Want to outrank local competitors and claim the top spots in local search results? It all starts with understanding how to analyze your local SEO competition. A detailed local SEO competitive analysis reveals what your competitors are doing well—and where they’re falling short. This gives you the insight you need to outsmart them and uncover opportunities they haven’t tapped into.
Whether you’re diving into local SEO analysis, researching nearby competitors, or looking to boost your visibility in regional rankings, this guide will walk you through everything you need to strengthen your local presence and gain a real advantage in your market.
The competitive analysis of local SEO involves reviewing competitors' online activities. To learn from their successes and failures, a study of your competitors will show best practices for local SEO and where you can make improvements to boost your own ranking across local searches, based on your competitors' analysis of what may be missing in their strategy. Therefore, you should regularly conduct local SEO competitive analyses to determine trends and identify gaps in your local SEO efforts.
What keywords are your competitors targeting? Are they using location-specific keywords or long-tail keywords, like “best pizza in [city]” or “affordable plumber near me”? If they’re ranking well for these keywords, take note. If they’re missing some good ones, that’s your chance to fill the gap and target keywords they’re overlooking. This is a core part of analyzing local SEO competition and conducting a meaningful local SEO analysis.
Check out your competitor’s Google My Business (GMB) profile. A complete GMB profile is crucial for local search. Do they have up-to-date business info, customer reviews, and engaging photos? If they’ve got all the correct elements in place, they’re doing something right. If they’re lacking in any area, you have an opportunity to improve local visibility and stand out in results through stronger local SEO competitive analysis and well-structured local SEO services.
Examine where your competitors are getting their backlinks. Are they receiving mentions and backlinks from local websites, directories, or review sites, such as Yelp or Yellow Pages? If so, that’s a significant factor in their success in regional competition. If not, it’s an excellent opportunity for you to secure those links and citations. This backlink evaluation is essential for analyzing local SEO competition or determining how long it takes local SEO to gain traction.
What strategy do your competitors follow for local keyword optimization on their websites? Are they including local keywords in their title tags, meta descriptions, and paragraph content? If any of your competitors are underutilizing local keywords on their website(s), this could be an advantage for you by focusing on optimizing your on-page SEO with local keywords. By performing the same analysis as described above, it's possible to identify the areas where your competitors fall short with their optimisation strategy and leverage those weaknesses to your advantage. Optimizing on-page SEO supports more substantial rankings and plays a significant role in thorough local SEO analysis and ongoing local SEO services. Look for gaps, opportunities, and ways to improve your local SEO efforts, and soon enough, you’ll be the one leading the pack in local search results.
Identifying your competitors in the local search marketplace is the first step toward giving your business an advantage. Please remember that the listed companies as competitors on local search websites may not be the same as the businesses you compete with in "real life." The following represents a simple approach to uncovering who your actual local competitors are:
Start by searching for keywords relevant to your business — like “best plumber in [city]” or “top-rated pizza place in [neighborhood].” The businesses that appear at the top of the search results are your direct competitors in local search. Pay attention to which companies dominate the results for the terms you want to rank for. This supports your overall local SEO analysis.
The Google Map Pack (the three business listings that appear alongside a map) is a significant factor in local search. Identify which businesses consistently appear in the top three spots. These are likely the competitors you need to keep an eye on, as they’re also working to capture your potential customers, and should be monitored as part of your local SEO competitive analysis.
Local search sites such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, and other specialized directories perform very nicely for localized searches. Each of these directories likely lists many local merchants and shows different ways they market their businesses across the directories. So when you review these directories, take note of which companies are listed on them, and what marketing messages or tactics they use. If a company is listed in any of these directories, it should gain additional visibility, so pay attention to each directory listing when conducting your local search analysis.
Analyzing your local search competitors will give you a clearer understanding of their SEO strategies and help you identify your strongest competitors. You can take what your competitors are doing well and implement them into your local SEO strategy to create a more decisive competitive advantage.
