Ronak Kothari is the founder of RONKOT, a full-service digital marketing agency.
Whether you are a small business or a multi-location giant, you would have surely invested your time and efforts in local SEO strategies. However, implementing these strategies without measuring their success will not help.
Is my Google Business page driving enough traffic to my website? Are visitors coming to my Google Business Profile page? Am I the local authority in this niche? Is my GBP page getting enough impressions?
These and other questions often come to mind when local businesses optimize their business for local search.
The best way to answer these questions is by consistently monitoring the top local SEO KPIs.
Read on to know each of these metrics and how to measure them.
Local SEO Metrics That You Should Track
1. Website Clicks
Website clicks are essential to drive relevant traffic and generate conversions on your site. Earlier known as Google My Business (GMB), Google Business Profile (GBP) is a vital element to boost website clicks as it allows users to gain essential business insights.
Here are the functionalities that GBP offers:
- Call the business.
- View photos.
- Ask questions.
- Read customer reviews.
- Check business updates.
- Browse services and products
- Send messages to the business owners.
- Make a booking or reservation.
Include the following aspects in your GBP profile to improve website clicks and online business visibility.
- Website link
- New posts
- Google products
- Appointment link
How to track website clicks via GBP Insights
GBP Insights offers crucial data on customers’ interactions and actions on your listings. Click on “website clicks” and set a time frame to find the total number of people who visited your website.
Here’s a screenshot that shows the total number of visitors to your website.
2. Phone Calls
The “call” button on the business listings allows potential customers to get in touch with a business. Users can talk to the business personnel for any queries or bookings.
Here’s how the “call” button appears in any company’s Google Business profile.
How to track calls via Google Business Profile (GBP)?
GBP offers insights into the total number of clicks on the “call” button.
Set a time frame in your GBP profile and check out the “call” tab to see the call details.
3. Cost Per Conversion
Conversions play a prime role in scaling up your business. But the cost of these conversions is the most crucial factor to determine whether your local SEO is paying off.
Here’s how you can calculate the cost per conversion (CPC) –
CPC = Authentic Leads Generated / Cost of Local SEO Campaign |
As you can see from the equation, a low CPC indicates that you earn more than you spent. So, a low CPC ensures that you have a higher ROI.
Rethink and change your local SEO practices if your CPC is high.
4. Local Listings
Local listings act like online portfolios for businesses.
They offer valuable information, such as business name, address, phone number, and other data about your services to prospects.
Check your local listings to know whether your company’s information is correct and updated. If not, update the relevant and accurate information to attract relevant traffic.
How do you find and check all the local listings for your business?
Count on the following local SEO tools to find and edit your information online.
These tools also allow you to remove duplicate listings and enhance your website SEO performance.
5. Branded versus Non-Branded Traffic
Branded traffic refers to the visitors that land up on your website via branded keywords.
Branded keywords are the user queries that include your brand name or its variations. For instance, notice the following screenshot depicting the branded searches for – San Diego Hardware.
Non-branded traffic refers to the number of users that arrive at your website via non-branded keywords. Keywords that do not relate to your brand are non-branded.
Google Analytics offers a provision to filter branded and non-branded traffic. Get an overview of their performance by setting up a time frame in the analytics tool.
Placing the top-performing branded keywords in your website content is a surefire way to boost your local foot traffic.
6. Average Page Load Time
Page speed defines how fast the text and visual content on a website page loads. Fast loading page speed is necessary to get top ranking in local SERPs.
Websites that take more than a couple of seconds to load have higher bounce rates.
Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can calculate your website page load time. Notice how this tool can help analyze your website performance.
If your page loading speed is slow, you’ll need to work on technical issues and revamp your website. For instance, compressing images and videos, reducing redirects, and other elements can boost your page speed.
7. Local Search Ranking
Claiming a Google Business profile is the first step to achieving better visibility. To skyrocket your traffic, you need to know the terms for which your business ranks and shows up on local maps.
So, check out your website data using Google Analytics. Work on the top-performing elements to strengthen your local SEO strategy.
Apply schema and create the most suitable content that relates to your business. Here are some content types that can be helpful.
- Rich snippets
- Sitelinks
- AMP
- Quotes
- Reviews
- Top stories for news
- Recipes
- Carousel
- Knowledge panel
- Podcast
- Events
8. Traffic Pattern Metrics
Observe your website traffic patterns as you experiment with keywords and content. This tactic will help you identify and understand what works the best for your business.
Here are the crucial aspects to consider –
- Analyze the growth and decline of page traffic for different keywords.
- Track the growth and decline of website traffic.
Ranking in SERPs will be easier once you know where you’re struggling and what strengths you have via data-driven analytics.
9. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate indicates the number of prospects that visit your website and leave (bounce) suddenly without taking any action.
So, a lower bounce rate is what businesses need to succeed in the local SEO game.
Track and address the bounce rate of your website to ensure you’re not missing out on valuable sales.
How to calculate bounce rate?
Divide the total number of single-page visits by the number of visitors who entered your website.
Here’s a screenshot that shows how Google Analytics allows businesses to check their bounce rate.
10. Geo-Targeted Keyword Clicks
Geo-targeted keywords can make or break your local SEO strategy.
These keywords help reach your target audience within a geographical or local region and improve the conversion rates.
Geo-targeted keyword clicks signify the total number of clicks or visitors your website attracts via region-specific keywords.
Leverage the power of tools such as Semrush and BrightLocal that provide custom options for geo-targeting. They allow you to identify the best location-specific keywords as per the audience’s behaviors, language, and gender.
Select the keywords that resonate with your brand to amplify your geo-targeting strategy.
Top 3 Platforms to Measure Your Local SEO Efforts
Here’s a list of the top 3 local SEO tools that can provide detailed competitor insights and guide you to develop actionable SEO strategies to level up your local rankings. Track your local SEO performance via these tools and achieve better customer engagement.
1. Google Analytics
It is the oldest and most reliable SEO platform that takes you beyond the numbers. It allows you to see how local customers and prospects interact with your business site in real-time.
With Google Analytics, you can –
- Explore all-important local SEO metrics.
- See your audience’s interests and trends.
- Track marketing ROI and make data-driven decisions.
2. GeoRanker
It is an advanced analytics tool embedded with features, such as competitor analysis, keyword analysis of any location, and accurate local rank tracking reports.
With GeoRanker, you can –
- Extract insights into your local marketing campaigns.
- Find voice search ranking data in real-time.
- Measure keyword density.
3. Semrush Position Tracking Tool
It is a helpful local SEO tool to track your business visibility for a specific region. It allows you to analyze and target the top-performing local keywords within a few clicks.
With Semrush tool, you can –
- Track and compare your local SEO keywords’ performance.
- Analyze website traffic from mobile & desktop.
- Create detailed analytics-driven reports.
To Sum Up
Ranking #1 for local keywords is not enough. The conversions decide whether your local SEO tactics are paying off or need a revision.
Tracking the local SEO KPIs shared in this article can help you achieve a better local search footprint and ultimately boost your conversions.
Also, the above-mentioned tools can revolutionalize how you perceive and use the metrics to create local SEO strategies.
So, go ahead and monitor the top KPIs consistently to measure your local SEO strategies and boost your local search performance.