The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.
“Why is that business outranking mine?”
This has to be the commonest local search FAQ, and a worthwhile answer to it will always require real analysis.
Today, I’ll teach you to assess 50+ factors and provide you with a free, copyable spreadsheet[1] to fill out to help you discover how the business you’re marketing can reach the level of its top local competitor. I’ll provide an illustrated tutorial of each field in the sheet, and I’ll also cover how to use what you learn to create strategy, differentiation, and a philosophy for competition that exists within the positive framework of localism.
How to use the local business competitive audit spreadsheet
You’ll find four columns you can fill out within the sheet: one for the business you’re marketing, one for its competitor, one for wins, and one for notes.
Use the “wins” column like this: when both businesses are doing equally well for a specific factor, leave this column blank, but if one is doing better than the other, put their name in that column. This way, at the end of the audit, you can count up the wins of the winner and have a detailed record of which factors are likely to be giving them an advantage. Use the “notes” field to document interesting findings along the way.
Now you’re ready to begin with your copy of the spreadsheet, using the following as a key to each field:
Multi-sampled local finder rank
Your audit kicks off with these first, essential steps to orient yourself within a local market.
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Identify a keyword phrase for which you most want to achieve high local visibility. You