Local SEO Audit Skill — Complete Local Presence Audits in Minutes

Running a comprehensive local SEO audit manually means logging into six platforms, exporting data from four tools, building a spreadsheet to synthesize findings, and spending hours on analysis before you can write a single recommendation. By the time you deliver the audit, you’ve invested half a day per client — and you still might have missed something. The local-seo-audit skill compresses this workflow into a conversation: describe the business, request the audit, and receive a prioritized action plan with competitive benchmarks in the time it takes to make coffee.

What This Skill Does

The local-seo-audit skill gives Claude the framework to conduct end-to-end local search presence audits covering eight distinct dimensions: GBP completeness, citation consistency, review signals, on-page local SEO, schema markup, local links, competitive positioning, and AI visibility. The output isn’t raw data — it’s a synthesized audit with scores, benchmarks, and prioritized recommendations.

Prompt: "Audit Riverside Veterinary Clinic's local search presence and give me a
prioritized action list for improving their map pack ranking for 'vet clinic Phoenix'."

Skills fired: dispatch → local-seo-audit + localseodata-tool
Data pulled: local_audit, business_profile, profile_health, competitor_gap, local_pack,
citation_audit, ai_visibility

Output: 8-dimension audit with scores (GBP: 78%, Citations: 62%, Reviews: 71%,
On-Page: 54%, Schema: 41%, Links: 45%, Competition: Position #4, AI: 2/5 platforms).
Top 10 prioritized actions: #1 Add missing LocalBusiness schema (quick win),
#2 Claim 7 missing Tier 1 citations, #3 Add 3 secondary GBP categories competitors have...

The skill produces audit deliverables that match what agencies traditionally charge hours to produce. The difference is speed and consistency: every audit follows the same methodology, checks the same signals, and outputs in the same format.

The Eight Dimensions of a Complete Local SEO Audit

The local-seo-audit skill evaluates eight distinct signal categories, each contributing to local pack ranking potential.

GBP Profile Completeness and Accuracy examines the Google Business Profile: is the primary category the most specific accurate option? Are secondary categories capturing query variety? Are all applicable attributes completed? Is the description optimized with service and location terms? Photo count and recency? Posts and Q&A? The audit compares profile completeness against the businesses currently ranking in positions 1-3.

Category Alignment specifically evaluates whether categories match what the business actually offers and what searchers are looking for. A category mismatch — too broad, too narrow, or wrong entirely — limits query eligibility. The audit identifies mismatches by comparing against competitor categories and local pack query patterns.

Citation Volume and NAP Consistency examines directory presence: how many citations exist across Tier 1 (aggregators), Tier 2 (major directories), and Tier 3 (local/niche) sources? Are Name, Address, and Phone consistent across all citations, or do variations exist? Citation gaps and inconsistencies are flagged with specific fix priorities.

Review Signals analyzes volume, average rating, recency, and response rate. The audit benchmarks against local pack competitors: if competitors average 180 reviews at 4.7 stars and the client has 45 reviews at 4.3 stars, that gap is quantified and prioritized. Response rate matters too — profiles with thoughtful responses to reviews demonstrate engagement.

On-Page Local SEO examines the website: does NAP appear consistently on key pages? Is there a dedicated location page with proper optimization? Does the homepage include geographic relevance signals? Is there local content beyond a single location page? On-page signals are evaluated for both presence and quality.

Local Schema Markup checks structured data implementation: LocalBusiness schema (or appropriate subtype), OpeningHoursSpecification, GeoCoordinates, FAQPage schema, Review schema. Missing schema types are flagged with implementation guidance.

Competitive Positioning places the business in context: what position do they currently hold in the local pack? Who ranks above them and why? What specific advantages do top-ranking competitors have that the client lacks? Competitor benchmarking transforms abstract “improve your profile” advice into specific “Competitor A has these 3 categories you don’t” recommendations.

AI Visibility Baseline measures presence across AI platforms: does the business appear in ChatGPT answers, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity? AI visibility is increasingly important for discovery, and most businesses don’t know where they stand.

How Claude Runs the Audit

The audit workflow begins with identifying the business and the target query context. Claude activates the local-seo-audit skill, which orchestrates data pulls across multiple endpoints.

The local_audit endpoint in LocalSEOData runs a comprehensive audit in a single call, returning pre-scored data across multiple signal categories. This provides the foundation data layer.

The business_profile and profile_health endpoints return detailed GBP data and completeness scoring. The competitor_gap endpoint compares the target business against local pack competitors. The local_pack endpoint returns the current map pack composition for the target query. The citation_audit endpoint returns directory presence and consistency data. The ai_visibility endpoint checks AI platform presence.

Claude synthesizes these data sources through the audit framework, scoring each dimension, identifying gaps, and generating recommendations. The synthesis step is what makes the output useful: raw data from six endpoints becomes a prioritized action plan with effort estimates.

Prompt: "Run a comprehensive local SEO audit for Elite Auto Repair at 2341 Commerce Drive,
Houston. Compare them against whoever's ranking for 'auto repair Houston near I-10'
and tell me the top 10 things to fix."

