Dominate Local Search: The Ultimate Guide to Semrush Local

Did you know that 46% of all search users are looking for local businesses? (Source)

Whether it’s finding a new restaurant for dinner or a reliable mechanic to fix their car, people are increasingly searching for nearby businesses and activities. 

Since so many people search online to find local businesses (almost half!), it’s important for those businesses to be easily found online.

But here’s the thing: getting your business found in local searches is NOT easy. Why? There’s a lot of competition in almost every industry. So, if you’re struggling to attract potential customers in your area, don’t worry – there’s a HANDY tool for you: Semrush Local.

Semrush is the most popular SEO toolkit in the world, and it is used by over 10 million people. It offers a powerful tool called “Semrush Local,” which can be your secret weapon for getting found online.

In this post, let’s discuss using Semrush Local to dominate local searches. Are you ready? Let’s get started.

How Semrush Local Can Improve Your Local SEO in 4 Easy Steps

1. Manage Your Online Listings Across 150+ Directories

You should get your business listed in top directories if you’re running a local business.

Online listing directories can help consumers find what they are looking for. For example, if someone needs help with plumbing, they’ll search the online directory with the keyword ‘plumbing services’.

By getting listed in these directories, you’re increasing your chances of being discovered by the RIGHT people interested in your products/services.

However, finding spam-free and reputed directories can be challenging. Semrush Local comes in handy here, as it distributes your business info to over 150 high-quality directories.

Semrush offers a tool called “Listing Management,” which distributes your business data, including business name, address, and phone automatically to 150+ directories in the following regions;

• North America
• South America
• Oceania
• Europe
• Asia
• Africa

To list your business, go to Semrush and navigate to Listing Management, which is under the “Local” toolkit.

Now, enter the specific location name you want to set up. You’ll see an overview of your business’s online presence. 

Here’s an example business;

Click the “Continue setup” button.

You can choose either:

• Connect your Google Business Profile (GBP) to automatically import information.
• Manually fill in your business details, including address, phone number, and categories.

Make sure to double-check the information for accuracy before clicking “Start distributing info.”

Once it’s done, Semrush will verify your submission, which can usually take up to 3 days, and distribute your business information to the supported directories.

Above all, the listing management tool also helps you easily deal with it as it automatically searches for duplicate listings across directories and allows you to suppress them with a single click, saving you lots of time and effort.

Try Semrush Local Now

2. Track Your Local Map Rankings Accurately

Want to easily track your position in local search results for keywords relevant to your business?

Then, you need a map ranking tracker.

Fortunately, Semrush Local offers a tracking tool called “Map Rank Tracker” which helps you see exactly where your business shows up in local searches, like on Google Maps.

Here are some of the major features of Map Rank Tracker tool from Semrush;

• Track your keyword ranking progress 
• The ability to track and monitor your local competition in real-time
• Set your map grid size and distance so you can track how far you want people to be able to find you online
• Works flawlessly for all types of businesses, including service area businesses
• Works in any country around the world

To use this tool, follow these 3 simple steps;

#1. Enter your business location and type your business name.

#2. Pick a search term that describes your local business, something like “best pastries” or “fresh pasta near me.”

Quick note: You can add up to 100 keywords for a campaign. Also, the tool offers AI-based recommendations that are highly relevant to your local business.

#3. Choose how big of an area you want to track (using pins)

Once you provide this info, the Map Rank Tracker creates a heatmap report showing how you rank in different parts of your chosen search area.  

Here’s what it looks like;

As you can see, you’ll get a real-time snapshot of your local search visibility based on the rank distribution.

3. Generate Automated Responses to Online Reviews

Once your local business attracts potential customers, you’ll get lots of reviews. 

Some of those reviews will be good, neutral, or bad.

What’s the BEST thing you can do as a local business owner?

You should respond to most customer reviews. Responding to user reviews shows that you care about your customers, which builds a better brand that attracts long-lasting customers.

Monitoring and responding to user reviews becomes difficult when your local business is listed in many online directories and review sites. Here’s where a reputation management tool comes in handy.

Semrush offers an excellent tool called the “Review Management tool,” which lets you monitor all available reviews of your listing in all directories.

