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How to Check Who Your Local SEO Competitors Are

Google search results showing local, national and directory SEO competitors

What Is a Local SEO Competitor?

A local SEO competitor is a website or business competing for visibility in the search results you want to appear in, for the same or closely related keywords and locations. It’s a search-based definition rather than purely a business one: the websites and businesses competing with you in Google aren’t necessarily the organisations you compete with for customers day to day.

Business Competitors vs Search Competitors

These two groups often overlap, but not always. A business you compete with for customers day to day might not appear anywhere on the search results you care about. Meanwhile, a directory, a national aggregator, or a company operating in a slightly different niche might occupy a ranking position for your exact target keyword and location, without being a business you’d otherwise think to track.

That distinction matters: your real-world competitors and your search competitors aren’t necessarily the same organisations. Checking the actual SERPs for your target keywords shows you who you’re competing against in search, rather than relying on who you already assume the competition to be.

How to Find Who Ranks for Your Target Keywords

To find your search competitors, run the keyword and location combinations you’re targeting and look at who occupies the results, not just whether your own site or listing appears. A local rank checker lets you enter a keyword and a location, choose Organic or Maps, and see the results returned for that search, including the other websites and businesses ranking alongside you.

For example, checking “emergency plumber” in Southampton might return a mix of organic results and a separate set of Maps results, and the two lists aren’t necessarily made up of the same names.

Identify Your Organic Search Competitors

Organic results return web pages. Checking “emergency plumber” in Southampton for organic results might return something like:

  1. A local directory listing
  2. Local Plumber A
  3. A national plumbing company
  4. Local Plumber B
Each is competing for organic visibility for that keyword and location. A national company or directory can therefore be a genuine organic search competitor even if it isn’t a business you’d normally compete with for the job itself.

Identify Your Google Maps Competitors

Maps results return businesses rather than pages, and the list can look quite different. The same search for “emergency plumber” in Southampton might return Maps results such as:

  1. Plumber C
  2. Plumber A
  3. Plumber D

Plumber A appears in both lists, while Plumber C and Plumber D are Maps competitors without necessarily being organic competitors. Checking the two result types separately therefore shows you who you’re competing with in each part of the search results. Checking the two result types separately therefore shows you who you’re competing with in each part of the search results.

Look at the Pages That Actually Rank

Identifying the domain isn’t always enough. Open the actual ranking result to see which URL Google is returning for the query.

It might be:

  • the business homepage
  • a service page
  • a location page
  • a directory profile
  • another page specifically relevant to the search
With Maps results, you can open the business result instead. This lets you move quickly from identifying who ranks to examining what ranks.

Compare Competitors Across Different Locations

The competitors occupying a SERP can change from one location to the next, just like ranking positions do. This happens because Google rankings can change by location, even when the keyword and website remain the same.

Check the same keyword across several towns or locations within your service area. Keep the keyword and device the same. Change only the location. This shows whether the same competitors appear everywhere you operate, or whether different businesses and pages compete with you in different places.

What to Look for on Competing Pages

Once you’ve identified a ranking URL, look first at the type of page Google returned. Is it a homepage, service page, location page, directory profile or something else?

Then look at how closely the page addresses the search itself. For a local service query, that might include the service offered, geographic focus and the information available to someone deciding whether the result meets their needs.

This isn’t a complete competitor audit. It’s a quick way to understand the types of pages currently occupying the search results before carrying out deeper SEO analysis.

Check Your Local Search Competitors

The ServiceProSEO Local Rank Checker lets you check Organic or Google Maps results for a keyword and supported UK or US location. See which websites and businesses occupy the leading positions, then open individual results to investigate the pages and business listings that appear.

Your first three checks are free, with no sign-up or subscription required.

Check Your Local Search Competitors →