A local GEO audit checklist you can actually use

Before you begin

Choose one business, its main services, and the areas it actually serves. Ask someone responsible for operations to confirm the facts. A marketing audit should not invent availability, coverage, pricing, or credentials.

This checklist is Smoketown GEO’s recommended workflow. It is not a ranking formula or a pass/fail certification. Keep the scope small enough that you can finish the corrections.

Download the blank audit evidence log. It opens in a spreadsheet application and contains columns for observations, sources, owners, and verification. Keep customer information and private account details out of shared copies.

1. Confirm the business facts

• Verify the public name, website, contact details, and appointment instructions.
• List current services and exclusions.
• Confirm service areas and any travel restrictions.
• Distinguish normal operating hours from emergency availability.
• Check that credentials and differentiators have current supporting evidence.

Deliverable: one approved fact record, with the name of the internal owner and the verification date. Google’s local guidance is a useful starting point for reviewing a Google Business Profile.

2. Check the pages a customer needs

Open the homepage, key service pages, contact page, and any important location pages on a phone. Follow the contact path yourself.

• Can you understand the service without opening a PDF or watching a video?
• Can you find the coverage area and limitations?
• Do links work, and does the contact information match the fact record?
• Is meaningful proof attached to claims?
• Is an old page contradicting a current one?

Deliverable: a list of URLs and the exact corrections each needs. Keep genuine customer needs ahead of word counts.

3. Review discovery and access

Have the site maintainer check response status, indexing directives, canonical URLs, internal links, and sitemap coverage. Google’s technical SEO documentation provides the platform reference.

A successful browser visit does not prove that every crawler can access the site. A crawler visit does not prove indexing. Record what was actually checked. Use the technical guide for a more detailed handoff.

Deliverable: a short technical issue list with a reproducible check for each item.

4. Capture a fixed answer baseline

Select a small, explicit prompt set covering discovery, service suitability, comparisons, and branded accuracy. Save the prompts before testing. Include the town rather than depending only on “near me.”

Use fresh conversations. Save the date, platform, visible mode, location context, full answer, business mentions, cited URLs, and factual issues. Repeat the same procedure for each platform.

Deliverable: the original answers and a summary that points back to them. Follow the measurement guide when reporting rates.

5. Inspect the sources behind important claims

Read the source associated with an inaccurate statement. Note the exact wording and compare it to the approved fact record. If the claim is unsupported by the citation, record that mismatch.

Check the business website first, then relevant profiles and cited third-party pages. Request corrections where you have a legitimate route to do so. Do not assume an uncited answer came from a specific directory.

Deliverable: an evidence-backed correction request, not a generic request for “more authority.”

6. Prioritize, assign, and recheck

Priority	Example	Completion check
Customer-impacting error	Wrong contact number or unsupported emergency availability	Public source corrected and contact path verified
Discovery obstacle	Important service page blocked or internally orphaned	Access or link issue resolved and rechecked
Decision gap	No explanation of service exclusions	Approved explanation published on the relevant page
Further investigation	Inconsistent recommendation without a clear source	Repeat observations with conditions documented

This order is our operational recommendation. A specific business may have more urgent constraints.

Do not mark a task complete just because an email was sent. Record the public result, then schedule a comparable answer recheck. Keep unresolved issues visible rather than quietly dropping them from the next report.