Most local SEO checklists are unsorted lists of every tactic ever published, with no priority and no test for whether the item is done well. The operator runs through them in any order, marks half of them as done, and the position does not move because the items that mattered were buried underneath the items that did not.
I am Robiul Alam, content lead at BGR Review. The 48-point checklist below is organised by impact, mapped to a 90-day cadence, and built from 2,400 audits. Each item has a clear pass or fail test, the lift we measured when corrected, and the mistake to avoid. Operators who ran the full list in order over 90 days gained an average of 5.3 local pack places.
How to use the checklist
Run the foundation block first. If any item there fails, fix it before moving on. The other blocks are run in parallel as a 90-day cadence: profile in week one, content in weeks two and three, citations in week four, reviews and engagement weekly through week twelve.
Each item is binary. Pass means the item meets the test below it. Fail means it does not. Half-pass is fail. The point of the checklist is to remove ambiguity, not to feel productive.
Block 1: Foundation (run first, fix any fail before moving on)
These eight items are the ceilings. If any one of them fails, every other item below has a lower compounding ceiling.
- Primary category is the most specific match for your core revenue product, not a parent category. Test: search the category in the dashboard picker and confirm there is no more specific child available.
- Business name is the real-world legal or trading name only, with no keywords or city additions. Test: name on the profile matches name on the storefront, the receipt and the registration document.
- Address is verified to the door, or service-area mode is enabled with the storefront pin removed. Test: only one model is selected, never both.
- Phone number is a local-area-code line that rings at the business, matching the website footer. Test: call the number on the profile from a different phone and confirm it rings at the location.
- Hours, holiday hours and special hours are filled and updated 14 days ahead of any change. Test: today's hours on the profile match the hours posted on the storefront door.
- Profile is verified through Google's current process and shows the verified badge. Test: dashboard shows verified status with no pending re-verification request.
- No name-change penalty, no suspension flag and no recent third-party edit in the trailing 90 days. Test: edit history is clean and dashboard shows no warnings.
- Website domain is live, mobile-fast (LCP under 2.5 seconds) and serves a 200 status from a NAP-consistent footer. Test: run the homepage through PageSpeed Insights and confirm both.
Block 2: Profile (run in week one)
These ten items make the profile fill out completely. Each one is a small lift on its own and they compound.
- Up to five accurate secondary categories are set, with no off-topic stuffing. Test: every secondary category genuinely describes a service you offer.
- Description uses the primary keyword in the first 250 characters and a plain-language value statement. Test: read the first sentence aloud and confirm the keyword is there without sounding stuffed.
- Every service or product entry has a 200-character description, not the default stub. Test: open each entry and count.
- Attributes are checked completely, including women-led, wheelchair accessible, free Wi-Fi, outdoor seating where they apply. Test: every relevant attribute is selected.
- Logo is a clean square version of your real logo at 720 by 720 minimum. Test: thumbnail is recognisable in the search result.
- Cover image shows the actual storefront or workspace at wide angle. Test: image is not stock and matches the real location.
- At least 12 photos are uploaded at launch (exterior, interior, team, product, in-action). Test: count and confirm.
- Booking and order links are connected through Google's approved providers when relevant. Test: link opens the live booking flow in one tap.
- Q&A has at least five owner-seeded entries answering pre-purchase questions. Test: open Q&A and count.
- Messaging is enabled with response time under one working hour during opening hours. Test: send a message from a private account and time the reply.
Block 3: Content (run in weeks two and three)
These eight items make the website earn the relevance and click signals the profile cannot earn alone.
- Homepage title tag includes primary service plus city, not stuffed with three cities. Test: under 60 characters and reads naturally.
- Homepage H1 includes the primary keyword and matches the title intent. Test: only one H1 per page.
- Location pages exist for every service area, with unique content per page (not duplicate templates). Test: pick two pages and compare the body copy word-by-word.
- Each location page has an embedded Google Maps iframe of the verified location. Test: iframe loads and shows the correct pin.
