GMB Audit Template - GMB Crush (2023)

The Definitive GMB Audit Checklist Template

Boost your clients’ Google My Business listing with our comprehensive GMB audit template. It includes a complete GMB list of recommended strategies that can help prospects get more visibility online, driving business to their doors!

We understand that setting up a Google My Business listing is not enough to gain visibility and drive more online and foot traffic. You need to take into consideration that other businesses are also doing the same thing.

But your business or your clients’ business will stand out if you can complete our comprehensive Google My Business audit template. The GMB Crush audit template checklist is easier to implement than ever before.

You can immediately implement it so that you can see the results.

We bet that sounds good enough – but let us tell you about the GMB audit process in detail.

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Google My Business Audit Report

The GMB Crush Definitive Checklist Template

To help you easily follow and complete our Google My Business audit, we divided it into several categories for a total of 277 points.

Here’s the breakdown of the audit.

Table of Content:

GMB Audit your Business Info

(26 points)

This initial part of the Google My Business audit is dedicated to gathering information about your business, the same information used in the creation of local citations.

You can take note of the NAP (name address and phone number) information used to pin your business across multiple local directories to set an initial point of reference.

There’s been a lot of talk in the industry lately about how citations don’t really matter so much for local searches nowadays. We personally think that they still do though. It is essential that users can find your local business under the same address, telephone number, and business name to drive better-qualified traffic to your site or to your Google my Business listing /s.

Check this article for more details and watch the video below from Darren Shaw (White Spark Inc.).

Make sure to complete the rest of the GMB business information we listed above to have a comprehensive Google My Business profile that merits 26 points.

Audit the Google My Business SEO factors

Audit the Rankings Impact (14 sections – 127 points)

Section 1 example: Google My Business Claim and Centroid

In the battle for clicks, it’s important to keep in mind that local Centroids are now individual users. Rather than optimizing your GMB listing to appeal nationally or globally, you should be focusing on satisfying the needs of niche markets and unique demographics.

Google’s ability to detect neighborhoods and streets has made hyperlocal information a powerful component of your business data. That means in today’s world, the relationship between where a customer is when he performs a search and where you are physically located can be more important than ever before.

Section 2 example: Google My Business Title Insights

How Does Google My Business Penalize Keyword Stuffing?

Google has been historically and presently taking action on GMB profiles that engage in adding “unnecessary” or “unreasonable” descriptors to their business’s real-world name. Sterling Sky analyzed the impact of reporting 50 examples of keyword stuffing, and how out of those instances Google took action with 40 percent banned accounts from both soft suspensions as well as hard bans.

Some businesses were given a softer suspension such as having keywords removed, while others had harsher punishments like being made into an unverified profile which leads them to not be displayed for certain searches, including to people who are looking at listings by distance near their location based on user inputs.

As a local SEO consultant, if you are faced with the difficult decision on whether or not to advise business owners on rebranding and or stuffing keywords into their GMB listing Business Title, there are many factors that must be taken into account.

We believe it’s important for you as an advisor to consider these pros and cons so your client can make sure they know what they’re getting themselves into before agreeing.

As pointed in this article here are the pros and cons in the real business world:

Pros:

• You will experience a ranking boost

Cons:

• Competitors can still edit the business name, even if you do the proper rebranding process
• Branding issues
• The ranking benefit goes away once everyone in your market is adding keywords to their name

Along this 2nd section, you can extend your observation and take notes on how the other listings made up their own business title optimization, the average length, keyword stuffing, location and service keywords inclusion, etc.

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Mind the gap – Q&A Gap Analysis

(38 points)

This 38-point Google My Business checklist focuses on several insights which include the business location, keywords used, paid ads, and extras.

Centroid Location Insights

With the GMB Crush audit, you get some good location insights that affect your local ranking.

For instance, did you notice Google clustering the results in just some parts of your service area?

If you are not in the Local 3 pack, how far is your zip code from those in the local 3 pack?

Also, do your competitors have similar business hours as you do?

Those are just some of the questions that you can address with our Google My Business audit.

It’s essential that you fully understand how location insights affect your local rankings.

Google ranks local businesses based on relevance, which in turn is based on the location of the person searching and the location of the business.

The location insights are actionable items. For instance, if your operating hours are between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm, but the businesses in the local pack operate from 7:00 am, you may consider adjusting your operating hours because it’s possible that more people are searching for your services at earlier hours of the day.

Moreover, if you see that Google clusters the desired results tightly in just some parts of the city, you may also consider adding a business location in that area. And if you are doing so, you need to link each GMB listing location to your website location page.

Keywords Insights

There are different areas in your Google My Business account where you can possibly add keywords that your audience uses to find similar businesses. One area is the “from the business” section of the description in your Google My Business profile. You can find this section under your profile and more often under reviews.

When writing the description, choose your keywords carefully so that they reflect what your audience is searching for.

You could also utilize the Q&A section to add keywords that can help improve your chances of being included in the local pack. In there, you can naturally insert keywords in the questions or answers.

When it comes to adding keywords to your Google My Business listing, remember that you should use them naturally and organically. Do not do keyword stuffing.

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For our Google My Business audit, we also focus on providing you with helpful insights to help you understand how your Google My Business performs in terms of keywords. For instance, in your GMB dashboard, you’ll see how many keywords your GMB listing appeared in the last 30 days.

From the Google, My Business keyword audit insights, check how many items in the list you are able to meet and not able to meet. For those you did not meet

yet, you need to take action now if you want to boost your local rankings in the search results.

Google My Business Location Authority Insights

For the Google My Business locations authority audit insights, the focus is more on your website and how relevant it is to your local audience. Are you hitting your target figures when it comes to visitors and pageviews? Which of your pages is not driving enough traffic in the last 3 months?

