Whether you're looking to drive foot traffic to a business, get more calls, increase bookings, or all of the above, having a solid local SEO strategy is essential. But in order to understand whether or not your local search engine optimization tactics are working, you'll need to track certain key performance indicators (KPIs).
Understanding what the most important local SEO KPIs are and how to track them helps you refine your strategy over time, leading to sustainable success in local search results and, ultimately, more revenue for your business.
As with any type of search engine optimization, many local SEO KPIs have to do with search engine results page (SERP) rankings, engagement, leads, and conversions.
However, local SEO is also special in that many of the metrics you want to track are related specifically to Google Business Profile (GBP), as this is the platform that single-handedly drives the majority of local traffic. There are also several unique local SEO KPIs having to do with Google reviews, an important local ranking factor.
Local SEO KPIs for Engagement, Leads, and Conversions
Website Views
Although local search engine optimization is unique from organic SEO in many ways, website views are still an important KPI for local SEO, indicating that people are clicking through to your website from local search results.
The first place you should track website views to measure your local search performance is directly in Google Business Profile Insights. These built-in insights tell you how many people are clicking on your website link in your GBP listing.
Next, you should track your organic search traffic using Google Search Console. This is especially important if your website has lots of different hyper-localized service pages that are ranking in organic local search results, as it can help you optimize these pages to drive more traffic.
Calls and Bookings
Calls and bookings (or reservations and food orders for restaurant GBPs) are two other important local SEO KPIs that you can check in your GBP Insights.
Insights tell you how many people click on the button to call or make a reservation directly from your GBP listing, both of which are strong indicators that your profile is not only generating leads but also converting them into customers.
Direction Requests
Not all businesses need calls and bookings to generate revenue. Certain types of local businesses, such as retail stores and cafes, generate a lot of business by driving foot traffic.
Looking at the number of direction requests in your GBP Insights gives you an idea of how many people who come across your profile in search results might be actually going to your business afterwards.
Local SEO KPIs for Local Search Rankings
Average Rank Position (ARP) & Average Total Rank Position (ATRP)
Getting your business to rank highly in local search results for different keywords is the main goal of local SEO. It's the first step towards driving more business through local SERPs. So, naturally, you need to be tracking your average rankings on Google, which you can do by running a scan and checking your ARP and ATRP scores with Local Falcon.
Your Average Rank Position tells you how your location is ranking compared to the top 20 listings for a given keyword, while your Average Total Rank Position indicates how well it's ranking out of all businesses found in the scan. For example, a score of 2.15 tells you that your business is appearing around the second spot in Google search results, on average.
Share of Local Voice (SoLV)
Share of Local Voice is another local SEO KPI that you can track with Local Falcon. Your SoLV score shows how often your business is ranking in the top three positions on Google (the Google 3-Pack) for a given keyword.
Since potential customers frequently choose one of the top three businesses they see on Google to visit, call, or book an appointment with, a high SoLV score is one of the best indicators of strong local SEO performance.
Local Review Performance Indicators
Number of Reviews
The total number of reviews on your Google Business Profile is one of the main ranking factors Google looks at to determine where to place businesses in local search results.
While there's no magic number of reviews you need to start ranking on Google, the more the better.
You can see how many reviews you have directly on your Google Business Profile. To save time, especially if you're tracking reviews across multiple locations, you can also use Local Falcon's Reviews Analysis tool for lightning-fast review insights and AI analysis.
Average Star Rating
Of course, the quality of your reviews matters to Google too. If you have a high number of reviews, but many of them are negative, it's going to lead to a low average review score and lower rankings. You can see your average star rating on your GBP listing or by generating a Reviews Analysis Report with Local Falcon.
Review Velocity & Freshness
Review velocity refers to how many reviews you get on average in a month, while review freshness refers to the recency of your reviews. Both of these are other signals that Google factors into its local search rankings, often giving priority to businesses with a more steady stream of recent reviews in search results.
For example, it's usually better to get two or three new reviews every week, for a total of around 10 fresh reviews every month, than it is to get 40 reviews in a month and then no new reviews for the next three.
You can see scores for both Review Velocity and Freshness in Local Falcon's Reviews Analysis Reports, along with a whole range of other useful metrics for tracking your review performance.
Wrapping Up
Tracking the right local SEO KPIs is essential for understanding your business's performance in local search and refining your optimization strategy over time.
Monitoring key metrics related to your Google Business Profile, website, and reviews helps you make more informed, data-driven decisions to improve visibility and attract more customers.
Tools like Google Business Profile Insights, Google Search Console, and Local Falcon provide valuable data to help you stay ahead of the competition and maximize your local SEO success.