Output structure:
- Executive summary: Overall local visibility score 58/100, Position #5 in target local pack
- Dimension scores: GBP 72%, Citations 55%, Reviews 68%, On-Page 48%, Schema 35%,
  Links 41%, Competition: 2 clear leaders with 2x review volume, AI: visible on Gemini only
- Competitor benchmark table showing where top 3 competitors outperform
- Top 10 prioritized recommendations with quick wins flagged
- Estimated effort (low/medium/high) and impact (high/medium/low) per recommendation

Competitive Benchmarking: How You Compare to What’s Ranking

Audits without competitive context produce vague recommendations. “Improve your reviews” is meaningless without knowing that competitors average 200 reviews while you have 50. The local-seo-audit skill builds competition into the framework.

The competitor_gap endpoint compares the target business against businesses currently ranking positions 1-3 for the target query. This comparison produces specific gaps: which categories competitors have that you don’t, how review signals compare, citation volume differences, profile completeness differences.

Gap analysis converts abstract advice into concrete targets. Instead of “get more reviews,” the recommendation becomes “close the 150-review gap with competitor A over the next 6 months at a rate of 25 new reviews monthly.” Instead of “optimize your profile,” the recommendation becomes “add these 3 secondary categories that all three competitors have.”

Competitive benchmarking also identifies where the client already leads. If the client has superior photo content or more complete attributes than competitors, that’s a strength to maintain rather than a gap to close.

How Recommendations Are Prioritized

Not all audit findings deserve equal attention. A missing secondary category that would unlock major query eligibility is more urgent than optimizing the 15th photo. The local-seo-audit skill applies a prioritization model.

Quick wins are high-impact improvements requiring low effort: adding missing secondary categories (minutes to implement, significant query expansion), claiming obvious citation gaps, fixing inconsistent phone numbers, adding LocalBusiness schema to a site that lacks it. Quick wins go first because they deliver results fast.

Strategic priorities are high-impact improvements requiring more effort: closing a significant review gap (requires ongoing generation campaign), building missing Tier 2 citations (requires claim and optimization on each platform), adding location pages to a thin website. Strategic priorities are the core optimization work.

Monitoring items are lower-priority findings worth tracking but not urgent: minor citation variations that don’t affect entity recognition, photo opportunities beyond baseline adequacy, third-tier optimizations. These items appear in the audit for completeness but aren’t the focus.

The prioritized output places quick wins first, making it clear where to start. Effort and impact estimates help practitioners allocate time: a quick win with high impact gets immediate attention; a high-effort item with moderate impact can wait.

Using the Audit Output in Client Reports

For agencies and consultants, audit output needs to be client-presentable. The local-seo-audit skill produces structured output that can feed directly into client reports or proposals.

The connection to the client-deliverables skill enables formatted document generation. After running an audit, a follow-up prompt can generate a client-ready audit report: executive summary, findings by category, competitor comparison, and prioritized recommendations — formatted for presentation rather than raw analysis.

Prompt: "Format the audit for Elite Auto Repair as a client-facing report with an
executive summary and prioritized recommendations table."

Skills fired: dispatch → client-deliverables (using audit data already gathered)

Output: Formatted markdown report ready for PDF conversion or client portal upload

For proposals, audit findings provide the specificity that converts prospects. A proposal that says “we found 47 citation inconsistencies and a 150-review gap versus competitors” demonstrates competence. A proposal that says “we’ll optimize your local presence” says nothing. The audit data makes proposals concrete.

Recurring Audits and Progress Tracking

Local SEO changes slowly. A single audit captures a point-in-time snapshot; progress becomes visible through recurring audits.

Quarterly audits are the standard cadence for active optimization campaigns. Each audit provides a new snapshot: have review volumes increased? Have citation gaps been closed? Has competitive positioning improved? Comparing audits over time shows movement — both progress and areas that stalled.

Snapshot comparison highlights what worked. If citations improved from 55% to 82% after targeted cleanup, that validates the effort. If review volume hasn’t moved despite a generation campaign, something needs adjustment.

For agencies, recurring audits provide reporting data. Rather than vague “we did local SEO this quarter” updates, reports can show specific metric movements: “GBP completeness improved from 72% to 91%, review volume increased by 67, position improved from #5 to #3 for target query.”

Audit Scope Customization

The skill supports both comprehensive audits and targeted partial audits depending on the question being asked.

A full comprehensive audit runs all eight dimensions and produces the complete output. This is appropriate for new client onboarding, annual strategic reviews, or situations where you need the complete picture.

A GBP-focused audit concentrates on profile optimization: categories, attributes, photos, Q&A, posts. This is appropriate when you know GBP is the priority and don’t need citation or on-page analysis.

A citation-focused audit examines directory presence and consistency. This is appropriate when you suspect citation issues are the problem or after a business move/rebrand when NAP consistency needs verification.

A competitive-only analysis examines what’s ranking and why, without auditing the client’s specific profile. This is appropriate for market research or prospect conversations where you want to show competitive landscape understanding.

Prompt specificity controls scope: “run a full local SEO audit” triggers comprehensive analysis; “audit citations for NAP consistency” triggers citation-focused analysis.

Get Started

Install LocalSEOSkills and configure your LocalSEOData MCP connection. Run your first comprehensive audit:

Run a comprehensive local SEO audit for [Business Name] at [Address]. Compare them against
the businesses ranking for [target keyword] in [city] and give me the top 10 priorities.

The output provides immediate direction: where to start, what matters most, and how the business compares to what’s currently winning the local pack. For ongoing client work, schedule quarterly audits to track progress and identify new optimization opportunities as they emerge.

Learn More

To learn what this skill can do for your local SEO workflow, see the skill overview.