Want to outshine your local SEO competitors? Start by diving into their strategies and identifying what they might be missing. Here's how to get ahead of the pack and make the most of your local SEO efforts:
To effectively compete with other businesses’ local SEO efforts, it is essential to research competitors’ Google My Business (GMB) profiles and optimize them. A properly optimized GMB profile plays a significant role in helping businesses achieve higher rankings within the Google Map Pack. It can impact how quickly a business reaches higher rankings through local SEO.
When analyzing competitor profiles, keep an eye on the following areas:
Suppose a business optimizes its GMB profile more than another business. In that case, it will have an edge over that competitor due to its improved visibility in local search results and the Google Map Pack.
To get a clear sense of what competing businesses are doing about their local keyword strategy, it’s crucial that when conducting your local keyword analysis, you first look at the local keywords that your competitors are currently optimizing for. With the help of tools such as Google Keyword Planner and Ahrefs, you can determine the exact keywords or phrases that each competitor ranks highest for (e.g., “affordable auto repair in [insert city here]” or “best yoga studios around [insert neighborhood here]”) and the terms they have yet to utilize as a potential area of growth within their local marketplace. Examples of under-utilized areas of opportunity for your competitors would include:
By using these local keywords to optimize your business webpage, you will improve your business’s chances of attracting interested online users searching for your products/services in your market area, thus increasing your chances of outperforming local competitors in local search results.
When evaluating the local SEO competitiveness of businesses, an individual's analysis of the business's website page-level SEO will be a huge factor in identifying which company has an advantage over another. The following are the most critical page-level SEO components to evaluate when analyzing local SEO competition:
Understanding what competitors' websites are doing with page-level SEO will help you improve your own page-level SEO for optimal search engine rankability, which can drive more local/organic/community search visits. These steps play an essential role in any local SEO competitive analysis and ongoing local SEO services.
Local backlinks are a goldmine for improving your SEO. Examine where your competitors are obtaining their backlinks from and identify gaps you can fill. Consider opportunities like:
By conducting local competitor research, you’ll uncover new opportunities to build backlinks from trusted local sources. This can significantly boost your local search rankings and help you outrank your local competition. These insights are central to effective local SEO analysis and understanding how long local SEO takes to show results.
Now that you’ve got a better grasp of how to analyze local search competition, let’s dive into some actionable steps that’ll help you outshine your local search competitors:
Now that you’ve got a better grasp of how to analyze local search competition, let’s dive into some actionable steps that’ll help you outshine your local search competitors:
Think “best pizza delivery in [city]” or “affordable dog grooming in [neighborhood].” These long-tail keywords are golden. They’re more specific, less competitive, and much more likely to attract customers who are ready to buy. So, dig into those local terms and make them your SEO secret weapon against your local competition. This research also strengthens your overall local SEO analysis.
Start a blog (if you haven’t already). Write about local events, highlight your customers’ success stories, or share any interesting news happening in your community. Not only will this help establish you as a local authority, but it’ll also help you attract more local search traffic. Bonus points for incorporating local keywords into your content! Adding localized content will improve results tied to local SEO services.
Backlinks from local sources are a powerful ranking signal. Get listed in local directories (like Yelp or your city’s chamber of commerce). Partner with local influencers, sponsor events, or even collaborate with other businesses in your area to build backlinks from trusted sources. It’s all about building local credibility to win in local competition—and this heavily influences how long it takes local SEO to deliver meaningful ranking improvements.
At Growth Hacker, we help companies dominate their markets through search engine optimization (SEO). From optimizing your Google Business Profile to focusing on valuable local keywords to analyzing local competition and identifying competitive local SEO opportunities, we can help you develop effective strategies for your business that stand out from other companies in your area and achieve your goals.
Using a comprehensive analysis of the local competition and an understanding of the competitive landscape for local SEO, we can identify many opportunities that will improve your ranking on local search engines. In addition to identifying these opportunities, we will also assist you in developing authoritative backlinks to improve your overall website authority, polishing your local listing, and increasing your local search visibility, thereby allowing you to connect with more customers (while leaving the competition behind).
