Local SEO forums and communities are prevalent across the internet and social media, but when you’ve got a question, it can be hard to know where to turn.
On Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ a quick search will come up with plenty of options, but sifting through to find the regularly updated places that real experts frequent is a bigger job.
We set out to find the best forums and communities out there for local SEO advice and insights. To do this, we compiled a list of the most regularly updated sources of local SEO chat, and put these to our users to vote on their most frequented, as well as to share any we might have missed.
We found that while LinkedIn and Facebook are the places to go for advice for many industries, Google+ is the clear leader among our users for local search marketing insights. Perhaps surprisingly, there were no recommendations for regularly updated and useful LinkedIn groups.
If you’ve got any communities you regularly visit, please let us know in the comments below.
We received 643 answers from 228 respondents – thank you to everyone who shared their favorites.
Membership numbers are rounded and last updated 2/26/18.
Best Local SEO Forums & Communities
Local Search Forums & Communities
- Local Search
- Local Search Pros
- Moz Local Strategy Forum
- Google My Business Community
- Local Search Forum
- Local SEO News
- BlackHatWorld
- Local SEO Master Mind
- r/LocalSEO
- Small Business Brief
Local Search
Type: Google+ community
Members: 1,800+
About: The Local Search community on Google+ is the most popular location for our users, with 45% saying they regularly visit it.
Local Search focuses on “Local search marketing and local SEO news, resources, and discussions,” led by Max Minzer, Phil Rozek, and Mark Goho. As well as being a great place to get search-related questions answered by experts, members often post key industry news.
The community is for both marketers, and business owners – but make note of their limitations on self-promotion.
Local Search Pros
Type: Google+ community
Members: 750+
About: Local Search Pros is regularly visited by 44% of BrightLocal users. This Google+ community is an extension of the Local Search Forum, led by Linda Buquet.
The community provides “Local search tips, news and support for local search professionals.” Posts are questions between local SEO pros, and shares of data-led content and case studies.
Membership is only open to local search professionals, and not business owners or the public. Non-members can, however, read posts.
Moz Local Strategy Forum
Type: Forum
Members: –
About: The Local Strategy category in Moz’s Q&A forum allows users to put questions to the Moz Community.
Questions tend to be focused on specific challenges posters are looking to solve, and answered by other members of the community. Posts tend not to get many responses each, and focus more on providing answers than broad discussions.
To post or answer questions, you need to have a Moz Pro account – but you can read responses as a non-member.
Google My Business Community
Type: Forum
Members: –
About: The official Google My Business community allows business owners to connect with SEO experts.
Discussion sections range from articles, news, basics, and multi-location businesses, and allow businesses to get their questions on GMB answered quickly by expert contributors.
Questions are regularly answered by Top Contributors – local experts who contribute very frequently to the forum. This buzzing, busy community sees multiple questions answered per day, so can be a great place to start with any GMB-related queries.
Local Search Forum
Type: Forum
Members: 3,800+
About: Linda Buquet’s Local Search Forum is frequently visited by 29% of our users. The forum provides a space for local employees and search consultants alike to discuss all things local SEO – with multiple different forums for all your local queries and discussions.
Like with the other most popular local communities, you’ll see familiar faces popping up to answer questions on a regular basis. In February 2018, the forum announced their updated newsletter – a great way to track the challenges that are happening in the industry today.
Local SEO News
Type: Google+ community
Members: 13,500+
About: The third Google+ community on our Top Ten is LocalMarketingVoice’s ‘Local SEO News’, favored by 29% of our users. It focuses on ideas, tips, and strategies – and does not allow salesy or self-promotional contributions.
Local SEO News isn’t the most active community on our list, so if you want immediate answers it may be worth looking elsewhere.
The community is open to both business owners and local SEO experts.
BlackHatWorld
Type: Forum
Members: –
About: BlackHatWorld is well-known in the SEO industry, but it is less famous as a source of local SEO chat. Their Local SEO forum is open to all, and frequented by local business owners and local SEOs with questions.
The forum allows users to share ideas and ask advice from other members – focusing on both black-hat and white-hat techniques. But do your research before implementing changes based on advice here, as black-hat techniques could have negative effects on rankings now or in the future.
Local SEO Master Mind
Type: Facebook group
Members: 950+
About: Despite the multitude of local search groups on Facebook, there aren’t many that are frequently updated.
Local SEO Master Mind is favored by 14% of our users. This private group allows marketers to discuss local strategies and share questions. This is a great group for beginners to ask simple questions and receive comprehensive answers.
Poll respondents also recommended the Facebook groups Local Client Takeover and Offline Sharks.
r/LocalSEO
Type: Subreddit (Reddit)
Members: 400+
About: Reddit can be useful to keep up with the latest marketing trends, so it’s no surprise 12% of our users regularly visit the LocalSEO subreddit.
This isn’t the most active community out there, but it can be a good place to anonymously post queries and content. But, as with most of Reddit, users tend to dislike self-promotional posts – so be mindful that your posts will need to benefit the rest of the community. If you’re a regular redditor, make sure to also subscribe to /r/SEO and /r/marketing = broader, but more active communities.
Small Business Brief
Type: Forum
Members: 100,000+
About: 11% of the users in our poll recommended Small Business Brief. This forum is more of a general community for small businesses to share ideas and ask questions than some of the other, more local-SEO-focused places on our list – but it’s still a great place for marketing advice.
There are a number of forums on Small Business Brief worth watching – including Search Engine Optimization, General Search Engine Marketing Information, Link Development, and Local Marketing. Questions tend to receive multiple answers, so this active community allows business owners to get a range of answers from those in the know.
Thank you to everyone who shared their favorites.
If you’ve got any communities or forums you regularly visit that we’ve missed, let us know in the comments below!
