This is so unfortunate, but you are losing customers right now. Not because your service is bad or your prices are too high, but because your competitors are showing up on Google Maps and you’re not.
You see, 46% of all Google searches have local intent.
That’s nearly half of everyone searching on Google looking for businesses like yours.
And if you’re not analyzing what your competitors are doing to capture those searches, you’re essentially handing them your customers on a silver platter.
I’ve worked with hundreds of local businesses, from HVAC companies to dental practices, and the pattern is always the same. The ones dominating their local market aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets.
They’re the ones who understand exactly what their competitors are doing and do it better.
TL;DR
To analyze local SEO competition effectively, follow this process: identify who’s actually ranking in the Google Map Pack for your keywords, audit their Google Business Profile strategies (reviews, posts, photos), examine their website optimization and local keywords, analyze their citation presence across directories, and investigate their backlink profiles. The goal isn’t to copy your competitors, it’s to find the gaps they’re missing and exploit them. Most local businesses ignore this process and wonder why they’re invisible online. The businesses that systematically analyze their competition see 35-50% increases in qualified leads within 4-6 months because they’re making data-driven decisions instead of guessing.
Why This Actually Matters for Your Bottom Line
Let’s talk money, not rankings. I mean, thats what you care about, right?
When you properly analyze your local SEO competition, you’re not doing busywork. You’re conducting market research that tells you exactly where to invest your time and budget to get customers.
Consider these numbers: 76% of people who search for local businesses visit within 24 hours. That’s not tire-kickers browsing on a Sunday afternoon, that’s hot leads ready to buy.
Additionally, 28% of local searches result in a purchase the same day. And here’s the kicker: 80% of local searches convert into actual customers.
Your competitors who show up in that Google Map Pack (those top 3 local results) are capturing these high-intent customers.
By the way, this is what Google Map Pack looks like… Ignore the guy who paid to be there, the rest rank organically.
Meanwhile, if you’re buried on page 2, you might as well not exist. According to research, 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results.
This is exactly why understanding the local SEO strategies that get results matters more than ever. When you know what’s working in your market, you can replicate success faster and cheaper than trial and error.
You’re essentially getting a roadmap to the top by studying those already there.
How to Analyze Your Local SEO Competition
So, if you are going to get this right, you need not re-invent the wheel.
This is what you need to do.
Step 1: Identify Your Real Local SEO Competitors (Not Just Business Competitors)
Here’s where most people screw up.
They think their local SEO competitors are the same as their business competitors. Wrong.
Your business competitor might be the plumbing company across town.
But your local SEO competitor is whoever shows up when someone searches “emergency plumber near me” at 2 AM with a burst pipe. That could include national chains, aggregator sites, or even a one-person operation with a killer Google Business Profile.
Here’s how to find them:
Start simple. Open an incognito browser window (this prevents your search history from skewing results) and type in your main service plus your location. For example, “divorce lawyer Miami” or “roof repair Austin.”
Look at three places:
- The Local Pack (Map Pack): Those top 3 businesses with the map showing their locations. These are your primary competitors.
- Organic results below the map: The regular website listings. These competitors might not have great local optimization but are winning on content and authority.
- Google Maps itself: Click “More places” or search directly on Google Maps to see who else ranks in your area.
Do this for 5-10 of your most important keywords. You’ll start seeing patterns. Certain names keep appearing. Those are your real competitors.
Pro tip: Use tools like BrightLocal or SEMrush to automate this process. These platforms can show you competitor rankings across multiple keywords simultaneously.
However, don’t skip the manual search. Seeing what actual customers see is irreplaceable insight.
Let me give you an example.
I worked with a family-owned Italian restaurant in Chicago.
They thought their competitors were other Italian restaurants in their neighborhood.
When we analyzed local SEO, we discovered their real competitors included Yelp’s “Best Italian Food” pages, Grubhub listings, and even a food blogger who dominated keywords like “authentic pasta Chicago.”
Once we knew who we were actually competing against, we could build a strategy to outrank them.
Step 2: Audit Their Google Business Profile Like a Detective
Your competitors’ Google Business Profile is a goldmine of intelligence. Everything they’re doing is public, and Google rewards businesses that optimize these profiles aggressively.
Here’s what to examine:
Business information accuracy: Check if their NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) is complete and consistent. Inconsistent information confuses Google and hurts rankings.
Categories: What primary and secondary categories did they choose? Google uses these to determine relevance. If a competitor ranks well, they likely chose their categories strategically.
Photos: Count them. Businesses with more photos in their Google Business Profile receive 42% more requests for directions and 35% more clicks to their websites. If a competitor has 50+ high-quality photos and you have 5 blurry ones, that’s a problem.
Posts: Are they publishing weekly Google posts with offers, updates, or events? Regular posting signals to Google that the business is active and engaged.
