal.
Images Have Descriptive Alt Text
MediumCounts images missing alt attributes; missing alt text hurts accessibility, image search traffic, and is a known accessibility compliance issue.
Built for local service businesses, not enterprise sites
Not just generic SEO — we check the local signals that actually affect whether customers in your city find you.
Phone & Address Visibility
We check that your phone number and business address are readable on the page — essential for map pack rankings.
LocalBusiness Schema
We detect if Google can identify your business type, location, and hours from structured data markup.
Location Keywords in Title
We check that your city or service area appears in your title tag so Google knows who to show you to.
Google Maps Embed
We check for a Google Maps embed — a strong local trust and relevance signal for your service area.
HTTPS Security
Google marks non-secure sites lower in results. We check you're on HTTPS.
Page Speed
Core Web Vitals — LCP, FCP, CLS, TBT. 53% of mobile users leave if a page takes over 3 seconds.
Mobile Experience
Over 70% of local searches happen on mobile. We verify your mobile viewport is configured correctly.
Structured Data
Schema.org markup helps Google display star ratings, hours, and service info in search results.
Priority Issue Ranking
Every issue is ranked critical, high, medium, or low — so you know exactly where to start fixing.
Built for every local service trade
The audit is personalized based on your business type — select your trade for a more relevant report.
Plumbers
Emergency & drain keywords
HVAC Contractors
Seasonal ranking signals
Electricians
EV charger & panel keywords
Dentists
New patient trust signals
Roofers
Storm damage keywords
Auto Repair
Near me & directions signals
Cleaning Services
Recurring booking signals
Attorneys
Practice area keywords
Free SEO audits by trade
The same audit, with the schema types, keywords, and ranking factors that matter for your trade.
How this compares to other SEO audit tools
Most audit tools were built for enterprise websites. This one was built for local service businesses.
| Check | LocalHero | SEMrush | Moz | Generic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone number on page | ||||
| Business address on page | ||||
| LocalBusiness schema | ||||
| Location keyword in title | ||||
| Google Maps embed | ||||
| Page speed / Core Vitals | ||||
| HTTPS security | ||||
| Mobile viewport | ||||
| Free, no signup | ||||
| Built for service trades |
SEMrush and Moz offer extensive paid platforms. Comparison reflects their free audit features only.
More free local SEO tools
Every one is free, needs no account, and was built for local service businesses.
NAP Consistency Checker
Compare the name, address, and phone number across your website, your schema, and your Google Business Profile.
LocalBusiness Schema Generator
Generate valid trade-specific LocalBusiness JSON-LD you can paste straight into your homepage.
Local Citation Checker
See which of the 14 directories that matter already list your business — and which are missing.
Local Keyword Generator
Build a keyword list for your trade and city, including near-me and service-area variations.
Review Response Generator
Write a professional reply to any Google review in seconds.
Real results from real local businesses
Over 240 local service businesses have used this audit to find and fix their local SEO gaps.
“I ran this audit and found out my phone number was buried in an image — Google couldn't read it at all. Fixed it in 10 minutes and started getting calls within two weeks.”
Marcus T.
Plumber, Austin TX
“Didn't realize I had no LocalBusiness schema on my homepage. This tool flagged it immediately. My HVAC company went from nowhere on Maps to top 3 in about 6 weeks.”
Diane K.
HVAC Contractor, Denver CO
“Super fast. I tested three of my competitor sites too just to see where they were weak. The checklist at the end told me exactly what to fix first.”
Ray M.
Roofing Company, Atlanta GA
“I've tried Moz and other audit tools. This one is the only one that checks the actual local signals — NAP in HTML, Maps embed, schema. Everything else just checks page speed.”
Sandra L.
Family Law Attorney, Phoenix AZ
“Sent this to my web designer after failing 4 of the 5 local checks. She fixed them all in one afternoon. Best free SEO tool I've found for a local business owner.”
James O.
Auto Repair Shop, Chicago IL
Frequently asked questions
Is this local SEO audit tool really free?+
Yes — completely free, no credit card, no trial, no signup, and no email required. Enter your URL and your full 75+ point local SEO grade and issue report appears on this page. Email is offered only after your results are already on screen, if you want a copy sent to you.
