You might think you have the absolute best chili recipe. However, if you’re comparing your chili to everyone in your city versus the entire world, you might not feel as confident. SEO competition is sort of like that: competing on a global scale looks very different from a local one.
Does that mean one is more important than the other? No, general and local SEO are both important and contribute to overall rankings. But they don’t target the same types of terms, meaning they require different strategies.
Local visibility matters for brick-and-mortar and service-area businesses because it helps people in their area locate their company and choose them over larger national brands. Wondering how to show up when your city is looking for your products or services? This guide will break down what local SEO is, how to analyze it and how to boost your ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).
What Is Local SEO Competition?
Local SEO is when brands optimize their online presence to attract more potential customers from their specific area. For instance, if you owned a coffee shop, it would help you appear for search queries like “best coffee shop in Nashville” or “coffee shops near me.”
With that said, local SEO competition is when multiple companies fight over the same terms online. Analyzing the brands that you’re going head-to-head with can help you better understand what’s working (and not working) for them and how to use it to rank higher in the long run.
Say your city has four other coffee shops that are all going after the same customers as you. They’re also battling over local, intent-driven searches for cups of joe in and around the specific area. When you win keyword rankings, you often win local customers.
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Organic Results vs Google Map Pack Competitors
There are a couple of types of local SEO results that you need to be aware of:
- Organic results appear on Google after ads and are ranked based on factors like relevance, keywords, backlinks, page quality and user signals.
- Google Map Pack competitors are a set of local business listings that appear in the map section of a Google search. These listings show a map with a business name, rating, address, hours and Google reviews.
Google uses its core algorithm to put sites in the correct places. Organic results are non-local by default, unless the query suggests otherwise. On the other hand, Google uses its local ranking algorithm to place brands within the Map Pack ranking.
Local SEO vs General SEO Competitor Analysis
When it comes to doing a competitor analysis for local competition, you can’t conduct your research the same way as general SEO competitors. Local SEO analysis focuses on businesses competing for visibility in location-based searches, especially the Google Map Pack and localized organic results. General SEO competitor analysis takes a broader approach, looking at websites you’re competing against for non-location-specific organic rankings across less-niche keywords and content topics.
Why Analyzing Local SEO Competition Is Crucial to Success
If you’re already focused on general SEO competition, why think about local keywords? The answer is that digging into local SEO shows what’s actually working in your specific market right now. National recognition and traffic are beneficial, but winning your specific city’s customers’ business shows that you’re meeting the needs of the people in your area.
By studying your local competitors’ profiles, citations, reviews and content, you can determine the secret sauce for success and start using it within your own site. Looking at other local brands within your industry can also reveal gaps you can take advantage of. For instance, maybe you notice that many of these other brands don’t use strong backlinks.
You can then take this knowledge and start building up an arsenal of strong, relevant sites pointing back to your brand. Going back to the coffee shop example from earlier, a golden opportunity in this scenario could be getting your brand on tourism websites that list the must-stop-at businesses or securing your shop on top-cafe lists for your area.
Ultimately, analyzing local SEO competition is all about seeing and seizing opportunities to learn from others’ successes and adapt as needed.
How To Determine Your Local Competitors
We’ve established that comparing your competitors’ metrics and successes helps you improve your rankings. But how do you actually pinpoint who you’re rivaling? Not just any random local businesses will do — you want to ensure you’re targeting valuable, relevant brands.
Here’s how to do just that:
Searching Target Keywords in Google Search and Google Maps
The first action item is to determine which keywords you’re hoping to rank for and see what pops up when you plug these terms into Google. These are the search queries your target audience is using to find the products and services you’re selling. Once you’ve determined these key phrases, look them up in Google Search and Google Maps so you can see what your target audience sees when searching.
Search results will vary depending on your specific location, but doing this will give you a clearer picture of who you’re campaigning against.