Reviews: This is huge. How many reviews do they have? What’s their average rating? How quickly do they respond? Businesses with higher review counts and ratings consistently outrank competitors with fewer reviews, even if other factors are similar.
Questions and Answers: Check their Q&A section. Are they proactively adding questions customers might ask? This is an underutilized tactic that boosts relevance.
One HVAC contractor I worked with had 30 reviews averaging 4.2 stars. Their top competitor had 180 reviews at 4.7 stars.
We implemented an aggressive review generation strategy, and within 6 months, they went from invisible in the Map Pack to consistently ranking in the top 3. Reviews aren’t everything, but they’re a massive ranking factor.
Want to see exactly where your Google Business Profile stands compared to competitors? Use our free GBP audit tool to get a detailed breakdown in minutes.
Step 3: Analyze Their Website and On-Page SEO
Google doesn’t just look at your Business Profile. Your website is equally important for local rankings. Therefore, you need to understand how your competitors are optimizing their sites.
Key areas to examine:
a). Local keywords
Visit their homepage, service pages, and contact page. What keywords are they targeting in titles, headings, and content? Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush can show you exactly which keywords they rank for and estimate their traffic.
b). Location pages
Do they have dedicated pages for each service area they cover? For instance, if they serve multiple neighborhoods or cities, they should have optimized pages for each location.
c). NAP consistency
Is their Name, Address, and Phone Number prominently displayed? Is it consistent with their Google Business Profile? Inconsistencies hurt local rankings.
d). Schema markup
This is technical but important. Run their site through Google’s Rich Results Test. Are they using LocalBusiness schema to help Google understand their location and services?
e). Mobile optimization
Pull up their site on your phone. Is it fast and easy to use? Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites, and 84% of local searches happen on mobile devices.
f). Content depth
Are they publishing blog posts about local topics, neighborhood guides, or customer success stories? Content that mentions local landmarks, events, and areas signals relevance to Google.
Here’s a pattern I see constantly: businesses with thin, generic content lose to competitors who publish detailed, locally-focused content.
A roofing company that writes “10 Signs Your Miami Home Needs a New Roof Before Hurricane Season” will outrank the one with a generic “Roofing Services” page.
Step 4: Map Their Citation and Directory Presence
An auto repair shop I consulted with was stuck ranking #8-10 in their market.
We discovered their top competitor had citations on 60+ directories, including local news sites and the Better Business Bureau. The shop had 12 citations, and 3 of them had the wrong phone number. We built out their citation profile over 90 days, fixed the inconsistencies, and they jumped to consistent top 3 rankings.
This directly resulted in 40% more phone calls.
Citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number on other websites like Yelp, Yellow Pages, and industry directories.
These validate your business’s existence and location to Google.
How to find competitor citations:
Tools like Moz Local, BrightLocal, or Whitespark can scan the web and show you every directory where your competitors are listed.
Alternatively, you can manually search for their business name plus “reviews” or “directory” to find their listings.
What to look for:
- How many citations do they have?
- Are they listed on high-authority directories specific to your industry?
- Is their NAP information consistent across all listings?
- Do they have citations on local chamber of commerce sites, local news sites, or community websites?
The businesses that dominate local search typically have 50+ quality citations.
If you have 10 and your competitor has 75, that’s a significant gap. Moreover, if their information is consistent and yours isn’t, Google trusts them more.
Step 5: Investigate Their Backlink Profile
Backlinks (links from other websites to yours) are still one of Google’s strongest ranking signals. Consequently, understanding where your competitors get their links reveals opportunities for you.
How to analyze competitor backlinks:
Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to examine your competitors’ backlink profiles.
You’ll see every website linking to them, the anchor text used, and the authority of those linking sites.
What to look for:
- Local links: Are they getting links from local news sites, chambers of commerce, local bloggers, or community organizations? These are gold for local SEO.
- Industry-specific links: For specialized industries, links from relevant trade associations or industry publications carry significant weight.
- Quality over quantity: A single link from a local news article about their business is worth more than 100 links from low-quality directories.
Replicating competitor link strategies:
Once you identify where competitors get links, you can pursue similar opportunities.
If they got featured in a “Best Contractors in Austin” article, pitch yourself to that publication. If they sponsor a local youth sports team and get a link from the league website, consider similar sponsorships.
Step 6: Look at Review Acquisition and Management Strategy
Reviews impact local rankings directly. Google’s algorithm considers both the quantity and quality of reviews, plus how recently they were posted.
Furthermore, customer behavior is heavily influenced by reviews.
Review analysis checklist:
- Total review count: How many reviews do top competitors have?
- Average rating: What’s their star rating across Google, Yelp, and Facebook?
- Review velocity: How frequently are they getting new reviews? Regular new reviews signal an active, growing business.
- Review content: What do customers praise? What do they complain about? This tells you what matters to your shared target market.
