Discovering the best tools for local SEO is essential for improving your business website ranking and ultimately boosting sales. With options like Rank Math and Surfer SEO, the right tools for local SEO can make all the difference in your business.

In this comprehensive guide, I’ve evaluated and ranked the eight best local SEO tools, including my top 3 recommendations, so you can make an informed decision and find the perfect fit”.

• Rank Math: Most feature-rich WordPress SEO plugin that helps with a wide range of SEO tasks—directly from the website’s dashboard.

• SurferSEO:Most ideal local SEO tool for websites with a large content volume.

• Linkwhisper: Most ideal local SEO tool for large WordPress and Shopify websites, it is beneficial for websites that use a hub and spoke or pillar/cluster content approach.

As an entrepreneur, I have never been more fulfilled than seeing small businesses thrive and dominate their local market. I usually tell business owners that they shouldn’t neglect local SEO as long as their business has a geographical area listed in online directories or a physical presence.

You might wonder why it’s important. Well, most Google searches are about finding local businesses, meaning you could miss out on big chances if people don’t easily find your business.

Local search visibility is very crucial now. With more local businesses competing, getting to the top spot on Google is tough nowadays. If you’re not there, you’re losing out on getting local customers to visit your site, making more sales, and establishing yourself as an authority.

You don’t need to worry if you’re new to local SEO or unsatisfied with your current local SEO efforts and the results. In this guide, I’ll introduce you to the 8 best tools for local SEO to get you started.

My Top 8 Best Local SEO Tools

 

 

A strong local search presence is key to driving more customers to your store. And having a local SEO strategy isn’t enough.

These 8 local SEO tools will increase your visibility on local search rankings. They’ll make your business look appealing to customers searching for similar businesses like yours, showcase your products, and make it easy for people to reach out to you.

Let’s go into the list

1). Rank Math

 

 

Rank Math stands out as the ultimate feature-rich WordPress SEO plugin, offering website owners a comprehensive suite of SEO tools accessible directly from their website’s dashboard. It helps to improve your site’s ranking in local search results.

Rank Math is unique for two main reasons. Firstly, it analyzes your content in real-time as you create it, providing direct optimization suggestions.

While many SEO plugins offer suggestions, Rank Math enables immediate changes to your site. Secondly, it ensures your site adheres to SEO best practices (from schema markup and sitemaps to internal linking suggestions and 404 monitoring) among many others.

Rank Math online reviews come with a 4.9-star rating and over 900 reviews from Trustpilot.

Features Of Rank Math

Rich Math has about 89 key features that can take your local business to the next level. But I will highlight some important ones out of the numerous features.

• Easy to follow Setup Wizard: It helps you quickly set up important SEO settings like metadata and analytics, making it easier to start with SEO.

• Clean & Simple User Interface: Gets more done in less time with intuitive UI elements.

• Google Index Status: Helps you track the current index status of your pages.

• Google Analytics 4 Integration: Helps you see your website metrics with meaningful insights.

• Rank Tracker: Track your keywords and their search engine positions.

• Keep an Eye on Position History: Know precisely what SEO Techniques are working for you.

• Ranking Keywords for Posts: Helps you to know all the keywords each post is ranking for.

• The Most Advanced Schema Generator: Improves CTR by making your content stand out in SERPs.

• Schema Markup Validation: Helps you validate your Schema while you are adding it.

• Schema Templates with Display Conditions: Customizes and automates your entire website’s Schema.

• Local Business Schema: Improves local business listings and SEO.

Pros

• SEO Setup: Rank Math streamlines the initial SEO process by swiftly configuring vital elements such as metadata and analytics, facilitating a smooth start.

• Content Indexing: Automatically notifies major search engines of new and revised content for swift indexing.

• SEO Dashboard: Establishes a robust SEO dashboard within your website’s backend, enabling comprehensive monitoring of search traffic, keywords, and site-wide content optimization.

• Content AI: Utilizing Natural Language Processing (NPL), Rank Math’s Content AI scrutinizes critical content elements to align with SERP requirements for targeted keywords.

• Free version: Rank Math’s Free Version is the most feature-rich SEO plugin.

• Comprehensive features: As mentioned before, it has a rich snippet, Schema, rank tracker, Google Analytics, and many other built-in features, allowing you to install ten more plugins.

• Superb customer support: You can always rely on Rank Math’s support staff to solve your problems any day of the year

Cons

• Targeting long-tailed keywords: You can face issues while targeting long-tailed keywords in the Rank Math SEO plugin.

• Self-Hosted Analytics: Google Analytics and tracking search engine results rankings use resources from your server and this can slow down your site if you’re on a cheaper shared hosting plan.