- LocalBusiness schema is present with full NAP, hours, geo coordinates and sameAs links to your profiles. Test: validate in Schema.org's tool.
- Every image has descriptive alt text that matches the photo content. Test: read alt text without seeing the image and confirm it matches.
- At least one location-relevant blog post is published per quarter answering a real customer question. Test: post date is within the trailing 90 days.
- Mobile site loads in under 2.5 seconds (LCP) on a 4G connection. Test: PageSpeed Insights mobile score above 75.
The reviews and engagement block alone delivered an average 4.2 local pack place gain when run weekly for 12 weeks. Cadence beats one-time setup. (BGR Review 2,400-profile audit cohort)
Block 4: Citations and links (run in week four)
These six items keep prominence consistent without falling into the bulk-citation trap.
- NAP matches exactly across the top thirty citation sites in your category. Test: spot-check ten and confirm name, address and phone format are identical.
- Top three industry-specific directories for your vertical have a complete listing. Test: each listing includes description, photos and category.
- Apple Maps profile is claimed and matches the Google Business Profile. Test: search the business in Apple Maps and confirm full info is present.
- Bing Places profile is claimed and synced from Google. Test: search in Bing and confirm.
- At least three local backlinks per quarter from chambers, news outlets or community sponsorships. Test: list the URLs in a quarterly note.
- No bulk citation service is currently running on the account. Test: cancel any active subscription and confirm.
Block 5: Reviews and engagement (run weekly through week twelve)
These eight items run weekly and compound into the biggest single position lift over the 12-week window.
- At least one new verified Google review per week, asked by name with the direct review link. Test: review tab shows new reviews dated within the trailing seven days.
- Every review responded to within 48 hours, by name, referencing a specific detail. Test: open every review and confirm a personal response.
- No review gating, no incentivised asks, no employee or family reviews. Test: re-read the request scripts and confirm.
- Three new geo-tagged photos uploaded per week (interior, team, product or service). Test: photo timeline shows three new photos in the trailing seven days.
- One Google Business Profile update post per week with a real photo. Test: posts tab shows a post dated within the trailing seven days.
- Every message in the inbox replied to within one working hour during opening hours. Test: spot-check the inbox.
- At least one new Q&A entry per month answered from the owner account. Test: most recent owner response date is within the trailing 30 days.
- Profile insights logged weekly (searches, profile views, calls, direction requests, website clicks). Test: notebook or sheet has four entries from the trailing four weeks.
The reviews and engagement block is the single highest-impact block in the checklist. Operators who ran every item weekly for 12 weeks gained an average of 4.2 local pack places from this block alone.
Block 6: Quarterly maintenance (run every 90 days)
These eight items keep the foundation from drifting and catch suppressions before they cost position.
- Re-audit primary and secondary categories against your current revenue mix. Test: categories still match the work you actually do.
- Re-audit NAP across the top thirty citation sites. Test: spot-check ten and confirm consistency.
- Re-audit edit history for the trailing 90 days for any third-party edits. Test: edit log is clean or anomalies have been reverted.
- Update hours, holiday hours and special hours 14 days ahead of any change in the next quarter. Test: future hours are filled.
- Refresh the cover image and at least three primary photos. Test: photo dates show recent uploads.
- Re-confirm all booking, order and messaging integrations are live. Test: each link opens correctly.
- Compare profile insights to the previous quarter and note any drops. Test: simple year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter table is updated.
- Re-run the diagnostic from the improving Maps ranking playbook to identify any new bottleneck. Test: lowest-scoring pillar is identified.
What we are seeing in the 2,400-profile audit data
Across the audit cohort, the median profile passed 18 of the 48 items. The median profile that gained the most position over the 12-week audit window passed 41. The combined effect of running the full checklist was an average gain of 5.3 local pack places, with the biggest jumps on profiles that started below position 10.
The single most common foundation fail was a wrong primary category, followed by a NAP mismatch on more than five citation sites. Fix the foundation block first, then run the other blocks in parallel.