- Response strategy: Do competitors respond to all reviews, both positive and negative? How quickly? What’s their tone?
According to consumer research, 63% of consumers lose trust in a business with mostly negative reviews. Conversely, businesses that respond to reviews thoughtfully are forgiven by 86% of consumers, even for negative feedback.
The review game is simple: get more reviews than your competitors, maintain a high average rating (4.5+ stars ideally), respond to every review, and keep them coming consistently.
This reminds me, we worked with a dental practice that had 45 reviews at 4.3 stars.
Their main competitor had 220 reviews at 4.8 stars and showed up in the Map Pack constantly.
We built a systematic review generation process (asking patients after appointments, follow-up emails, etc.), and within 8 months, they had 150+ reviews at 4.7 stars.
Their Map Pack visibility increased 300%, and new patient bookings jumped 55%.
Step 7: Monitor Their Content and Social Strategy
While not direct ranking factors, content marketing and social media activity influence local SEO indirectly by driving traffic, generating backlinks, and increasing brand searches.
What to monitor:
- Blog frequency: How often do competitors publish new content?
- Content topics: Are they writing about local events, answering common customer questions, or creating neighborhood guides?
- Social media presence: Are they active on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn? What kind of content gets engagement?
- Video content: Are they using YouTube or embedding videos on their site? Video content typically increases time on site, which is a positive ranking signal.
Smart content strategy addresses what your local customers actually search for.
For example, a landscaping company publishing “Best Drought-Resistant Plants for Phoenix Yards” targets local intent far better than generic “Landscaping Tips.“
Turning Analysis Into Action: What to Do Next
Here’s the reality: competitor analysis is worthless if you don’t act on it. Information without implementation is just entertainment.
a). Prioritize your gaps
Based on your analysis, you should now see clear gaps between you and top competitors. Maybe they have 10x more reviews. Maybe their website loads in 2 seconds while yours takes 8. Maybe they have 40 local citations and you have 5.
List every gap you found and prioritize them by potential impact and ease of implementation. Quick wins might include optimizing your Google Business Profile categories, adding more photos, or fixing NAP inconsistencies. Bigger projects might involve building out location pages or developing a content strategy.
b). Set measurable goals
Don’t aim for vague improvements.
Set specific targets like “acquire 50 new Google reviews in 90 days” or “build 30 quality local citations in 60 days” or “publish 2 locally-focused blog posts per month.“
c). Track your progress
Local SEO isn’t set-it-and-forget-it.
Markets change, competitors adapt, and Google updates its algorithm constantly. Therefore, schedule quarterly competitor audits to stay ahead.
Tools like BrightLocal, Local Falcon, or SEMrush can automate much of this tracking.
d). Get expert help when it makes sense:
Look, some businesses have the time and expertise to handle this themselves.
Many don’t.
If you’re a busy business owner who’d rather focus on running your business than decoding Google’s algorithm, that’s completely reasonable.
Professional local SEO services that understand your market can often achieve in months what would take you a year of trial and error. Plus, they stay current on constant algorithm changes and best practices.
Common Mistakes That Waste Time and Money
Let me save you some headaches by pointing out the mistakes I see constantly:
Copying competitors blindly: Just because a competitor ranks well doesn’t mean everything they do is right. They might rank despite certain weaknesses, not because of them. Understand the “why” behind their success.
Ignoring indirect competitors: Don’t forget about aggregator sites, directories, and national chains that might rank for your keywords. They’re competitors too.
Analysis paralysis: Some businesses spend months analyzing and never implement. Set a deadline for your analysis phase (one week maximum) and move to execution.
Forgetting about user experience: Rankings matter, but conversion matters more. A competitor might rank #1 but have a terrible website that doesn’t convert visitors. Don’t copy their weaknesses.
Only analyzing once: Your initial analysis is a snapshot. Markets evolve. Quarterly check-ins keep you competitive.
Competition Is Your Blueprint
Here’s what separates winning local businesses from struggling ones: winners treat competitor analysis as ongoing market research, not a one-time task.
The data is clear.
Businesses that systematically analyze their local competition and implement strategic improvements consistently see 35-50% increases in qualified leads within 4-6 months. That’s not magic. It’s the result of making informed decisions based on what actually works in your market.
You now have the framework to analyze local SEO competition like a pro.
The question is: will you use it?
Every day you wait is another day your competitors are capturing customers who should be calling you. Start with the basics: identify your real competitors, audit their Google Business Profile, and find the biggest gaps you can close quickly.
Remember, local SEO isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being better than the other businesses competing for the same customers. When you know exactly what “better” looks like in your market, achieving it becomes straightforward.
Take action today.
Run your first competitor audit this week.
Find three gaps you can close in the next 30 days.
Track your results.
Repeat.
That’s how you win.
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