Informational
Local SEO Tools: The Best Local Tools in 2024
Danny Leibrandt
Aug 9, 2024
Local SEO is constantly evolving, and staying on top of your rankings, reviews, and local listings requires the right tools. As we head into 2024, several local SEO tools stand out for their ability to help businesses optimize for local search, track performance, and improve visibility. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the best local SEO tools you should be using in 2024 to boost your rankings and dominate your market.
1. Google Business Profile (GBP)
Cost: Free
Best for: Managing your business’s visibility on Google Search and Maps
Your Google Business Profile is one of the most powerful free tools available for local SEO. It allows you to manage how your business appears in local search results, on Google Maps, and in Google’s local pack. Here’s why GBP is essential:
Business Information: Ensure your name, address, phone number (NAP), hours, and website are accurate.
Photos and Posts: Upload photos and create posts to engage with your audience and provide updates.
Reviews: Manage and respond to customer reviews, which are crucial for your local rankings.
Pro Tip: Use Google’s Insights to track how people find your business and what actions they take after viewing your profile.
2. BrightLocal
Cost: Starts at $29/month
Best for: Comprehensive local SEO reporting and citation management
BrightLocal is an all-in-one local SEO tool that’s perfect for tracking your business’s rankings, managing citations, and generating detailed local SEO reports. It’s widely used by SEO professionals and agencies for its ease of use and powerful features.
Local Rank Tracking: Monitor your local keyword rankings across search engines, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Citation Building & Tracking: See where your business is listed, find inconsistent citations, and build new ones on local directories.
Review Management: Track and respond to reviews from multiple platforms, including Google, Yelp, and Facebook.
Pro Tip: Use BrightLocal’s Audit Tool to identify any gaps or inconsistencies in your business’s online presence and fix them to improve your local rankings.
3. Moz Local
Cost: Starts at $14/month
Best for: Managing and distributing business listings across directories
Moz Local is a great tool for managing your business’s online listings across multiple directories. It ensures that your NAP information is consistent and correct across all platforms, which is essential for local SEO.
Automated Listings Management: Keep your business information updated on major directories like Yelp, Google, Facebook, and more.
Review Monitoring: Track customer reviews and get alerts whenever someone leaves a review.
Local SEO Audits: Analyze how your business ranks locally and where there’s room for improvement.
Pro Tip: Use Moz Local to find and correct inaccurate listings across the web. Consistent citations improve local search rankings and build trust with search engines.
4. SEMrush
Cost: Starts at $119.95/month
Best for: Advanced local keyword research and competitor analysis
SEMrush is a powerful SEO tool that’s packed with features for both local and national SEO. For local businesses, SEMrush offers in-depth keyword tracking, local SERP (Search Engine Results Page) analysis, and competitor tracking.
Local Keyword Research: Discover which local keywords your competitors are ranking for and identify new keyword opportunities.
Position Tracking: Monitor how well your website ranks for specific local keywords over time.
Local SEO Reports: Generate reports on local keyword performance, backlinks, and more.
Pro Tip: Use SEMrush’s Competitor Analysis feature to see which local businesses are ranking for your target keywords and what you can do to outrank them.
5. Whitespark
Cost: Varies by service (starts at $25/month for rank tracking)
Best for: Citation building and local rank tracking
Whitespark is known for its powerful citation-building tools and local SEO services. It’s especially useful for businesses looking to build citations on niche local directories or improve their rankings in the local pack.
Citation Finder: Find new citation opportunities and improve your NAP consistency.
Local Rank Tracker: Track how your business ranks in different cities and on Google’s local pack.
Reputation Builder: Collect and manage reviews from customers to enhance your local presence.
Pro Tip: Whitespark’s Citation Building Service is a great option if you don’t have time to manually build citations. Their team will handle the entire process for you.
6. GeoRanker
Cost: Starts at $99/month
Best for: Tracking rankings in multiple local markets
GeoRanker is designed specifically for local SEO, making it easy to track how well your business ranks across multiple locations. It’s ideal for businesses with multiple service areas that need to monitor rankings in different cities.
Local Rank Checker: Monitor your rankings for local keywords in different geographic areas.
Map Pack Monitoring: Track how your business ranks in Google’s local map pack for each location.
Competitor Insights: Analyze your competitors’ local SEO performance and identify areas where you can improve.
Pro Tip: Use GeoRanker’s Heatmaps to see how well your website performs in specific regions and adjust your local SEO strategy accordingly.
7. Ahrefs
Cost: Starts at $99/month
Best for: Backlink analysis and content optimization
Ahrefs is a popular SEO tool known for its in-depth backlink analysis and content optimization features. For local businesses, it’s especially helpful for building high-quality local backlinks and improving your content to target local keywords.
Backlink Analysis: Discover which local websites are linking to your competitors and find opportunities to build backlinks to your site.
Local Keyword Explorer: Perform keyword research to identify the best local search terms for your business.
Content Gap Analysis: Identify content opportunities by comparing your website to competitors and filling gaps in your local content strategy.
Pro Tip: Use Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to track your competitors’ backlinks and see which local websites are linking to them. Then, reach out to those sites for link-building opportunities.
8. Yext
Cost: Starts at $199/year
Best for: Managing and synchronizing business listings across multiple platforms
Yext is a comprehensive tool for managing local listings, and it’s particularly useful for businesses that operate in multiple locations. It ensures your business information is accurate and synchronized across all major directories, search engines, and social media platforms.
Listings Management: Sync your business information across 100+ directories, including Google, Bing, and Yelp.
Review Management: Collect and respond to reviews directly from the Yext platform.
Analytics: Get insights into how users are interacting with your listings and which platforms are driving the most traffic.
Pro Tip: Yext’s PowerListings tool allows you to update your business information across all platforms simultaneously, saving you time and ensuring consistency.
Conclusion
In 2024, local SEO success relies on using the right tools to manage your business’s online presence, track performance, and optimize your strategy. From comprehensive solutions like BrightLocal and Moz Local to advanced keyword research with SEMrush and Ahrefs, these tools will help you stay competitive and drive more local traffic to your business. At Pest Control SEO, I’ve worked with many businesses to optimize their local SEO strategies using these tools, and they’ve delivered great results. Use this guide to choose the best local SEO tools for your business and start improving your rankings today.
