Local SEO Checklist - 7 Actionable Steps for Small Businesses in Australia

Looking for the best SEO tips for local businesses in Australia? In this article we are going to discuss 7 actionable steps your small business can take to boost your local SEO presence. These 7 tips are the easiest and most affordable steps to implement to get the best results for the least amount of time and money invested. 

At Branchlead we specialise in SEO and we use local SEO to help our clients boost their rankings on Google, their organic search traffic, and their lead generation. If you would like to learn more about how Branchlead can implement a local SEO strategy for your business, contact us today.

Just a quick heads up: At the end of this article you will find a FREE downloadable local SEO checklist that you can use to simplify the implementation process. Enjoy!

Defining Your Goals---What to Expect

Before diving into this local SEO checklist, it is important to realise that there is a lot of technical expertise that goes into making SEO strategies highly effective. While the 7 actionable steps included here will boost visibility and organic search traffic for your business, they are not hacks or cheatcodes. They will not instantly land you on the first page of Google, and they will not instantly bring you 100 new clients per month. SEO is a highly-effective long-term strategy that relies on evergreen content and providing search engine users with value. If you want to upgrade your SEO strategy and work directly with Australia's leading local SEO agency, contact us for a free consultation and we can discuss what level of SEO would be best for your business.

So, let's dive in.

1. Optimise Your Google Business Profile (GBP)

One of the simplest yet most important ways to bring in more traffic from organic search is to set up and optimise your Google Business Profile (GBP). In fact, a 2019 study by BrightLocal has determined 64% of consumers use Google Business Profiles to find contact information for local businesses.You can claim and verify your GBP listing through Google for free here. Once you've claimed your business profile, it's important to fill out every section and make sure all the information is correct. This includes your business category, hours, website, address, and services. You should include high-quality images of your business location, pictures of staff (if applicable), and some of your products/services (if applicable).  You will want to use the posting feature to post regular updates (at least once or twice a month) of new offers, events, promotions, or news. You should also encourage customers to leave you reviews, and be sure to respond professionally to all of the reviews (even the occasional negative ones!). Here you can find more information from Google on setting up your Business Profile.

While this process is simple, it can be difficult to navigate if you haven't used any of Google's technical services before. If you would like to make this process easier and have someone do it for you, you can contact us and we can take out the guesswork. Branchlead has helped set up dozens of Google Business Profiles for businesses and we know how to optimise them for best results. For our SEO package customers, we can also help you monitor your reviews and post regular SEO-targeted updates to your profile.

2. Ensure Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) Information Across All Platforms

This next step is also fairly straightforward and simple, but if not done correctly, this can cause serious harm to your business's reputation with Google. Wherever you list your business name, address, or phone number online, you need to be sure they are consistent. Places like your Google Business Profile, your website, your social media pages, local directories, etc. Be sure to be consistent and use a single format for your address (use 'Street' or 'St.' Do not switch between the two, pick one and stick with it!). 

You can use tools like Moz Local or BrightLocal to audit and monitor your online presence in one place. These tools make it easy to ensure data is consistent across multiple platforms, and allow you to do other things like easily change your hours or read and respond to reviews.

Branchlead helps monitor and update your information for you, simplifying the process while avoiding the need to pay for another online tool subscription. With Branchlead monitoring your online presence, you never have to worry about inconsistencies hurting your search engine reputation. Contact us today to learn more about the SEO services we offer for your business.

3. Incorporate Local Keywords into Your Website Content

This step is a bit more technical and requires a larger upfront time and capital investment. Google determines the relevance of your website and posts based on 'keywords' that relate to the words and phrases search engine users are searching. You can use tools like Ubersuggest or more advanced tools like Semrush or Ahrefs to find keywords with high search volume near you. For businesses that operate almost exclusively in their local market, you can further optimise by adding suburb/city names in your page titles, meta descriptions, headers, and content. If you target multiple regions you can also create service-area pages that represent each of those regions. When writing blog posts, service pages, or FAQs, always try to find ways to naturally integrate location keywords, but avoid keyword stuffing. Google prefers your content to be readable and align with user intent.

This step is where SEO begins to get technical and time consuming. At this point, many business owners bring on professionals to help them. Branchlead has service offers at different levels to suit the needs of your business. If you want to cut out the technical aspect but prefer creating your own content, you can bring us on as SEO consultants and we can help you with keyword and strategy research. For business owners that value their time and resources, we also have full-service, done-for-you solutions in which we provide you with a full SEO package including keyword and strategy research, content creation, GBP posting, and more. Contact us today to learn more about each of these offerings and see what would be the best fit for your business and financial goals.

4. Build Local Citations

This next step is very similar to our first step, but instead of Google, we are setting up profiles on other trusted directories. List your business on major directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages, TrueLocal, and others. Depending on your industry, you should also target industry specific directories, a quick google search of '[your industry] + directories' (ex: accounting directories, plumbing directories, restaurant directories) will usually supply you with a few good places to start searching. Just as before, you need to double check and make sure every citation includes accurate and consistent NAP. Be sure to regularly check-in, monitor, and update your citations to avoid outdated listings. You can also use citation-building tools or services for speed and scalability.

This step can be time consuming and over the life of your business can drain a lot of time from your busy schedule. Branchlead can help you build, monitor, and update all of your citations across multiple directories. Contact us today to learn more.