What Types of Business Can Use It?

For those prioritizing SEO and utilizing WordPress as their CMS, Rank Math emerges as a must-have tool. Its seamless integration with Divi, renowned as the most robust WordPress theme, empowers users to craft tailored websites with optimal SEO structures.

Moreover, Rank Math offers a free plugin version, catering to SEO beginners who seek immediate entry into optimization efforts.

Bloggers, eCommerce Stores, niche sites, businesses, local businesses, news websites, startups, real estate, artists and photographers, solution offerers, directories, and any WordPress website can benefit from Rank Math.

Pricing

Rank Math offers a free plugin for WordPress users. If you want more advanced features, you can choose from their simple pricing plans.

There are three pricing plans available: Agency($49.99 / month) Business($20.99 / month), Pro($6.99 / month).

2). Surfer SEO

 

 

Surfer SEO has one of the best local SEO features. It is an AI-powered content tool designed to assist in creating SEO-optimized content that improves your local SEO performance. Its primary aim is to guide content creators in maintaining SEO awareness, preventing your content from going unnoticed.

This process unfolds in stages, from keyword research and SERP analysis to content planning and creation. Writers can seamlessly transition from research to publication, ensuring a streamlined workflow to help you rank in local searches.

The Surfer SEO is designed to boost your website’s traffic and productivity and simplify the content creation process for publishers, business marketing teams, and marketing agencies. 

So, instead of guessing what content Google would most likely rank, this tool offers a data-driven analysis of what’s missing from your page, website, content plan, etc.

Features Of Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is an all-in-all SEO tool that helps improve your website’s search engine rankings. It allows you to refine your content, analyze your competitors, and monitor your progress.

Let’s explore some key features of Surfer SEO and how it can help in optimizing SEO performance:

• Content Editor: The content editor features for surfer SEO is the most prominent feature. It helps to analyze your content and provides suggestions for your keyword usage, ensuring that the content on your site is optimized.

• SERP Analyzer: The SERP analyzer allows you to analyze search engine result pages(SERPS) for any keyword and to identify the factors that make top sites rank.

• AI Outline Generator: This is one of Surfer SEO’s most groundbreaking features. It uses AI to create a framework that meets the ranking criteria for the targeted keywords, and you can use this to write your website’s content. The tool suggests topics, headings, and subtopics for you to cover in your content.

• Grow Flo: This feature serves as a user-friendly growth management platform. It provides detailed insights to improve daily traffic, keyword ranking, and on-page optimization. You can determine how to improve your search engine ranking from the insights provided.

• Plagiarism tool: This feature is helpful for bloggers and writers who want their content to be unique and not plagiarized.

• API and Integration: This API feature allows you to perform customized analyses based on your requirements and needs. This means you can integrate your Surfer SEO with other SEO tools to create a more comprehensive optimization strategy.

Pros

• Comprehensive features: It provides an extensive array of features tailored for optimizing content, covering every aspect from keyword research to content structure and on-page SEO enhancements.

• Time-Saving Power AI tools: It offers time-saving tools that automate content creation and optimization processes. Features such as the AI Outline Generator and Grow Flow streamline tasks, simplifying the creation of high-quality, search engine-friendly content.

• Delivering data-driven insights: It excels in aiding keyword research and content generation. Users can make informed decisions on target keywords and relevant content topics by analyzing competitors and identifying market gaps.

• Seamless API access and integration capabilities: It seamlessly integrates Surfer SEO with existing workflows and tools, enhancing productivity and maintaining consistency across several applications.

• Built-in plagiarism checker to ensure content uniqueness and integrity: This feature is crucial for preserving website credibility and avoiding probable penalties from search engines, safeguarding your website rankings and overall performance.

Cons

• Steep learning curve: Although Surfer SEO is designed to be user-friendly, it might take some time to understand how to use it fully.

• Intermittent issues: Like many other cloud-based software, Surfer SEO may experience unpredictable glitches.

• Credit limitations: The basic plan of Surfer SEO provides only 30 credits, which might not be sufficient for some users and could run out quickly.

• Price: Surfer SEO’s pricing might be too high for beginners in SEO who don’t use it extensively. However, there’s a free trial available for testing before committing.

• Limited integrations: While Surfer SEO can connect with popular tools like Semrush, it offers fewer integrations than other local SEO tools.

What Kind Of Businesses Can Use It?

Surfer SEO is the right local SEO tool for websites that have so much content. It is designed to simplify the SEO workflow for content creation, making it a unique, time-saving tool for your business.

Whether you have an e-commerce store or a brick-and-mortar store and want to increase your site’s visibility, Surfer SEO can be used by small and medium businesses and freelancers.

Pricing

It has a free seven-day free trial plan. But if you want more advanced features, there are other paid plans such as;

• Essential($89/month)

• Scale($129/month)

• Scale AI ($219/month)

• Enterprise( $399 /month).                         

3). SE Ranking

 

 

SE Ranking stands out as one of the top local SEO tools, offering an all-in-one solution at a more budget-friendly price compared to competitors like Semrush.

SE Ranking provides beginner-friendly documentation and recommendations, simplifying the process of learning and implementing local SEO strategies to improve rankings on various search engines.

The website audit tool conducts a thorough analysis of the site’s SEO performance, examining aspects like on-page SEO, technical SEO, and backlinks to identify areas needing improvement and offer personalized optimization recommendations.

It offers a feature for tracking keyword positions, allowing users to keep tabs on their site’s performance in search results over time.

This local SEO tool offers content briefs, content optimization analysis, content quality scoring, related keyword suggestions, and an upcoming AI content writing add-on.

However, lower-cost plans come with limitations, such as fewer tracked keyword rankings, project restrictions, tracked backlinks, etc.

Features Of SE Ranking

SE Ranking offers several tools to help you improve your website’s performance:

• Website Audit: It checks your site for things like how well your site is set up, technical issues, and the quality of links pointing to it.

• Keyword Tools: These help you find the best keywords for your site and track how well they’re doing in search results.

• Backlink Tool: It finds good websites that could link to yours based on what similar sites are doing.

• Competitive Research Tool: It helps you to know competitor marketing strategies.

• Report Builder Tool: Provides detailed SEO progress reports sent right to your inbox.

Pros

• Accurate rankings: Matches your website’s organic rankings displayed in your browser.

• Competition research: Provides a clear and helpful overview of competitors.

• Display of SERP competitors: Quickly shows authoritative content from competitor sites on search engine results pages.

Cons

• Learning curve: It might take a while to get used to the platform because there are lots of tools and options, but there are plenty of resources and demos to help you learn.

• Agency Pack: This extra feature isn’t offered on all plans and needs an annual subscription.

• AI words limit: SE Ranking’s AI writing feature is new, but it doesn’t offer unlimited words like some other AI writing tools. However, you can choose from 11 different writing tones.

• Backlink Profiles: Sometimes, it doesn’t display all the backlinks that are pointing to a particular website or page.

What Kind Of Businesses Can Use It?

Brick-and-mortar business owners can use SE Ranking to improve their visibility and increase customer engagement.

For in-house marketers and SEO specialists, it helps to track local rankings, handle business listings and reviews, and conduct local marketing audits to enhance local SEO strategies.

Additionally, it assists SEO agencies in managing multiple clients simultaneously and enhancing their local search rankings.

Pricing

SE ranking is an all-in-one SEO platform that you can use for any project, any level, and for any budget. Their pricing plans include Essential($44.00/month), Pro ($87.20/month), and Business ($191.20/month).

4). Link Whisper

 

 

Link Whisper, a WordPress plugin and Shopify app facilitates internal link building. This crucial SEO practice helps search engine crawlers comprehend your website’s content by establishing connections between different pages.

However, managing internal linking can be a struggle, particularly for large websites with so much content.

Recognizing this challenge, Link Whisper offers a solution by automating the process, seamlessly integrating your new content with existing ones, therefore saving considerable time and effort when set up.

Features of Link Whisper

Using Link Whisper for internal linking significantly speeds up the process compared to manual intervention. Other key features include:

• Inbound Internal Links: You can quickly add this to your  posts

• Internal Link Suggestions: You can add link suggestions to your posts in seconds

• Birds-eye-view: You have access to view all your links from the links report

• Fix Broken Links: You can fix all broken links fast

• Find Orphaned posts: You can find posts with no internal links pointing to them.

• Automatically link insertion: Automatically insert internal links whenever your chosen keyword shows up

• Quickly view link stats and charts from the dashboard: The dashboard gives you an outline of all your links.

• Get detailed click analysis: You can get a detailed report of which links are performing best. 

Pros

• Internal Suggestions: Link Whisper gives advanced suggestions for linking within the page/post editor.

• Search Console Connection: You can connect Link Whisper with Google Search Console to bring in basic performance stats, which adds to the data from Google Analytics plugins.

• Linking Campaigns: You can set up automatic linking campaigns in Link Whisper that link specific keywords to a particular page.

Cons

• Anchor Text Quality: Mixing up the words used in your internal links is usually better. This makes them sound more natural and helps search engines get a better idea of what each page is about.

  If you always use the exact words for internal links to a page, you might lose out on showing how valuable your content is.

  Link Whisper allows some variation in anchor text, but it could be more flexible.

What Kind Of Businesses Can Use It?

Bloggers, content marketers, and website owners use Link Whisper to improve internal links without guessing.

If you want to enhance your site’s reputation quickly and make your internal links more relevant, Link Whisper can assist you.

Pricing

Link Whisper has three pricing plans, which are

• 1 Site License($67)

• 3 Site License($107)

• 10 Site License($157)

5). Google Business Profile (Formerly Google My Business Listing)

 

 

To be found in local searches, the first step is to claim and improve your Google Business Profile listing.

Even though other platforms like Apple Maps are becoming popular for local searches, Google still dominates with over 90% of searches online. That’s why focusing on your Google Business Profile is crucial.

When people search for local businesses on Google, the top results are often three Google Business Profile listings, known as Google’s 3-Pack. Getting into this top group is highly sought after in local SEO. Having a Google Business Profile is essential if you want any chance of appearing here.

Besides improving your chances of ranking high on Google, having a Google Business Profile has other perks. It helps build trust with probable customers and offers various benefits.

Features of Google My Business

Google My Business is a local SEO tool that allows businesses to increase their local search visibility on Google so they can gain new customers. Key features include;

• It effortlessly connects with customers

• It provides Google Business Insights

• It responds to reviews

• It showcases specific services you offer

• It takes charge of your first impression

• Google AdWords

• Increased visibility

• It answers questions

• Appointment bookings

• Search engine optimization

• Customer reviews

• Photograph

• Accurate business information

• Add product

• Additional gmb insights data

• Appointment booking

Pros

• Free To Use: It is free and lets businesses control their online presence on Google Search and Maps.

• Easy To Use: It’s simple to set up and manage, allowing businesses to add photos videos, and reply to reviews.

• Local Reach: It helps reach local customers by appearing in Google Search when people look for nearby businesses.

• Share updates: It shares updates beyond basic info like photos, new products, menus, and hours.

• Share posts: It shares posts about your business or industry to demonstrate expertise.

Cons

• Competition: Google My Business listings can get competitive, especially in popular industries. Businesses might need to invest in SEO to rank better in search results.

What Kind Of Businesses Can Use It?

Most businesses qualify for Google Business Profile, even those without a physical location, like online stores.

Pricing
It’s absolutely FREE! You can create a profile for your business and list your business at no cost.

6). Moz Local

 

 

Moz Local helps your business get noticed locally and ensures your listings are accurate, consistent, and visible online. It’s great for boosting your local SEO strategy.

With Moz Local, you can submit your business details to major directories, fix duplicate listings, and update your information quickly.

Plus, you can connect with Google and Facebook so that you can update your listings from one site to another on your dashboard.

Features Of Moz Local

Moz Local automatically finds and removes duplicate listings of your business. Having multiple listings can confuse customers and make your business seem less credible.

With Moz Local, you can quickly identify and delete these duplicates. Other key features include;

• Local Listings Dashboard: Manage and track your online listings and see how well they’re doing.

• Instant Submission: Your listing information gets sent out right away to important directories.

• Google My Business Sync: Claim your Google My Business listing and keep it updated.

• Real-time Updates: Changes you make are quickly spread across local search sites.

• Distribution Reporting: See how effective your listings are with metrics like Average Score and Listing Reach. Get weekly PDF reports, too.

• Review Monitoring: Keeps an eye on your business’s reviews from different sites.

• Google Review Management: Respond to Google reviews directly through Moz Local.

Pros

• Consistent Data Distribution: It’s important to keep location data accurate everywhere. Moz helps distribute precise data effortlessly across all your client’s locations.

• Reputation Monitoring: Stay in touch with customers by tracking your client’s reviews and responding quickly with Moz.

Cons

• Missing Partner Dashboard: It’s frustrating that there’s no single dashboard to manage all clients. Having everything in one place would be much easier.

• No Volume Discounts: There are no discounts for having multiple clients.

What kind of businesses Can Use It?
Moz Local currently supports all kinds of local businesses in the US, UK, and Canadian business listings.

Pricing

Moz Local Pricing starts at Lite($14/mo USD), Preferred ($20/mo USD), and Elite($33/mo USD).

7). Whitespark

 

 

Whitespark has evolved into a complete, full-fledged SEO company, offering tools and services for businesses and agencies to improve their local search marketing.

