Small business owners, marketers, and agencies: if you want more local customers, you can’t ignore your SEO. Ranking high on Google Maps or “near me” searches means more foot traffic and real leads—not just website visits. There’s no magic bullet, but there are tools that help you see what’s broken and what you can fix fast. That’s where Woorank comes in. This guide is for anyone who wants to use Woorank to actually move the needle for their local business, not just tick boxes on some audit.
Let’s strip away the hype and get straight to what works.
1. Get Set Up: Start With a Real Audit
First step: sign up and run a report for your main website. Woorank’s free trial lets you see enough to know if it’s worth your money. Don’t get distracted by every suggestion—focus on what matters for local SEO.
What matters: - Your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are visible and correct. - You’ve got a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and it’s linked. - There’s clear info about your location and service area. - Your site loads fast—especially on mobile.
Ignore for now: - Social media “scores” (these rarely move the needle for local SEO). - Fancy keyword density charts.
Pro tip: Woorank can overwhelm you with info. Start with the Local SEO section, then branch out.
2. Nail Your NAP Consistency
Google wants to see your NAP info (Name, Address, Phone) consistent everywhere. Even a tiny mismatch—like “St.” vs. “Street”—can kill your credibility.
How Woorank helps: - Shows where your NAP info appears on your site. - Flags missing address or phone fields. - Highlights errors in schema markup (the “LocalBusiness” stuff search engines read).
What to do: - Make sure your contact page, footer, and homepage all match—down to punctuation. - Update your schema markup if Woorank says it’s missing or malformed. - Check your Google Business Profile and main citations (Yelp, Facebook, Bing) for the same info.
What not to sweat: - “Citation score” numbers. Just focus on the big directories and your own website.
3. Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Woorank will remind you if you’re missing a Google Business Profile. That’s not just a box to tick—it’s often the first thing people see.
How Woorank helps: - Flags if your profile isn’t linked or isn’t found. - Reminds you to complete key fields.
What to fix: - Add your main categories and as many relevant sub-categories as fit. - Write a real business description—no keyword stuffing. - Upload photos that actually show your storefront, team, or products.
What to ignore: - Over-optimizing with keywords in every field. Google’s smarter than that.
Pro tip: Woorank can’t edit your profile for you, but it will warn you if you’re missing basics.
4. Speed, Mobile, and User Experience
Local customers are impatient. If your site loads slowly, they’ll bounce. Woorank’s technical report puts this front and center.
Check these with Woorank: - Page load speed (especially on mobile) - Mobile friendliness (does your site squish or break on small screens?) - Broken links or missing pages
How to fix: - Compress images. Use WebP if you can. - Use fewer pop-ups and fancy sliders—they usually slow things down. - If your site’s on WordPress, use a simple, fast theme and a caching plugin.
Don’t obsess over: - Perfect “100” scores. Get into the green and move on.
5. Local Keyword Research That Isn’t a Waste of Time
Woorank shows what keywords you rank for, but don’t get lost in endless lists.
What actually helps: - Find keywords with your city or neighborhood in them (e.g., “plumber in Boise”). - See what your real competitors rank for—Woorank can show you a few, but sometimes free tools like Google’s “People Also Ask” box are just as good.
How to use Woorank: - Pull the list of current ranking keywords. - Spot gaps: are you missing obvious local phrases?
Action step: - Add those local phrases naturally to your homepage, service pages, and meta tags.
Skip: - Chasing high-volume global keywords. You want local intent, not random traffic.
6. Track Your Progress (Without Losing Your Mind)
Woorank lets you track keywords and see how your rankings move over time. The trick is to keep this simple.
How to do it: - Pick 5–10 “money” keywords—these should be your main services + your city/area. - Set a monthly reminder to check your rankings. Don’t obsess daily. - Watch for real improvements: more calls, more visits, not just better charts.
What to ignore: - Obsessing over tiny ranking jumps. Focus on trends over months, not days.
7. Keep Your Citations Clean
Woorank will try to score your “citation profile,” but don’t overthink it. You want to make sure the big directories (Google, Yelp, Facebook, Bing, Apple Maps) all have the right info.
How to use Woorank: - Use their list to spot missing or inconsistent listings. - Fix the big ones first—don’t worry about obscure directories.
Pro tip: If you’ve moved locations, hunt down old listings and get them fixed or deleted.
8. Reviews: Get Them, Respond to Them, Don’t Fake Them
Woorank will tell you if you’re missing reviews or not responding. This is simple but powerful:
What to do: - Ask happy customers to leave a Google review. Make it easy—email or text them a link. - Respond to every review, good or bad, politely. - Use reviews on your website (Woorank will flag if you’re missing a “testimonials” section).
What not to do: - Never buy fake reviews. Google’s getting better at spotting these, and it’s not worth the risk. - Don’t panic over the odd bad review—just respond like a human.
9. Local Content That Actually Helps
Woorank may give you a “content score.” Here’s what matters for local:
- Write about local events, partnerships, or news.
- Create location pages if you serve multiple areas (but don’t just copy-paste).
- Use real photos and customer stories.
Don’t waste energy on: - Churning out generic blog posts just to fill space. - Obsessing over keyword counts.
What Woorank Won’t Do (and What to Watch Out For)
Let’s be clear: Woorank is a tool, not a magic wand. It won’t:
- Build citations for you (it just shows what’s missing).
- Write content or get real reviews.
- Know your business or customers as well as you do.
Some of its recommendations are just filler—don’t feel bad ignoring them. Focus on the stuff that makes your business more findable, trustworthy, and easy to contact.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Get Stuck
Local SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Use Woorank to spot the big issues, fix them, and check in once a month. Don’t let yourself get lost in endless audits or perfect scores. The goal is more real customers, not just better charts.
Stay focused, keep your info accurate, and make it easy for locals to find and trust you. The rest? Nice-to-haves.