A Comprehensive Guide to Tracking Local SEO Rankings, Conversions, and Calls
Measuring and reporting on the success of local SEO efforts is crucial for improving your strategy. While the main goal is typically increased leads and revenue, tracking incremental progress through rankings, traffic, and conversions also matters.
Setting up local ranking reports
The first step in tracking local SEO rankings is to use a tool with geo-grid map capabilities. Two popular options for this task are Local Falcon and Places Scout. These tools accurately measure local business rankings on Google Maps and organic search.
When setting up your ranking report, it’s important to use various keywords, including long-tail versions. This will provide a better representation of how your business is ranking in different searches. Additionally, make sure to track both explicit and implicit keywords. Implicit searches may not have a map pack if Google doesn’t perceive sufficient localization in the search intent, so it’s important to regularly check SERP screenshots for your keywords to monitor when map packs appear.
Track keywords that already drive traffic to your website. While ranking high for a relevant head term is important, if it doesn’t generate traffic for related searches, reconsider tracking its rankings. Use Google Search Console to verify that the keywords you target in Maps receive organic search traffic. Google recently adjusted its local algorithm to include business opening hours as a ranking factor, so make sure to run ranking scans for your business when your Google Business Profile indicates that your business is open.
Setting up a radius for grid rank tracking
Adjust the rank tracking grid size to match your business needs. If you operate within a specific radius, don’t set the grid for the entire distance, as your listing may not rank that far. In competitive areas, avoid setting a large radius, as it may hinder your ability to accurately analyze your ranking performance across the city.
During your first scan, pay attention to the number of red pins on the grid. Too many red pins indicate that you may need to scale the radius back as you are too zoomed out. On the other hand, if you see too much green, you may want to zoom out to gauge where rankings drop off. This will help you identify areas where you have the opportunity to improve rankings.
Analyzing local search ranking grids to find opportunities
Once you have established effective rank tracking grids, it’s important to use them to guide your local SEO strategies. Start by conducting competitor research and analyzing businesses that outrank yours for important keywords. Consider factors such as review count and rating, keywords in the business name, primary and secondary categories they use, and the attributes they have. Use this information to prioritize enhancements to your listing and website/Google Business Profile (GBP) landing page.
Evaluate the quality of your competitors’ website/GBP landing page by considering factors such as the type of page they link to (homepage or internal page), the primary keyword focus and location focus of their GBP landing page, whether it is quality content or not, and if they have quality internal links with keyword-rich anchor text throughout the site.
Perform keyword analysis to see your potential to improve local rankings for your target keywords. Look at each competitor’s Share of Local Voice (SoLV) by keyword in tools like Local Falcon. If competitors have high SoLV scores, it indicates that they dominate the area for that keyword. With some SEO effort, you can likely enhance your score and improve your rankings.
Success off the Maps: Local organic search
While it’s important to optimize your Google Business Profile (GBP) for Maps visibility, it’s equally important to focus on organic search to increase visibility for competitive implicit searches with higher search volume. Don’t just work on optimizing your homepage; spend time optimizing service pages, location pages, and blog posts to build authority for your local services.
Make sure each page has a clear keyword and location focus and track organic rankings using a grid tracking tool like Places Scout. This will help you gauge the reach of all your site pages and inform whether you should adjust your content strategy to include more location-specific content for your desired service area.
Service area pages significantly boost organic visibility in a large service area. Well-crafted service area pages can even outperform a GBP landing page in terms of combined traffic and conversions. If you’re struggling to generate enough leads with just the GBP, consider investing in service area pages to appear in cities/towns where you’re currently unseen.
Measure and report on conversions
Tracking conversions resulting from your local SEO efforts is crucial. Use a solid source of conversion data, such as Google Analytics 4 (GA4), to track every event on your website accurately. Ensure that your GA4 is configured for accurate data tracking by adjusting settings in the backend.
Go through your website and make sure all sources of leads are tracking, including calls, texts, chatbots, contact forms, emails, and online scheduler/booking tools. Set up each of these as an event in GA4. GA4 can even attribute conversions on other domains/platforms to the original source/medium if they landed on your website first, known as cross-domain tracking.
Tracking calls is valuable for most businesses, and it’s recommended to set up call tracking instead of relying on “click to call” metrics. Call tracking provides data on the quality of calls and avoids tracking accidental clicks. Use call tracking software like CallRail to track calls from your GBP and website. This will allow you to see data for all the calls that come in from the GBP, not just mobile click-to-calls.
Start reporting early and collect data for reliable year-over-year reporting. Monthly fluctuations can be misleading, especially for seasonal businesses. Don’t delay setting up data tracking for your project and let data guide your tactics rather than opinions.
In conclusion, tracking local SEO rankings, conversions, and calls is essential for improving your local SEO strategy. By setting up local ranking reports, analyzing search ranking grids, focusing on organic search, and tracking conversions, you can accurately quantify local SEO wins and uncover opportunities for improvement. Don’t forget to start collecting data early and let data guide your tactics for optimal results.