Also part of the Google My Business locations authority audit insights is your knowledge about your competitors’ pages. Using the GMB Crush audit tool, you will gain insights into their service pages and compare them to yours so you can spot any gaps or areas for improvement.

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There are many other questions that you need to answer under this Google My Business audit checklist. At the end of your audit, it’s a good idea to create a summary of your action plan and implement it as soon as possible so that you will not be left behind in the local rankings.

Google My Business Connect with Clients Insights

How is your relationship with your clients? Can you easily connect with them and ask them to leave a review or posts on your Google My Business profile?

Being able to easily connect with your client is a sign that they trust you. But trust is something you develop over time as you continue to provide good customer service.

If you answer ‘no’ to any of our client insights audit questions, it means that you need to take extra effort to gain the trust of your clients.

Moreover, part of the connect-with-client audit insights has to do with aligning with the competition, more specifically when it comes to operating hours. If your business is closed when most of your competition is open and when your service is in demand, you need to revisit your opening and closing hours and consider updating them.

Google My Business Paid Ad Insights

This section of the Google My Business audit insight is very straightforward, and it has to do with the paid ad campaign you may and may not be running.

Another area under the GMB paid ad insights that you may want to focus on is the Google Guarantee Program. If you are not in the program and your competitors are, they have a big advantage over your business in Google’s search results.

Extras

The extras may seem like a minor part of your Google My Business optimization strategy but they matter too. If you are not yet responding to your GMB messages and GMB reviews within 24 hours, you should start doing so as they can also impact your overall visibility in the local search results.

Audit your NAP consistency

(3 points)

NAP consistency is the accuracy of your business name, address, and telephone number across all your business listings, not just on Google My Business but also in social media, local directories, and other websites. Consistency is key to gain visibility in maps and improving your rankings in the search engine.

The consistency of your NAP across the different online listings is a vital part of Google My Business’s optimization strategy. It is a minimum requirement if you want your company to win in the local search game.

Our NAP consistency GMB audit list will help you get insights into how you and your competition fare when it comes to adding those three very important details in your Google My Business profile and other online listings and directories.

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Audit your website for local SEO

(57 points)

The audit of your website is perhaps one of the most time-consuming aspects of your GMB audit. But it is something you shouldn’t take for granted as your website plays a vital role in putting the name of your business at the top of Google local search results.

We divided the GMB audit into three sections: the basic technical SEO items, basic on-page & content local SEO list, and the off-page local SEO list. There are multiple questions under each item that you need to look into to ensure that you are able to optimize your website for local ranking.

Basic Technical SEO Items

Under these GMB audit items, you would need to check the technical details of your local search engine marketing and optimization strategy. Items such as the loading time, mobile interface, 404 errors, and HTTPS are among the items you need to put into check.

Other sample questions that you need to address under basic technical SEO are:

1. Does the site ever have canonical tags checked?
2. Does the site perfectly work across multiple devices?
3. Does the site navigation from the desktop look simple to use and make it easy to find information?
4. Does the site navigation from mobile look simple to use and make it easy to find information?
5. Based on the top mobile devices listed in Google analytics, how does the website work on such screen resolutions?

Basic On-page & Content Local SEO

There are also more items to tick under the on-page content audit, the most basic of which has to do with the use of H1, H2 and H3 tags for each page. Other sample questions that you need to tick include:

1. Does the site have no keyword cannibalization issues in its content?
2. Has the site’s outdated content been updated?
3. Does your site contain power words in its content?
4. Does your site’s content have strong readability?
5. Does the content from your top pages guide users to your money pages?

1. Does the site have no keyword cannibalization issues in its content?
2. Has the site’s outdated content been updated?
3. Does your site contain power words in its content?
4. Does your site’s content have strong readability?
5. Does the content from your top pages guide users to your money pages?
   

Off-page Local SEO

There are fewer items under the off-page audit and many of those items reflect how you are working to get more backlinks, specifically from other local authority sites. Some important question to take note of include:

• Does the site have the total number of backlinks on par with competitors (or better)?
• Does the site have a qualitative link profile?
• Does the site receive quality referral traffic from links attached to authority local sites?

Along with our advanced checklist be sure not to forget the essentials. Make it a point on every one of your profiles that has yet to have its optimization done, and don’t let any small detail get past you!

Official Business Name – The business name in your GMB listing should reflect the official name of the business or company in the real world and you should use the same name consistently in the storefront, stationery, website, and other materials.

Address – When adding your address in the GMB listing, make sure to include the name of the street, suite or unit, city, state, and zip code, which are vital information especially if you have a brick-and-mortar store. Use an accurate and precise address as it will show up on Google Maps.

Phone Number – When adding your contact information in your GMB listing, it’s important that it directly connects to your business location, and that you have direct control over it. Use a local phone line and not a call center helpline as much as possible. It’s worth mentioning that you are not allowed to use a premium-rate phone line.

Website URL – Adding a link to your website will not only allow you to tick one item in your Google My Business audit but it will also help drive more traffic to the website where they can potentially become a lead. Be sure to be consistent in the website URL you are adding to your Google My Business listing and across all other listings on the web.

Short and Long Business Description – When adding the business description on your GMB listing, don’t overstuff it with keywords. Add a factual and honest description of your business.

Primary and Secondary Category – Add an appropriate primary and secondary category for the business. You can add one primary and multiple secondary categories in GMB.

Certain features in the Google My Business listing are available depending on the category you chose. For instance, restaurants can upload menus and hotels can display their class ratings.

Business Hours – Post your updated business hours on your Google My Business listing as people will rely on this information when considering your business.

At GMB Crush, we can help your company or your clients check your existing SEO strategies for any improvement and actionable items.

F.A.Q

Frequently Asked Questions