Here’s what it looks like;

As you can see above, the tool will show an overall progress of your business review progress along with the average user rating. The review management tool from Semrush lets you respond to all the reviews from various directories. You can respond to all the reviews or sort the reviews by;

• Positive reviews (4 to 5 stars)
• Negative reviews (1 to 3 stars)
• Reviews without rating (such as on platforms like Tripadvisor, Facebook, etc)

The best part? Semrush review management tool lets you automatically generate drafts to respond to your customer reviews.

You can pick an unreplied review and click the “Generate Draft” button to automatically respond to a customer review. You can manually edit it if you want. 

Here’s what it looks like;

See that? The review management tool is the ultimate solution for managing ALL your business reviews in one place and responding automatically to reviews.

You will also have the option to automatically generate AI replies to all the positive and negative reviews. That’s how you can save so much time responding to customer reviews.

4. Easily Manage Your Google Business Profile

Did you know that 60% of smartphone users have contacted a business directly using the search results? (Source: Think With Google)

That’s why your local business must be listed in Google Business Profile.

You can visit this page to create a free Business profile for your business on Google. It’s 100% free.

Once your business is listed in Google Business, you can connect it directly to the Semrush Local.

Semrush Local offers a handy tool called “Google Connector” that helps you manage your Google Business Profile directly within the Semrush platform.

Here are some of the benefits of the Semrush Local’s Google Connector;

• You can save a lot of time, as you can update your Google Business Profile information directly from the Semrush platform
• Google Business Profile Insights report allows you to analyze Google Maps views, Google search views, phone calls, etc.
• This tool connects all locations to Google all at once

Once you integrate it with Semush, you can quickly eliminate duplicates for all your locations in one place.

Here’s what it looks like;

As you can see above,  Semrush Local’s Google Connector allows you to compare your current performance to past periods (year, quarter, or month). That’s how you can easily monitor your local business’s long-term progress and identify KEY areas for improvement.

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Semrush Local Pricing: How Much Does It Cost?

First things first: do you need to purchase any Semrush plan to use its local tools?

No.

You can buy Semrush Local in two ways;

• As an extra addon to your existing Semrush subscription: If you already pay for Semrush, you can add Semrush Local starting at $20/mo.
• On its own: You can buy Semrush Local without needing the rest of Semrush.

Side Note: The regular Semrush pricing plans start at $139.95 per month, and you get access to all 55+ Semrush tools. You can also purchase Semrush Local if you just need local SEO tools.

That being said, Semrush Local offers two packages which are listed below.

1. Semrush Basic Local: This is the starter plan, which costs just $20 per month. You’ll get access to the following things.

• Spread your business info to over 70 listing websites where people search
• Make sure your info is the same everywhere by avoiding duplicates
• Track local rankings
• Manage your reviews
• Optimize for voice search

2. Semrush Premium Local: This plan costs you $40 per month and includes the following features:

• You’ll get all the features from the Basic Local plan
• Track your positions in Google Maps with Heatmap
• Respond to reviews directly from the Semrush user interface

Semrush Local also offers a free plan where you’ll get the basic things like;

• Audit five locations per day
• See your status in the top directories
• Check your average customer rating for all reviews

So what are you waiting for?

Try Semrush Local Today

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Do You Need Other Semrush Tools?

Besides Semrush Local, do you need access to other Semrush tools? 

As mentioned earlier, Semrush offers over 50 tools in its core package, including;

• Keyword magic tool
• Backlink analysis tool
• Site audit tool
• Position tracking tool
• Social media tools
• Traffic analytics and so on

The Semrush Local SEO tools are enough for most people, as it offers all the essential tools like;

• Listing management
• Review management
• Local ranking tracking

However, if you want a FULL set of tools to boost your local business growth, we recommend you try the Semrush free trial first.

You can use the following link to try their Pro account FREE for 14 days and see if it’s worth your money.

Try Semrush Pro for FREE Now! 

Here’s the bottom line: if your focus is purely on local SEO, Semrush Local might be sufficient. But if you want more SEO power, get both Semrush Local and the main Semrush product.

You can read our detailed review of Semrush if you want more details about their main product’s features.

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FAQs

Still looking for more information? Here are some of the commonly asked questions about Semrush and its local SEO tools.

Related Resources on Semrush:

• Semrush Affiliate Program Review
• Complete Semrsuh Success Story

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Final Thoughts on Semrush Local

From listing management to customer reviews to tracking local rankings – you can do everything with the Semrush local SEO tools.

They’re easy to use and offer an excellent interface to monitor your business reputation.

So, what are your thoughts on Semrush Local? Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments.