The question of how to do research for local SEO is important when determining the best strategies and approaches for local business success.
But while many owners and SEOs jump straight into tactics (optimization, backlinks, etc.), the research phase is what separates campaigns that deliver lasting results from those that waste time and resources. Working with a Local SEO Expert can also make this phase more effective, ensuring your research is accurate and leads to strategies that truly work.
In this article, we’ll look at the important aspects of local SEO research, what to look at, and how to plan effectively. That way, you can build a winning strategy for your business that drives local SEO results for years to come.
What is Local SEO Research?
Local SEO research means creating a comprehensive plan around your Google Business Profile and website’s local focus, with the goal of moving your business higher in rankings for key search terms that actually drive buyers. It’s the strategic foundation that tells you exactly what to optimize, who you’re competing against, and what content you need to create.
This research process involves finding the specific keywords you want to target to drive business–not just any local keywords, but the ones that indicate buying intent in your market. It means analyzing what successful competitors are doing across their digital presence, from their Google Business Profile strategies to their website content approaches.
You’ll also need to create a full content list that covers your service areas comprehensively and identify the technical factors that can make or break your local search visibility.
The end result is a clear roadmap that prevents you from wasting time on ineffective tactics and ensures every optimization effort contributes to your local search success. Instead of guessing what might work, you’ll have data-driven insights that guide your local SEO strategy from day one.
With that, let’s dive into the key pieces of a local SEO research plan, starting with keyword research.
Local Keyword Research
Finding the right keywords starts with understanding how people actually search for local services. You’ll want to use Google Maps suggested searches as your starting point–simply type your service into Google Maps and see what autocomplete suggestions appear.
These suggestions reflect real user behavior and often reveal location-specific terms or service variations you might not have considered.
Tools like Ahrefs and Semrush become essential for deeper keyword research, helping you identify search volumes, competition levels, and related terms that your competitors might be targeting.
However, not all of these tools contain city specific information. So you’ll need to use searches with your city in them, to get search volume data.
For instance, you can search for “roofing” as a keyword, but then look for searches with only “Phoenix” in the term. This will give you only the results with variations of the word “roofing” in the Phoenix area.
High Volume, Short Keywords
Remember that shorter keywords are typically the most competitive, but they’re also the most searched. These should be your long-term goal. Terms like “roofing” or “plumber” and service + city combinations, like “plumber Los Angeles” or “roofer Salt Lake City” represent how most people search for local services.
Also near me searches like “roofing near me” or “plumber near me” should be target keywords you work to rank for.
Long-Tail, Local Keywords
Longer, or long-tail, keywords offer unique options to deliver easy wins and should also be included as part of your research. For instance, a plumber might discover that few competitors are targeting “soft water installation expert in Tampa Bay” and make that a key part of their ranking strategy.
These longer-tail keywords often have less competition and higher conversion rates because they indicate more specific search intent.
Tracking Keywords
Once you’ve identified your target keywords, tracking becomes crucial. You’ll need to monitor both local pack rankings and traditional SERP positions, as performance can vary between these different search features.
Tools like BrightLocal or LocalFalcon specialize in local pack tracking, while your standard rank tracking tools handle traditional SERP monitoring.
This dual approach helps you understand your complete local search visibility and make sure you’re getting results.
Once you have a strong keyword plan, it’s time to look at your competitors, and do a deeper dive on what they are doing well, and where you can improve.
Competitor Analysis
Understanding your local competition goes far beyond simply identifying who else offers your services in the area. Effective competitor analysis for local SEO requires examining multiple factors that influence local search rankings, starting with how competitors position themselves in Google Business Profile categories.
Primary and Secondary Categories
Start by analyzing your competitors’ Google Business Profile categories, both primary and secondary. The primary category is crucial because it determines the primary search your competitor can appear for in the local pack.
Secondary categories are also important for ranking, although you will not be as competitive in these categories as your primary category. So choose wisely.
Look at successful competitors to see if they’re using categories you haven’t considered, or if they’ve found ways to target multiple service areas through strategic secondary category selections.
This research often reveals opportunities to expand your own category targeting or identifies gaps where competitors might be missing relevant categories.
Review Count and Review Velocity
Review metrics provide insight into both competitor strength and customer acquisition patterns.
Review count shows you the established players in your market, while review velocity–how quickly competitors are gaining new reviews–indicates which businesses are actively growing their customer base.
A competitor with 200 reviews but only gaining 2-3 per month might be vulnerable to a business that’s generating 10-15 new reviews monthly. So it’s smart to determine the review velocity of your competitors, and try to achieve a higher monthly review count.
This data helps you understand the review benchmarks you need to meet and identifies competitors who are successfully implementing review generation strategies.
Domain Authority and Backlinks
Your competitors’ domain authority scores give you a quick snapshot of their overall SEO strength. Also, look at organic traffic predictions as a way to determine how strong they are in the market.
Then, a solid backlink analysis can help you discover actionable opportunities. Look at where competitors are getting their backlinks–local directories, chamber of commerce sites, community organizations, or local media coverage.
Then, make a plan to go after these exact opportunities.]
This can help you get on your feet quickly and start moving nearby, and eventually overtaking, competitors in your local area.
Directories and Associations
Analyze which local directories and industry associations your successful competitors are listed in. This research serves two purposes: it shows you citation opportunities that can improve your own local search visibility, and it reveals the local business ecosystem in your market.
