Table of Contents
Section 1: Google Business Profile Optimization
Your Google Business Profile is the foundation of local SEO. Complete and active GBPs consistently outrank incomplete ones — regardless of competition.
- ☐ Business name: Exact legal/operating name — no keyword stuffing
- ☐ Primary category: Most specific category that accurately describes your primary service
- ☐ Additional categories: Up to 9 secondary categories for related services
- ☐ Complete address verified and consistent with your website
- ☐ Local phone number (not a 1-800 number) as primary
- ☐ Website URL pointing to a location-specific page (not just homepage for multi-location)
- ☐ Business hours: Regular, holiday, and special hours all accurate
- ☐ Service area defined (if applicable)
- ☐ Business description: 750 characters, keyword-rich, no links
- ☐ Services: Every service listed with individual descriptions
- ☐ Photos: 30+ photos including exterior, interior, team, and product/service
- ☐ Cover photo updated within last 12 months
- ☐ Attributes: All relevant identity, accessibility, and amenity attributes selected
- ☐ Q&A: 5+ frequently asked questions seeded and answered
- ☐ Google Posts: At least 1 new post per week
- ☐ Reviews response rate: 100% of reviews responded to within 48 hours
Section 2: NAP Consistency & Citations
NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency across the web is a foundational local SEO signal. Inconsistent citations — your name spelled differently, old addresses, wrong phone numbers — confuse Google and dilute your Prominence score.
- ☐ NAP is identical across your website, GBP, Yelp, Facebook, and all major directories
- ☐ Yelp profile: Complete with photos, hours, and responding to reviews
- ☐ Facebook Business Page: Complete, active, and consistent NAP
- ☐ Apple Maps: Claim and optimize your listing
- ☐ Bing Places: Create or claim and optimize
- ☐ Industry directories: Listed in relevant vertical directories (Healthgrades for healthcare, TripAdvisor for hospitality, Houzz for home services, etc.)
- ☐ Chamber of Commerce: Listed in local chamber directory
- ☐ BBB: Claimed and active profile (if applicable)
- ☐ Data aggregators: Ensure accurate data in Factual, Infogroup, and Acxiom
- ☐ Old citations with wrong address/phone: Identified and corrected
Section 3: Reviews
- ☐ Google review count: 50+ (competitive minimum), 100+ (preferred)
- ☐ Review velocity: 5–10 new reviews per month minimum
- ☐ Average rating: 4.0+ (4.4+ preferred for competitive categories)
- ☐ Review response rate: 100% of reviews responded to
- ☐ Review response time: Under 48 hours for all, under 24 hours for negative
- ☐ Review request automation: Systematic process to ask every customer
- ☐ Multi-platform monitoring: Google, Yelp, Facebook, industry platforms all monitored
- ☐ Negative Feedback Shield or equivalent: Private resolution channel in place
- ☐ Fake review monitoring: New reviews checked for authenticity on arrival
Section 4: On-Page Website Optimization
- ☐ Title tag: City + primary keyword + business name (e.g., 'Austin Family Dentist | Bright Smiles Dental')
- ☐ Meta description: 150–160 characters, includes city and primary keyword
- ☐ H1 tag: Contains primary keyword and city
- ☐ Content: 500+ words on homepage mentioning city, neighborhood, and primary services
- ☐ NAP on website: Name, address, and phone number in text (not just image) on homepage footer and contact page
- ☐ Embedded Google Map: Interactive map on contact/location page
- ☐ Location pages: Separate, unique page for each physical location (multi-location)
- ☐ Service pages: Individual pages for each primary service (not one page listing all services)
- ☐ Internal linking: Location and service pages linked from homepage and each other
- ☐ URL structure: Location and service keywords in URLs (e.g., /austin-family-dentist/)
Section 5: Local Link Building
- ☐ Local news sites: Get mentioned or featured in local news coverage
- ☐ Chamber of Commerce: Member and listed on their website with a link
- ☐ Local business associations: Member with website link
- ☐ Sponsorships: Local event or team sponsorships that include a website link
- ☐ Partner businesses: Reciprocal links with complementary local businesses
- ☐ Local blog features: Guest posts or features on local lifestyle/business blogs
- ☐ Press releases: Syndicated for new location openings, awards, community events
Section 6: Mobile & Page Speed
- ☐ Mobile-responsive design: Passes Google's Mobile-Friendly Test
- ☐ Core Web Vitals: LCP under 2.5s, FID under 100ms, CLS under 0.1 (check in Google Search Console)
- ☐ Click-to-call: Phone number is a tappable tel: link on mobile
- ☐ Maps integration: Google Maps directions link is tap-friendly on mobile
- ☐ Forms: Contact and booking forms work correctly on all mobile devices
- ☐ Page speed: Homepage loads in under 3 seconds on mobile (4G connection)
Section 7: Schema Markup
- ☐ LocalBusiness schema: Implemented on homepage/location pages with name, address, phone, hours, coordinates
- ☐ Organization schema: Implemented on homepage
- ☐ Review schema: If you display reviews on your website, mark them up with Review schema for rich snippets
- ☐ FAQPage schema: For any FAQ sections on your site (drives FAQ rich snippets in search results)
- ☐ Service schema: For individual service pages
- ☐ Schema validation: Tested using Google's Rich Results Test
Section 8: Tracking Your Results
- ☐ Google Business Profile Insights: Review weekly — impressions, direction requests, calls, website clicks
- ☐ GBP keyword performance: What searches are driving views (Zyene dashboard or Google Search Console with local filter)
- ☐ Google Search Console: Local keyword rankings and click-through rates
- ☐ Google Analytics 4: Track conversions from local organic traffic (calls, form submissions, bookings)
- ☐ Local rank tracking: Weekly check of your ranking for top 5–10 target keywords in your city
Zyene's GBP keyword performance dashboard shows you which search queries are driving impressions and clicks to your Google Business Profile — data that's hard to extract from Google's native tools alone.