5. Acquire Quality Backlinks from Local Sources

This next step is often overlooked by business owners, yet it's one of the most traditional forms of reputation building, just transferred online. To acquire quality backlinks from local sources, you want to partner with nearby businesses for guest posts or co-marketing opportunities. You can think of this like having a newspaper article written about your business that someone else posts for their audience to see. You can do this by sponsoring or participating in local events, charities, or sports teams (just be sure to ask for a backlink in return). You can also pitch local newspapers, blogs, community websites, and other regional business associations. The more you appear on other sites with positive-reputation on Google, the more your website gains in terms of reputation and overall ranking score.

Branchlead works with many local businesses and organisations. We have the connections, experience, and network to help you build quality backlinks that boost your reputation. Ready to boost your business reputation with quality backlinks? Just contact us today.

6. Create Engaging Local Content

Creating content, when done properly, is one of the best ways to get noticed, but it can also be very time consuming. Good content can be a lot of things, but for a website you will mainly focus on blog posts. You can create engaging local posts about community events or you can feature case studies and success stories from local clients. Posting educational blog content that might answer questions locals have about a specific topic. For example if you are a general contractor in Brisbane you could make a blog post on the topic "Do I need council approval for a home extension in Brisbane?" or if you sell pet products in Sydney you could make a post on "Where can I buy eco-friendly pet products in Sydney?". There are many examples of creative content you can post. 

Branchlead can take the time investment and guesswork out of your content strategy. We start with industry research to find the best strategy for bringing in more customers in your industry, then we start keyword research to determine our content area. Depending on the results of our research and the needs of your business we create a set number of blogs and/or service pages per month for your business. With some of the top SEO strategists and content writers in the industry, Branchlead creates content that will help your business rank quickly in the areas with the biggest room for growth and customer acquisition. Contact us today to see how Branchlead's done-for-you SEO content strategy can help turn your website into a lead generation machine.

7. Ensure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly

Research shows that as of January 2025, 62.69% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices. If you want your share of that mobile traffic, your website needs to be mobile-friendly. You can do this through the use of responsive designs that adapt to all screen sizes and ensure your images are in a next-gen format like webp. If you're more technical and want to see exactly where problems are occurring on your website, for desktop or mobile, you can test load speed and performance with Google PageSpeed Insights. Make sure navigation on the mobile version of your website is logical. Avoid pop-ups and other design elements that can hinder the mobile experience. Also ensure maps, phone numbers, CTAs, and interactive other elements are easily accessible and clickable.

Fully optimising your website for multiple devices is tech-heavy and time consuming. Most businesses choose to outsource this step to a professional that can not only optimise their mobile website, but can also help the desktop version of their website perform better (thus resulting in higher rankings and higher likelihood of conversions from inbound traffic). Ready to bring on a professional agency like Branchlead to help optimise your website? Contact us today.

Local SEO Checklist: Where to Start?

By now you probably have a good idea about the steps you should take to start working on local SEO for your business. To simplify the process, we've created a step-by-step checklist that will guide you through the process in an easy to follow manner. Want access to this checklist? Just put in your first name and email address and we will send you your downloadable local SEO checklist so you can start boosting your business visibility and bringing in more traffic and leads today.

If you aren't much of a DIY-er this list can be a little overwhelming. If you would like to learn more about any of the steps listed, or you would like to enlist the help of a professional to help you with one or all of the steps listed above, Branchlead is here to help.

Ready to take your marketing to the next level with a professionally crafted local SEO strategy? Just contact us today and Branchlead will help turn your website into a lead generating machine.

Local SEO Checklist FAQs

Do I need to implement all of these steps?

We understand time and money are limited resources for most small business owners. This list we've put together contains 7 actionable steps that anyone can do to increase organic search engine traffic, bring in more leads, and grow their business. We understand that many business owners are happy where they are, struggling from month to month to maintain consistent revenues and treating their business like a job. If you are one of those individuals then there's no need for you to worry about any of these steps. However, if you do want to grow your business and start treating your business like a business, we recommend you take action on as many of these steps as possible, or even bring a professional team on to help you achieve your goals.

How long does SEO take to work?

SEO is an effective long-term strategy meaning it can take a longer time to work but once it starts working, it stays working unless Google makes major changes to its ranking system. The industry standard for starting to see results from SEO is anywhere from 3-6 months, sometimes even longer depending on your industry, location, and consistency. Branchlead has helped many clients shorten that timeline and start seeing results from SEO in just the first month. Contact us today to learn more about how we outpace industry standards with our conversion-focused SEO.

Can I do some of the steps myself and hire someone else to do the rest?

Yes! That's one of the beautiful things about SEO. Not only can you do parts of it by yourself but you also have the freedom to choose if you want to bring on an SEO consultant who helps you with strategy and technical aspects, or if you want to bring on a done-for-you, full-service SEO agency to create and implement an SEO strategy tailored to the needs of your business.

How much does it cost to do the steps above by myself?

Setting up your Google Business Profile, placing your business in local directories, and ensuring consistent NAP information are all free (paid tools do exist to help you streamline the process). Keyword research requires investing in tools like Ubersuggest (probably the cheapest solution, starting at US$29 per month). Acquiring backlinks, creating engaging content, and optimising your site can all be done for little to no cost, but they are time consuming. For most business owners, outsourcing many of these steps to a professional agency is usually the most cost efficient decision. While it does require capital investment, it not only allows you to buy back your time, but it allows you to focus on service delivery and building your business while leads come to you. Contact us today to learn how Branchlead can save you time and bring you more leads so you can focus on more important parts of your business.

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