How is this different from a generic SEO audit tool?+
Generic audit tools (GTmetrix, SEOptimer, SEMrush Site Audit) were built for e-commerce and content sites. They check title tags, page speed, and crawlability — but they do not check the 5 local-specific signals that determine Google Map Pack ranking: phone number visible in plain text, business address in readable HTML, LocalBusiness schema markup, location keyword in the title tag, and Google Maps embed. Every one of these is included in the LocalHero audit.
What is the Google Map Pack and why does it matter for my business?+
The Map Pack is the block of 3 local businesses shown at the very top of Google search results for queries like "plumber near me" or "dentist in [city]" — above all organic results. It captures 44% of all clicks for local searches (BrightLocal). Appearing in the Map Pack instead of the organic results below it is the difference between getting 1–3 inbound calls per day from Google versus nearly none.
My website looks professional — why would it fail local SEO checks?+
Visual design and local SEO are completely separate. A professionally designed site can fail every one of the 5 local checks if it was built without local SEO in mind. The most common scenario: a modern site built by a web designer who used CSS-styled text for the phone number (invisible to crawlers), JavaScript for the address (unreadable by Google), no LocalBusiness schema markup, and a generic title like 'Home'.
My site got a low score — what should I fix first?+
Fix in this order: (1) Add your phone number and full address as visible plain text in your footer — takes 15 minutes. (2) Add LocalBusiness schema markup to your homepage. (3) Add your city to your title tag. (4) Compress your images if page speed is flagged. These four fixes, done in order, deliver the fastest ranking improvement.
Does this check my Google Business Profile?+
Yes. Enter your business name and city alongside your URL and the audit also looks up your Google Business Profile — checking that it is operational, that it links back to your website, that its phone number matches your site, and that hours, primary category, description, photos, review count, and rating meet the bar set by businesses holding the Map Pack top three.
How often should I run this audit?+
Run it any time you update your website — a redesign, a new CMS, a plugin update — and at least once every 6 months as a routine check. Website updates frequently break local SEO signals without anyone noticing.
What does a free local SEO audit tool check?+
This local SEO audit tool runs 75+ checks in six weighted categories: Local SEO Signals (19), Technical SEO (26), On-Page & Content (19), and Trust & Conversion (11), plus Core Web Vitals and a Google Business Profile audit when you supply your business name and city. Every check runs against your live page, your robots.txt, and your sitemap, and is scored instantly.
How accurate is the local SEO audit tool?+
The tool fetches your actual page HTML and analyzes it in real time — it does not rely on simulated crawls or estimated data. The 17 checks cover the same on-page factors Google's local search algorithm evaluates when deciding Map Pack ranking. Each check is deterministic: your phone number is either in the HTML or it is not; your schema markup is either present with valid JSON-LD or it is not. The result is a factual, reproducible assessment you can verify yourself by inspecting your own source code.
Can I use this free SEO audit for competitor analysis?+
Yes — just enter a competitor's URL into the tool. You will receive the same 17-check report for their website, showing you exactly where they are strong and where they are weak on local SEO. This is useful for benchmarking your own site against top competitors in your city or trade. Note that the tool checks on-page factors only — you will still need to evaluate their Google Business Profile and backlink profile separately.
How long does it take to see results after fixing audit issues?+
Timelines vary by the type of fix. On-page changes like adding your city to your title tag or fixing your meta description can start influencing rankings within 1–2 weeks after Google recrawls your page. NAP and LocalBusiness schema fixes typically take 2–6 weeks to feed into Google's local algorithm. Page speed improvements (LCP, CLS) can take 3–8 weeks depending on crawl frequency. The key is to fix issues in priority order and let Google's index updates do the rest.
Want us to fix your local SEO for you?
Our team builds fully managed local SEO campaigns for plumbers, HVAC contractors, electricians, dentists, roofers, and more. We handle everything — Google Business Profile, local schema, citations, and rankings.
Book a Free Strategy Call