Their Citation Finder tool is highly acclaimed and widely used by marketing agencies and businesses globally. Additionally, you can rely on their Local Rank Tracker as your main tool for checking local SEO rankings.

Whitespark assists with various aspects of local search, including building citations, earning reviews, tracking rankings, and creating quality backlinks, helping you gain visibility, attract customers, and handle your local search effectively.

Features Of Whitespark

Whitespark offers tools to improve your website’s visibility in local searches. The key features include:

• Local Citation Finder: Find important citation opportunities to boost your local search rankings.

• Local Rank Tracker: Monitors your performance in local and organic search results.

• Reputation Builder: This helps you gather reviews on popular platforms to attract more customers.

• Link Prospector: Automates the process of finding link-building opportunities.

Additionally, Whitespark provides free local SEO tools like Review Handout Generator, Google Review Link Generator, and Offline Conversion Tracker.

Pros

• Accurate Finder: The finder gives correct information, saving you time from searching online for citations.

• Automated Reports: Reports are automated, so you don’t need to do extra work.

Cons

• Limited platforms: There is no option to connect to other platforms like Google Data Studio.

• Setting up projects and searches can be complex: When starting a new project or doing a citation search in Whitespark, it’s not always easy to understand what to do next. Some parts of the form might be unclear, especially when you want to save your progress.

What kind of businesses Can Use It?

This local SEO tool is best used by small to large local businesses that want to improve their search ranking.

Pricing

The website doesn’t have pricing details for their local SEO services, so you’ll need to contact their team for pricing information.

After contacting them to find out their pricing, I found out their local SEO packages start at $100 per location for up to 5 industry or regional sites.

8). Semrush

 

 

Semrush is one of the most well-known local SEO tools. It offers a variety of tools to help you understand what’s happening on Google. It’s considered one of the most comprehensive SEO toolkits available. Semrush offers useful features like review management, rank tracking, and keyword research.

The listing management feature is unique because it lets you search for listings related to your business by entering your business name first. This helps you find existing listings and new opportunities.

It also points out any mistakes in your listings, which can improve your local SEO ranking.SEMrush provides other helpful tools for local SEO, even though it’s best known for keyword research, backlink analysis, and site audits.

Features of Semrush

Semrush has fantastic features that can help you get noticed in local searches and attract more local customers. Some key features include;

• Local Keyword Research: With SEMrush’s keyword tool, you can find and study local keywords relevant to your business. Using these local keywords in your content and on-page SEO can improve your website’s local search rankings and attract more traffic.

• Local Listing Management: Keep your business information accurate across different platforms to benefit your customers.

• Competitor Analysis: SEMrush helps you find and analyze your current citations, giving you insights into the accuracy and consistency of your online business information.

• Position Tracking: With SEMrush’s position tracking feature, you can monitor your position in local search results for specific keywords and areas.

Pros

• Tool Versatility: Semrush is like a versatile toolkit, offering tools for content marketing, social media, and advertising, making it a one-stop solution for digital marketing needs.

• SEO Tracking: It provides advanced tracking and reporting for all aspects of your SEO campaigns, including position tracking. This gives detailed insights into your performance and your competitors.

• AI Writing Tools: Semrush has an AI writing assistant that optimizes your on-page SEO content in real time. It also offers other AI-powered free SEO tools and an AI app called ContentShake for more advanced SEO writing solutions.

• Content Analysis: Semrush evaluates content based on difficulty, tone, and keywords and compares it with competitors’ content, giving you an edge in content creation.

• Competitor Research: Users can analyze competitor domains to see SEO trends and PPC strategies, comparing them with their properties.

Cons

• Costly Option: While not the priciest SEO tool available, Semrush can be expensive due to its extensive search data access fees.

• Account Sharing Restrictions: Semrush actively prevents account sharing and requires adding paid users to the account.

What kind Of Businesses Can Use It?

Any local business and agency with a physical location, whether one or a thousand locations, can use Semrush.

Pricing

There are three plans available: Pro($129.95/month), Guru ($249.95/month), and Business( $499.95/month). You can try their Pro and Guru plans for free.

Conclusion

 

 

While the list above doesn’t cover all the best local SEO tools, it includes the most effective local SEO tools to kickstart different parts of your local SEO optimization strategy.

Keep in mind that these tools might work differently based on your needs and the type of business you have. No one tool will instantly improve your local ranking.

Whatever tools you choose, monitor your local SEO strategy and use insights from your local rank tracker to keep making your business easier to find in local searches.

If you are just getting started in the world of local SEO, I guarantee you can’t go wrong with the first four local SEO tools on this list.