What a lot can transform in just a few years! When I wrote the initial version of this 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 already been sunsetted. Definitely time for a whole refresh of the most useful free tools, widgets, and resources I know of to create marketing local businesses easier and better.
While all of the tools below are free, note that some will require you to sign up for access. Others are limited, no-cost, or trial versions that enable you to get a good sense of what they provide, enabling you to consider whether it may be worth it to get 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 knowledge of how closely linked organic and local SEO have grown to be.
Now, let's open this toolkit and obtain 2018 off to an excellent 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, and much more.
Client Onboarding Questionnaire & Phone Script
Onboarding a new client? Reduce repetitious follow-ups by asking each of the right questions the first time around with this thorough questionnaire and easy-to-follow phone 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 lead to unhappy (and costly) surprises down the marketing road. Make sure to have the full total picture of an incoming client in clear view before starting strategizing.
check here 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, be certain that the data you're inputting in this spreadsheet has been approved by all relevant departments. It is no fun to discover 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 right down to brass tacks. If you want to look for answers to the perennial client question, "Why is that guy outranking me?", this free Moz spreadsheet will let you document key competitive data. The end result of filling in the sheet will be two columns of stats you can compare in your quest to discover competitors' ranking strengths and weaknesses. Need more guidance? Read my blog post in which I put this audit spreadsheet into action for just two San Francisco Bay Area Chinese restaurants.
Manual GeoLocation Chrome Extension
Watch Darren Shaw demo by using this tool to show what sort of local pack changes when a user virtually crosses a street and you will quickly know how useful this Chrome extension will undoubtedly be in approximating the impacts of user-to-business proximity. Additional hints 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 search results. In fact, it may even be considered 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 should 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 research. 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, by just knowing 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 signed up for Google's console that gives you analytics, alerts you to serious errors, and so a lot more, but local SEO is just now crossing the threshold of focusing on how deeply connected it really is to organic search. When playing in Google's backyard, GSC is really a must-have for businesses of each 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 instance, whenever there are multiple towns covered by an individual zip code), but other times, it's better search by zip code (as regarding 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 a given user to a business may create quite different results than what you'll see searching at a city or zip code level. I consider this an excellent tool to suss out the lay of the land in a community, identifying top competitors.
Offline Conversion Tracker Form
Give this handy Whitespark form to anyone who answers your phone so that they can document the answer to the important question, "How did you hear about us?" Submitted information is saved to Whitespark's database and tracked in Google Analytics for the future reference and analysis. For local businesses, understanding of offline factors could be priceless. This form offers 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 general public lets you enter a keyword and generate numerous questions/topics related to your search. The most awesome facets of this tool is that it has a.CSV download feature - ideal for instantly generating large lists of keywords you could input into something similar to Moz Keyword Explorer to begin with the sorting process that arises the most powerful keywords for the content dev and on-page optimization.
Buzzsumo
Another great content inspiration tool, Buzzsumo shows you lets you enter a keyword, topic or domain name, and shows you which pieces are receiving the most social shares. For instance, a search for wholefoodsmarket.com shows that a highly 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 can assist you generate topics that might be popular if covered on your own 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 your industry's SIC code, and enter it along with a keyword/category to get your list.
USPS RESEARCH a ZIP Code Widget
Dealing with service area businesses (SABs)? Note the next tab in the menu of this widget: Cities by zip code. Once you know the zip code of a business you're marketing it is possible to 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 know of all the communities for which an SAB might strategize content, link constructing, brand building, real-world relationship building, social media, and PPC.