Identifying Competitors in the Local Pack
The Local Pack is a SERP feature that appears at the top of Google Search results. It shows a map and the three most relevant local businesses for location-based searches. Look up key terms that relate to your business (“top taco places near me”, “best Thai food in Boston,” etc), and see what companies pop up. This pack of top dogs is the group you want your brand to be in, so seeing who’s currently in these positions can help you break into it.
Differentiating True Competitors From Large Directories
Not every organization showing up in your searches is actually a true competitor. For many industries, it’s common to mistake large directories or marketplaces for direct competitors. While these large brands may rank highly in SEO and appear to compete for visibility, going after their customers may end up distracting you from the main mission rather than helping.
Analyzing Local SEO Competition: The Step-By-Step Process
Now for the main event: auditing your competitors so you can determine the best next steps to win the local SEO game. Let’s go through the necessary steps to come out triumphant:
Step 1: Conduct Local Keyword Research
Start by uncovering the core keywords driving traffic to competing businesses in your area. Focus on terms that combine service and location, such as:
- Family dentist in Austin.
- Emergency plumber near me.
- Marketing agency Boston.
Use SEO tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz or Google Search Console, paying close attention to keywords tied directly to revenue-generating services, not just informational blog content. Once you have competitor keyword lists, compare them against your own rankings to uncover:
- Overlapping keywords: Terms both you and your competitors rank for. These are prime candidates for optimization to improve position.
- Keyword gaps: High-intent local keywords competitors rank for that you don’t. These represent quick-win opportunities.
Step 2: Compare Google Business Profile Accounts
This is often the most outward-looking response to successful SEO. Open each competitor’s Google Business Profile and look through their primary and secondary categories. Did they opt for categories that align with their services? Are these choices specific and measured?
Also, take this opportunity to analyze their reviews and reputation, which directly influence an algorithm’s choice to put them higher up in SERPs.
Step 3: Look at Local Directories and Citations
Local directories and citations are basically the digital phone book, giving people quick access to phone numbers, addresses and other business info. You can use tools like Moz Local and Whitespark to see where rival brands are listed to make this process easier.
Compare their appearances to yours. If there’s a noticeable gap, that could be saying something about your SEO performance.
Step 4: Analyze On-Page SEO
Start with the basic on-page SEO components like title tags, meta descriptions and headers. Do you notice patterns across multiple pages? If everyone ranking in the Local Pack has their city name in their H1, that’s a clear sign you should, too.
Or, do your competitors use a consistent page depth or structure that’s garnering traffic? Maybe consider swapping your structure to align and provide a better user experience — another less-talked-about aspect of SEO success.
Step 5: Look at Backlinks
As time changes, backlinks continue to be critical for local SEO. Pull your competitors’ backlink profiles, focusing on links from local sources like chambers of commerce, business associations, community organizations and news sites.
This practice can help you identify opportunities for valuable backlinks that your competitors may be benefiting from.
Get Your Local SEO Up to Snuff
When working to outrank local SEO competitors, you can pull ahead with intentional uses of inbound and outbound links, focusing on location-focused on-page SEO and optimizing your Google Business Profile. Plus, follow our SEO checklist throughout the local SEO competitor analysis process to ensure you’re on the right track.
Local search is constantly changing, and it’s hard to maintain without following a regular schedule. A practical cadence looks like this:
- Monthly: Monitor rankings, reviews and Google Business updates.
- Quarterly: Run a deeper competitor audit (keywords, backlinks, content).
- Biannually: Reevaluate your overall local SEO strategy and landing pages.
- Anytime rankings drop: Immediately review competitor activity.
Also, use these local SEO tools to assess — and reassess — other brands within your local market:
- Ahrefs: Backlinks, keyword gaps, competitor research.
- Semrush: Local keyword tracking and competitor insights.
- Moz: Local rankings and citation analysis.
- BrightLocal: GBP audits, citations and review tracking.
After completing your analysis and tweaking your SEO approaches where necessary, you’ll be unstoppable. When you’re consistent and visible, your competitors don’t stand a chance.
