What a lot can change in just a few years! When I wrote the initial version of the post in January 2014, the local SEO industry didn't have quite the wealth of paid tools that now exists, and several of the freebies on my previous list have been sunsetted. Definitely time for a whole refresh of the very most useful free tools, widgets, and resources I know of to create marketing local businesses easier and better.
While all the tools below are free, note that some will require one to sign up for access. Others are limited, no-cost, or trial versions that let you get a good sense of what they provide, helping you to consider whether it might be worth it to buy into paid access. A very important factor you may notice: my new set of local SEO tools offers increased support for organic SEO tasks, reflective of our industry's growing understanding of how closely linked organic and local SEO have grown to be.
Now, let's open this toolkit and get 2018 off to a great start!
For Research
US Census Bureau Tool Set
Looking to better understand a target community for marketing purposes? You'll find 20+ useful resources from the united states Census Bureau, including population statistics, economic data, mapping and geocoding widgets, income and language information, plus much more.
Client Onboarding Questionnaire & Phone Script
Onboarding a fresh client? Reduce repetitious follow-ups by asking all the right questions the first time around with this thorough questionnaire and easy-to-follow telephone call script from Moz. Includes helpful tips for why you're asking each question. As local SEO veterans will tell you, a missed question can result in unhappy (and costly) surprises down the marketing road. Make sure to have the full total picture of an incoming client in clear view before you begin strategizing.
Location Information Spreadsheet
Vital when marketing multi-location businesses, this free Moz spreadsheet will ensure that you've got all the info at your fingertips about each locale of an organization.
*Pro tip: Whenever using large enterprises, ensure that the data you're inputting in this spreadsheet has been approved by all relevant departments. It is no fun to determine six months into a marketing campaign that there surely is internal disagreement about company NAP or other features.
Local Competitive Audit Spreadsheet
Now we're really getting down to brass tacks. When you need to consider answers to the perennial client question, "How come that guy outranking me?", this free Moz spreadsheet can help you document key competitive data. The end result of filling out the sheet will undoubtedly be two columns of stats it is possible to compare in your quest to find competitors' ranking strengths and weaknesses. Need more guidance? Read my blog post where I put this audit spreadsheet into action for just two SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA Bay Area Chinese restaurants.
Manual GeoLocation Chrome Extension
Watch Darren Shaw demo by using this tool to show how a local pack changes whenever a user virtually crosses a street and you'll quickly understand how useful this Chrome extension will be in approximating the impacts of user-to-business proximity. Works well on desktop devices.
Our industry still hasn't fully recovered from Google removing the neighborhood Search filter from its engine in 2015, and I still live in hope that they will take it back one day, however in the meantime, this extension gives us a good sense of how searcher location affects serp's. In fact, it may even be a superior solution.
The MozBar SEO Toolbar
Local businesses in competitive markets must master traditional SEO, and the free MozBar offers a wonderful introduction to the metrics you need to look at in analyzing the organic strengths and weaknesses of clients and competitors. On-page elements, link metrics, markup, HTTP status, optimization opportunities - obtain the data you need instantly with the MozBar.
Google Advanced Search Operators
Not a tool, per se, but the best tutorial I've ever seen on using Google advanced search operators to deepen your quest. Dr. Pete breaks this down into 67 steps that will enable you to use these search refinements for content and title research, checking for plagiarism, technical SEO audits, and competitive intelligence. Be totally wizardly and impress your clients and teammates, simply by focusing on how to format searches in smart ways.
Google Search Console
Apologies if it already appears like a no-brainer to you that you ought to be enrolled in Google's console that gives you analytics, alerts you to serious errors, and so much more, but local SEO is just now crossing the threshold of understanding how deeply connected it really is to organic search. When playing in Google's backyard, GSC is a must-have for businesses of every type.
BrightLocal's Search Results Checker
This popular tool does a fantastic job of replicating local serp's at a city or zip code level. Occasionally, you need to search by city (for example, when there are multiple towns covered by a single zip code), but other times, it's better search by zip code (as in the case of a big city with multiple zip codes). The tool does not have the capability to recreate user-level results, so remember that the proximity of confirmed user to a small business may create quite different results than what you will see searching at a city or zip code level. I think about this an excellent tool to suss out the lay of the land in a residential area, identifying top competitors.
Offline Conversion Tracker Form
Give this handy Whitespark form to anyone who answers your phone in order to document the solution to the important question, "How did you hear about us?" Submitted information is saved to Whitespark's database and tracked in Google Analytics for your future reference and analysis. For local businesses, knowledge of offline factors can be priceless. This form provides a simple point of entry into amassing real-world data.
For Content
Answer the Public
One of the best-loved key word research tools in the digital marketing world, Answer the Public lets you enter a keyword phrase and generate a lot of questions/topics linked to your search. Just about the most awesome facets of this tool is that it has a.CSV download feature - perfect for instantly generating large lists of keywords you can input into something like Moz Keyword Explorer to begin with the sorting process that turns up the most powerful keywords for your content dev and on-page optimization.
Buzzsumo
Another great content inspiration tool, Buzzsumo shows you enables you to enter a keyword, topic or domain name, and shows you which pieces are receiving the most social shares. For example, a seek out wholefoodsmarket.com shows that an extremely shared piece of content at the time of my search is approximately an asparagus and broccoli soup. You may also sort by content type (articles, videos, infographics, etc.). Usage of Buzzsumo will let you generate topics that might be popular if covered on your website.
OSHA Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) System Search
Another interesting resource for brainstorming a broad pool of potential keywords for content dev consideration, OSHA's SIC search returns big, comprehensive lists. Just look up Moz Listing , and then enter it along with a keyword/category to really get your list.
USPS Look Up a ZIP Code Widget
Working with service area businesses (SABs)? Note the next tab in the menu of this widget: Cities by zip code. When you know the zip code of a small business you're marketing you can enter it into this simple tool to obtain a list of every city in that zip. Now, let's not have a wrong step here: don't publish large blocks of zips or city names on any website, but do utilize this widget to be sure you understand of all the communities that an SAB might strategize content, link building, brand building, real-world relationship building, social media marketing, and PPC.
