---
title: "How to Use Semrush for Local SEO in 2026: Step-by-Step Guide"
date: "2026-08-25"
meta_description: "Learn how to use Semrush for local SEO with this step-by-step guide. Boost local rankings, track citations, and dominate your market in 2026."
tags: ["local seo", "semrush", "seo tools", "local search", "step-by-step guide"]
category: "reviews"
affiliate_links_used: ["semrush"]
---

How to Use Semrush for Local SEO in 2026: Step-by-Step Guide

Ranking in the Google Map Pack for a local business keyword can triple your phone calls within 30 days. I know because I ran this exact process for a landscaping client last spring, and that is exactly what happened. The tool that made it repeatable was Semrush.

This guide walks you through how to use Semrush for local SEO in 2026, step by step, with no filler and no vague advice.

What You Need Before Starting

You need a few things in place before you touch Semrush.

A Semrush account, at minimum the Pro plan ($139/month). The Guru plan unlocks multi-location tracking, which matters if you serve more than one city.
A verified Google Business Profile for your location.
Access to your website's Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4. Semrush pulls data faster when these are connected.
A list of 5 to 10 competitor businesses you already know rank locally. You will use these in step two.

If you are writing local content to support your SEO strategy, I use Jasper to draft location pages fast and Surfer to optimize them before publishing. Both integrate well into this workflow.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Step 1: Set Up a Local SEO Project (10 minutes)

Log into Semrush and click "Projects" in the left sidebar. Create a new project and enter your business domain. Once the project loads, navigate to "Position Tracking" inside the project dashboard.

Set your target location to the city or zip code you want to rank in. This is critical. National tracking will hide your actual local performance. Enter your target keywords manually, starting with your core service plus city name (example: "plumber Austin TX").

Enable the "Google Maps" toggle inside Position Tracking. This separates your organic rankings from your local pack rankings, and you need to see both.

Step 2: Run a Competitor Analysis with Domain Overview (15 minutes)

Go to the top search bar and type in a competitor's domain. Click "Domain Overview" and set the location filter to your target country and city where available. Look at their top organic keywords and filter by keywords containing your city name or nearby neighborhoods.

Export that list. Do this for at least three competitors. You will start to see patterns in which local keyword phrases are driving traffic across all of them.

These are the gaps you will target first. Not the hardest keywords, the ones your competitors rank for that you do not yet.

Step 3: Use Keyword Magic Tool for Local Keyword Research (20 minutes)

Open the Keyword Magic Tool from the left sidebar. Type your core service keyword (no city yet). Then use the "Include" filter to add your city name, zip code, or neighborhood.

Sort results by keyword difficulty (KD%). Focus on keywords with KD under 40 for a new or low-authority site. Filter for keywords with at least 50 monthly searches in your area.

Group the final list into clusters: service keywords, neighborhood keywords, and "near me" keywords. You will build separate pages or sections for each cluster.

Step 4: Audit Your Google Business Profile with Listing Management (10 minutes)

Inside your Semrush project, open the "Listing Management" tool. Connect your Google Business Profile if you have not already. Semrush will scan your Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) consistency across dozens of directories automatically.

Fix every inconsistency it flags. A mismatched phone number on Yelp versus your website is enough to suppress your local rankings. This tool saves hours compared to doing directory audits manually.

Semrush also shows your average star rating and suggests directories where you should be listed but are not.

Step 5: Track Local Rankings Weekly (5 minutes, then ongoing)

Go back to Position Tracking and set it to update weekly. Create a custom report that shows your local pack position, your organic position, and your estimated traffic for each keyword.

Set up automated email reports so you receive this every Monday. You want to catch ranking drops before they become problems, not after a client calls asking why the phone stopped ringing.

If rankings drop for a cluster, that is your signal to update the page, build more local citations, or check if a competitor just launched a new page.

Step 6: Use On-Page SEO Checker for Local Page Optimization (15 minutes)

Open "On-Page SEO Checker" from the project dashboard. Let it scan your site and then filter recommendations by the local keywords you identified in Step 3.

It will show you exactly what to fix on each page, title tag issues, missing structured data, thin content, and internal linking gaps. I treat this report as my editorial calendar for the next two weeks.

For writing the actual content fixes, Copy.ai handles short-form edits and meta descriptions fast. For longer location pages, Writesonic produces solid first drafts I can refine in under 20 minutes.

Quick Reference Table

Step	Action	Time Needed
1	Set up Position Tracking with local city target	10 minutes
2	Run competitor domain analysis for keyword gaps	15 minutes
3	Build local keyword clusters using Keyword Magic Tool	20 minutes
4	Audit NAP consistency with Listing Management	10 minutes
5	Set up weekly rank tracking with automated reports	5 minutes
6	Fix on-page issues using On-Page SEO Checker	15 minutes

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Tracking the wrong location. Setting Position Tracking to a country instead of a city gives you useless data. Always set it to the specific city or zip code where your customers actually search.

Ignoring the Google Maps toggle. Organic rankings and local pack rankings are different things. A business can rank on page one organically and still be invisible in the Map Pack. You need to track both separately.

Treating Listing Management as optional. Most local businesses have at least five NAP inconsistencies across directories. Every inconsistency is a signal to Google that your business information is unreliable. Fix them all, not just the obvious ones.

Doing keyword research once. Local search intent shifts with seasons, new competitors, and Google algorithm updates. Run your Keyword Magic Tool analysis every quarter, not just when you first set up the project.

Building one generic location page. A single "Service + City" page is not enough in competitive markets. You need neighborhood-level pages, service-specific pages, and FAQ content that targets long-tail local queries.

Pro Tips

Use the Backlink Gap tool for local link building. Enter your domain alongside three local competitors and look for referring domains that link to all of them but not you. These are local directories, chamber of commerce sites, and regional publications that are clearly willing to link to businesses like yours.

Connect Semrush to Google Search Console. Once connected, Semrush overlays GSC click data onto your keyword tracking. You can see which local keywords get impressions but low clicks, meaning your listing title or meta description is the problem, not your ranking.

Create a Semrush report for your clients or your own records. The custom PDF reports look professional and take two minutes to generate. Sending a weekly ranking report builds trust and makes your wins visible. Most clients do not notice a ranking improvement unless you show them the numbers.

Pair Semrush data with Surfer for content optimization. Surfer tells you what to include in a page to match the top-ranking results. Semrush tells you which keywords to target. Using both together is significantly more effective than using either alone.

Check your local competitors' new pages monthly. In the Competitor Analysis section, set up alerts for competitor domains. When a competitor publishes a new location page or service page, you will know within days and can respond before they build authority on that page.

Bottom Line

Semrush is the most complete tool I have used for local SEO, and the investment pays for itself if you follow a consistent process. The businesses that rank in the Map Pack are not doing anything magical. They have clean business profiles, consistent citations, optimized local pages, and they track their rankings every week.

This six-step process covers all of that. Run through it once to set everything up, then spend 30 minutes weekly reviewing your tracking data and fixing what the tools flag. That is the entire system. It is not complicated. It just has to be done consistently.