How to Tell If Your Local SEO Is Working
By Parker Gawryletz · Local Cochrane Web Design · Last updated: · 7 min read
You can tell local SEO is working when the actions rise: more calls, more direction requests, more clicks to your website, and more enquiries you can trace back to search. Ranking position is a poor measure because it changes with the searcher's location. Both of the reports you need are free and come directly from Google.
This is the part of local SEO most articles skip, and the gap is not accidental — a provider who never defines success can never be shown to have failed.
What follows is how to check for yourself, using free first-party reports, plus an honest account of what cannot currently be measured at all. If nothing is appearing yet, start with why your business isn't showing up on Google.
The short answer
- Measure actions — calls, direction requests, clicks — not ranking positions.
- Rank position depends on where the searcher stands, so one number is misleading.
- Two free first-party reports tell you almost everything you need.
- Search Console cannot separate AI traffic — it is folded into Web.
- Compare year over year, because most local demand is seasonal.
Measure actions, not positions
A ranking position is not a business outcome, and it is not even a stable number — it depends on where the person searching is standing. Actions are stable, countable, and tied to revenue: calls, direction requests, website clicks, and enquiries.
| Usually reported | Why it misleads | Track instead |
|---|---|---|
| "You rank #3" | Position varies by the searcher's location | Calls and enquiries received |
| Profile views | Rises with impressions even when nobody acts | Actions taken from the profile |
| Impressions | Can grow from irrelevant searches | Clicks, and which queries drove them |
| Keywords ranked | Counts terms nobody searches | Enquiries you can trace to search |
Distance is one of the three factors Google names, which is precisely why a single ranking number is unreliable. Two customers a few kilometres apart can see different results for the same search, and neither is wrong. The mechanism is covered in how Google ranks local businesses.
The two free reports that tell you almost everything
Your Business Profile performance report shows what people did after finding you. Google Search Console shows what your website was shown for and what got clicked. Both are free, both come straight from Google, and between them they answer most questions.
- Open your Business Profile performance report and note calls, direction requests, and website clicks for the last month.
- Compare that month against the same month last year, not against last month.
- Open Search Console and look at clicks, impressions, and the queries producing them.
- Check which pages earn the clicks — usually your service pages, not the home page.
- Write the four or five numbers down somewhere. Next month, do it again.
Why nobody can give you a benchmark
There is no published, reliable figure for what a healthy click-through rate or review velocity looks like in your category and town. Numbers vary enormously by industry, competition and population, and the honest answer is that your own trend is the benchmark.
This is worth knowing because benchmark-shaped numbers get quoted at business owners constantly. If someone tells you the average local business gets a specific conversion rate, ask where the figure comes from, which industry, which country, and what sample. Most of the time the answer does not survive that question.
Your own trend has none of those problems. It is measured on your business, in your town, in your category, by Google.
What genuinely cannot be measured right now
AI search visibility cannot be isolated. Google folds AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic into the Web search type in Search Console with no separate breakout, so any report claiming to show your AI traffic is inferring it rather than measuring it.
None of the major AI platforms offers a business-facing analytics product either — no claim process, no dashboard, no impressions report. If a provider shows you an AI visibility score, ask precisely how it was produced before you treat it as a measurement.
What to check when the numbers fall
A drop is not automatically a penalty. Check whether the profile is suspended, whether the search results page changed shape, whether the drop is limited to specific keywords, and whether anything about your own listing changed recently.
- ☐ Confirm the profile is still verified and not suspended
- ☐ Check whether the drop affects all queries or only a few
- ☐ Look for a change in the results page itself — more ads, a different layout
- ☐ Review any edits made to the profile in the weeks before the drop
- ☐ Check whether a competitor closer to the searcher recently appeared or reopened
Work through those before spending anything. A suspension or an accidental address change explains more sudden drops than algorithm updates do, and both are free to fix — the ordered version is in the full diagnostic.
What to ask whoever reports to you
Ask for actions rather than positions, ask which numbers come directly from Google, and ask what would count as failure. A provider who cannot describe a result that would mean the work is not working has not defined success either.
- Which of these numbers come straight from Google, and which are from your own tool?
- What were these same numbers this month last year?
- How many enquiries did the work produce, not how many impressions?
- What would tell us in three months that this is not working?
That last question is the one that matters. Our own position on it is published: rankings are never guaranteed, because no honest company can guarantee them, and Google states plainly that no ranking can be requested or paid for. The same standard applies when checking a provider's reviews and case studies.
Frequently asked questions
How long before local SEO shows results?
Profile changes such as categories and services can show movement within days. Reviews, content and authority build over months. Compare against the same month last year rather than last month, because most local demand is seasonal and month-over-month comparisons mislead in both directions.
What is the best metric for local SEO?
Actions taken, not positions held. Calls, direction requests, website clicks from your profile, and enquiries you can trace back to search are countable and tied to revenue. Ranking position varies with the searcher's location, so a single position number is unreliable.
Why do I rank differently than my customer sees?
Because distance from the searcher is one of the three factors Google names, results legitimately differ by location. You are also usually signed in, which changes what you see. Always check signed out, and treat any single ranking number as one sample rather than the truth.
Can I measure whether AI search is sending me traffic?
Not with current tools. Google folds AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic into the Web search type in Search Console, with no separate breakout, and no major AI platform offers business analytics. Reports claiming to show AI traffic are inferring it rather than measuring it.
My rankings dropped suddenly. What should I check first?
Check whether the profile is suspended or lost verification, whether the drop affects everything or only some queries, whether the results page layout changed, and whether anyone edited the profile recently. Suspensions and accidental edits explain more sudden drops than algorithm updates.
What reports should my SEO provider be sending me?
Actions from your Business Profile and clicks, impressions and queries from Search Console, both compared year over year, plus enquiries produced. Ask which figures come directly from Google and which come from the provider's own tool, and ask what would count as failure.
Sources
See our local SEO service — reported in plain language — actions and enquiries compared year over year, with no ranking guarantees and no vanity metrics.