site-audit

	A	B	C	D
1	Checklist for making your site local-search-friendly - Copyright 2017 Phil Rozek - LocalVisibilitySystem.com
2		X	General / site-wide	Notes / recommended reading
3			Does the site seem worth keeping?	Keep Your Site, Lose at Local SEO: When Must You Rebuild?
4			Google Analytics installed?
5			Google Webmaster Tools (AKA "Search Console") installed?	Sometimes you can't tell and just need to try to log into GWT or ask the webmaster.
6			Site shows when you search for the company by name?
7			Most content is crawlable text?	As opposed to animations or images of text, for example.
8			Good amount of content on all important pages?	Several hearty paragraphs.
9			Title tags not too long?	50 Examples of Title Tags That Rock at Local SEO
10			Title tags reflect services / location(s)?	The title tag of your "Services" page shouldn't just read "Services," for example.
11			Title tags unique / not too repetitive?
12			Name/address/phone info on every page?	10 Guidelines for Putting NAP Info on Your Site for Local SEO
13			Name/address/phone info marked up w/ Schema?	http://www.microdatagenerator.com/local-business-schema/
14			Correct itemtype attribute for Schema NAP?	How to Pick (or Improvise) the Right Schema.org Markup for Your Local Business
15			Business hours easy to find?
16			Plenty of internal links to subpages (and not just in the main menu / navigation)?
17			Relevant / unique H1 tag on every page?
18			Are paragraphs broken up with subheaders (like H2s)?
19			No splash pages, autoplay videos, pop-ups, music, or noises?	The "back" button is an enemy to SEO and to more business.
20			Everything reads naturally, with not too many keywords stuffed in?	Just use your eyes, ears, and best judgment.
21			Anchor text of links isn't overly "SEO-ed"?
22			No hidden text?	In other words, keywords that you see in the source code but not onthe page.
23			Google the business by name: no irrelevant or useless sitelinks appear?
24
25			Technical	Every Local SEO Diagnostic You’ll Ever Need to Know (Plus Some)
26			Do all pages seem to be indexed?	Type into Google site:yourwebsitename.comand see if all your pages show up.
27			No mirror sites?	AKA sites that are nearly identical to your "main" site, but use a different site name.
28			No unnecessary other sites?	Microsites for Local SEO: the Pros and Cons
29			No indexed staging sites or unneeded subdomains?	Type into Google site:yourwebsitename.com -www
30			Robots.txt file allows the whole site, or at least all JS and CSS resources?	https://yoast.com/dont-block-your-css-and-js-files/
31			Robots.txt file allows /wp-admin, /wp-includes, and /wp-content/plugins?	If using Wordpress!
32			No crawl delay in robot.txt file?
33			No reason to believe the site's been hacked?
34			Proper canonicalization?	http://searchengineland.com/8-canonicalization-best-practices-in-plain-english-44475
35			If using Wordpress, are pages static pages, and not blog posts?
36			Do important pages load within 2 seconds?
37			Domain does not forward to a different address when you type it in the address bar?
38			Not a Flash site?
39			No duplicate pages?	12 Kinds of Duplicate Content in Local SEO: Which Ones Are Trouble?
40			Static URLs?
41			No broken links?	http://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/
42			XML sitemap uploaded?	You should see it at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml
43
44			Mobile
45			Mobile-friendly?	https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
46			Says "Mobile-friendly" in the SERPs?	http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2014/11/helping-users-find-mobile-friendly-pages.html
47			No major issues in Google's testing tool?	https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
48			Not frustrating to use and read if you're a visitor?
49			Prominent click-to-call links?	http://www.mobilexweb.com/blog/click-to-call-links-mobile-browsers
50			Are the click-to-call links obvious?	http://buttonoptimizer.com/
51			Is it easy to access subpages?
52			No significant content missing from mobile site?
53
54			Structural	How to Structure Your Site for Local Search Visibility That Lasts
55			Not a "portal" site?	Your site should be self-contained and not just link to other sites you might own.
56			Do they have a blog?	Even if it's a ghost town.
57			Blog on the same domain?
58			Important "Service" pages under no more than 1 subdirectory?
59			Subdirectory names simple and concise?	How NOT to Structure Your URLs for Local Rankings
60			No duplicate pages under different page names?	https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/canonical-link-tag/
61			URLs spelled correctly?
62			Page names simple and concise?	How to Name Your Local Landing Page(s)
63
64			Homepage
65			No Flash intros, autoplay videos, interstitials, music, or noises?
66			Good title tag?	50 Examples of Title Tags That Rock at Local SEO
67			At least a couple of fat paragraphs about services?
68			Discernible call-to-action?	A click-to-call button, or a big phone number, or a link to a "Contact" page, etc.
69			Is their USP discernible?	USP = "unique selling point." Why should visitors choose our client?
70			Is it immediately clear where they're located (at least roughly)?
71			Links to popular services / subpages?
72			Relevant anchor text for those links?
73			OK photos?	Most people don't like a sea of text on a website.
74			Prominent photos link to relevant subpages, when appropriate?
75			Relevant / unique H1 tag?
76			Embedded Google map (of the business, not address)?
77			Review badges / widgets / links to reviews?	Ultimate List of Review Widgets and Badges for Your Local Business Website
78
79			Other pages	21 Pages a “Small Local Business” Site Needs for Tip-Top Local Visibility
80			A page for every specific service offered?
81			Service pages substantial and detailed?
82			A page for each location / branch?
83			Location pages have plenty of location-specific content?	16 Ways to Create Unique “Local” Content for Cities Where You Want to Rank
84			Location pages have correct embedded Google maps?	Embed the map found on your Google Places page, not just a map of your address.
85			A page for each practitioner / professional?	A page for John Doe DDS, a page for Jane Doe DMD, etc.
86			"Reviews" or "Testimonials" page?
87			If a service-area business, is there a "city page" for each of the top few target cities?	"Service-area business": you travel to your customers.
88			If products are sold, is there a page for each product?
89			Do product pages have correct Schema.org/Product markup?	http://schema.org/Product
90			Reasonable number / quality of existing "city pages"?	25 Principles of Building Effective City Pages for Local SEO
91			No smaller pages that might be better off combined into one big page?	Google and people like detail.
92			No blog posts that might be more effective as static pages?	All other things being equal, pages seemto rank better than posts. (Not sure why.)
93			If blogging, are their blog posts spammy or use keywords repetitively in the titles?	Writing blog posts to try to rank for main search terms is pointless.
94
95			Google Analytics
96			Enough recent visits to conclude that Analytics is installed properly?	What you don't want to see is a flatline or 2 visits in a week.
97			No ghost-referrer spam?	http://www.ohow.co/what-is-referrer-spam-how-stop-it-guide/
98			Synced with Google Search Console?	View "Behavior" -> "Site Content" -> click a button. GA and GSC are synced if you see data.
99			No dramatic and long-lasting drop-offs in traffic in the last 6-12 months?
100