Unique directories and associations, especially local or industry specific, can offer a lot of benefit to local businesses. And getting a few very strong listings can often be more important than getting hundreds of less useful ones.
Now that you have a strong plan and understand your competition, let’s move on to your website.
Website Content
Your website content research focuses on understanding what messaging converts in your local market and identifying content gaps that competitors haven’t filled. This research informs everything from your conversion strategy to your page structure, helping you create content that both ranks well and drives business results.
You can learn a lot here by examining the website content strategies of industry leaders in your country.
Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
Start first with the specific CTAs (calls-to-action) that you will use on your site. Typically, you’ll want to give customers two distinct options, with the primary option being the most popular, and highest converting.
If you aren’t certain, research what CTAs are being used by industry leaders. Then, use and test what works best for your specific customer base. Look at their contact forms, phone number placement, and conversion messaging to understand local market expectations.
Your CTA research should identify the primary action most competitors focus on, then make sure you’re offering additional pathways that they might be missing.
Home Page Content
Your homepage should target your primary keyword–typically your main service plus your primary city. This is where you establish topical authority for your core offering while making it immediately clear what you do and where you serve.
Once again, analyze industry leaders and what works best on their homepages. See how they balance keyword optimization with conversion-focused messaging, then create content that outperforms both their SEO targeting and their user experience.
Service Pages
Research which services industry leaders have listed on their websites. Pay special attention to unique services that might have less competition, or that others in your area may not offer.
A roofing company might discover that while everyone has a “roof repair” page, few are targeting “storm damage assessment” or “insurance claim assistance.”
These unique service pages often rank more easily and attract higher-intent traffic because they address specific customer needs that competitors are overlooking.
City and Neighborhood Pages
Create targeted location pages for each city you serve, and consider neighborhood-specific pages if they have sufficient search volume.
Use tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to research whether people search for your services plus specific neighborhood names–terms like “plumber Downtown Denver” or “dentist Capitol Hill Seattle.”
These hyperlocal pages can capture search traffic that broader city pages miss while helping you dominate local search results.
FAQ Content
Lastly, your FAQ sections offer your biggest opportunity to differentiate yourself from others in your area. Here, you can directly address customer concerns that others ignore.
Talk to your customers and try to find questions they have, or concerns they may have before contacting you.
If you do this right, your FAQ section not only helps Google determine what makes you different, but can help potential customers who are on the fence take action and go from a website visitor, to a potential customer.
With that, let’s move to our last research topic–technical SEO.
Technical SEO Research
Your technical SEO research identifies the behind-the-scenes optimization opportunities that can give you competitive advantages in local search. This phase involves auditing what technical elements successful companies in your industry are implementing and discovering gaps where you can outperform local competitors.
Directory Research
Research which local directories and citation sources industry leaders are listed on, focusing on both quantity and quality.
Use tools like BrightLocal or Whitespark to analyze competitor citation profiles and identify directories you’re missing.
Pay attention to industry-specific directories and local chambers of commerce that might carry more weight in your market.
This research also reveals NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency issues that competitors might have, giving you opportunities to maintain cleaner data across all platforms.
Schema Markup Analysis
Examine what structured data top companies are implementing on their websites. Look for LocalBusiness schema, FAQ schema, and review schema that might be helping them appear in rich snippets or knowledge panels.
Many local businesses overlook schema markup entirely, creating opportunities for you to gain visibility advantages through proper implementation. Research which schema types are most relevant for your industry and location pages.
Google Business Profile Optimization Research
Analyze your industry and the top performing Google Business Profiles to understand optimization best practices in your market. Research their category selections, posting frequency, photo strategies, and how they handle customer Q&A sections.
Look at which businesses consistently appear in the local pack and identify patterns in their GBP optimization that you can improve upon. This research also reveals posting content types and frequencies that generate engagement in your specific market.
Headers and Metadata Research
Audit high-performing websites for page titles, meta descriptions, and header structures to understand how they’re targeting local keywords.
Research reveals common patterns in title tag optimization and meta data that works. This can also be analyzed on a sitewide basis to get a better sense of page structure and additional page and content ideas you may be missing out on.
Internal Linking Structure
Research how the best websites structure their internal linking between location pages, service pages, and their main navigation.
Strong internal linking helps distribute page authority and creates clear topical relationships that search engines can understand.
Identify patterns in how successful sites link their city pages to service pages, and look for opportunities to create more comprehensive linking strategies that they might be missing.
With these technical factors accounted for, you’ve put yourself in a strong position to rank well in your local area.
Conclusion
Great work. If you’ve gone through this list and created a plan, you’re well on your way to dominating in your local area.
This type of planning and research provides a strategic foundation that separates successful campaigns from wasted efforts.
By systematically researching keywords, analyzing competitors, planning your website content, and identifying technical opportunities, you’ve created a comprehensive roadmap for both your Google Business Profile and website optimization.
The key to success lies in following your research-backed plan consistently while remaining flexible enough to make adjustments based on performance data. Your keyword research will guide your content creation, competitor analysis will reveal ongoing opportunities, and technical research will ensure you’re not missing optimization fundamentals that can impact your local search visibility.
Remember that local SEO research isn’t a one-time activity. Markets evolve, competitors adapt their strategies, and new opportunities emerge regularly.
Schedule quarterly research reviews to stay ahead of changes in your local market and maintain the competitive advantages you’ve worked to build. With solid research as your foundation, you’re positioned to achieve lasting local SEO results that drive real business growth.