Learning how to conduct a local SEO analysis gives you a competitive edge over your local competitors because you know exactly where your competitors are getting their online traffic from and have an in-depth understanding of the current state of the local search landscape. That is a mighty position to be in! And by following a structured process for analysing your local SEO competition, you will find valuable insights that will genuinely elevate your own local SEO strategy. Armed with proven local SEO tools, data, and methodology, you will be able to pinpoint where to put your energy for the most significant impact.
Are you excited to set yourself apart from your competitors in your local search results? Start here!
To analyze local SEO competition effectively, the first step is to identify which businesses currently rank for the exact keywords you do. Start by searching for those keywords using terms such as "best plumber in (city)" or "top-rated bakery near me," and look at who appears on the first page of Google Search and Google Maps results. Be sure to pay attention to their Google My Business (GMB) listing, as it will be a primary determinant of how visible they are to prospective customers searching for products/services locally. Also, evaluate how optimized their GMB profile is, including the number of reviews and how they respond to consumer inquiries.
There are many tools (such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz Local) that provide a wealth of information about competitors' keyword strategies, backlink profiles, and overall digital footprints. Once you've established where your competitors excel or falter, you'll analyze local search competition to refine your strategy accordingly.
Finding competitors for local search is not just about identifying similar products/services, but more so about identifying those businesses that are actively ranking for your desired search terms in your market area. You can utilize tools such as Google My Business Insight, Moz Local, and BrightLocal to help determine the names of the businesses you want to keep an eye on, since these tools provide data on the firms that appear in local searches regularly. Next, evaluate the overall quality of their site, including how easy it is to navigate, the relevance of the site's content, and how engaging it is to your local audience. Research their Google Maps ranking and review the local content generated by these companies. Finally, explore their backlinking strategy. What local partners do they have? Are there links to their sites from reputable local sites, such as newspapers or trade publications? Understanding these elements will give you a solid grasp of your local competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to identify opportunities for improvement and better serve your community through enhanced local SEO services.
When an SEO competitive analysis is performed at the Local Level, It will help to improve where your search rankings are now and allow you to be ahead of the Local competition over time. In addition, the Longitudinal Competitive Analysis will help you understand precisely how your Local Business is positioned versus your competitors' businesses in your geographic area of operations by providing you with an inside view of the SEO Strategies that are causing your competitors to be successful online. For example, you may observe a competitor who consistently ranks higher than you due to the success of its Local Backlink Strategy. This could present an opportunity for you to build new partnerships with other Local Businesses, earn coverage in the media, or create relationships with Local Sources who can provide you with backlinks that can have a positive impact on your community. In addition, do not overlook Google My Business (GMB) and the importance of your Local Business Reviews.
The concept that "if you aren't progressing, you're regressing" also applies to local search results. Regular Local SEO evaluation is necessary to sustain a competitive advantage and a high ranking on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). SEO does not operate in the "set it and forget it" mode. The visibility that you receive in local search may change based on new industry trends, upgrades made by your competitors' SEO strategies, and new entrants into the marketplace. By using an ongoing evaluation process, you can identify these changes. Analyzing ongoing Local SEO will help you identify patterns, measure your efforts, and adjust your strategy as needed. For example, if your competitor begins to rank higher than you do, or if the structure of your Local Competition shifts, you can take action quickly and remain competitive. Some of the most valuable analytical tools for evaluating Local SEO success are Google Analytics, SEMrush, and BrightLocal, which all offer robust metrics surrounding how well your website is ranking on Search Engines; what keywords are driving traffic to your website; and how much interaction is taking place on your Google My Business page.
Local SEO analytics are your go-to tool for fine-tuning your SEO strategy and driving better results. With tools like Google Analytics and BrightLocal, you can see exactly where your local search traffic is coming from, which terms are driving visitors to your website, and how users are interacting with your content. For instance, if you see a spike in traffic to a page but users aren’t converting, it could be a sign that the page needs more local optimization or a stronger call to action. Likewise, Google My Business analytics can show how well your profile is performing, such as the number of clicks, calls, or directions requests you’re receiving. By analyzing these data points, you can make informed decisions to improve your rankings, attract more traffic, engage with customers more effectively, and boost your conversions. Pairing analytics with efforts to analyze local SEO competition keeps you ahead of your local competitors.
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