How to beat your competition and master local SEO keyword research
So, you ‘re looking through the analytics of your website and you notice that you’re not ranking for local keywords. You could say that local keywords aren’t that important to you. “I rate with my broad categories of keywords. How do I need to think about the keywords locally?
Because you have local customers.
We at Finsbury Media want to see you achieve victory over your local competitors. We’ll introduce you to local keyword tools so that you can start carrying out your own local keyword research.
Why local keywords are good
Regional keywords at first glance appear like dead ends in low volume. Typically the keyword tools don’t give them extremely accurate data. Local keywords represent more limited searches than high-volume keywords and they represent consumers who are more likely to purchase. The path to success over the local rivals may be to conquer certain particular keyword niches.
Consider if someone lives in Brooklyn and is looking to buy a new bicycle.
They’ll probably start with ‘where to buy bicycles in New York’, ‘bargain bicycles shops in New York’, ‘’bicycle shops’, or ‘where to buy a bicycle’ just to see what pops up. Although, if they were to live specifically in Bushwick, they’ll eventually narrow their search queries with location signals such as ‘bicycles for sale in Bushwick’ (and other nearby neighborhoods) as they do their research to compare models and pricing. If you are using the right local SEO keyword research tools, you can find these local keywords and rank for these “long-tail keywords” in that area.
Local keywords are usually also long-tail keywords. They are called “long-tail keywords” because they are not searched at high volumes individually but, as a whole, make up the majority of the searches done online.
These are low-volume keywords that represent buyers who are further down the buying funnel. As such, these customers are more targeted and can be found more easily with long-tail keywords, as opposed to more generic ones. Customers are more qualified and are more prepared to buy. Examples of long-tail keyword phrases are searches like ‘best bicycle bargains in Flatbush’. Local keyword tools can help you find long-tail keywords for local businesses in your niche.
The Importance of long-tail keywords for local businesses
If you the run an agnostic location business (for example , various types of e-commerce businesses, such as Amazon, sell to national customers), local keyword research is still relevant. Long-tail keywords that rank higher for your niche for local businesses will allow you to build content that targets those locations.
How do I start local keyword research?
There are some great, free local search tools out there that will help you find long-tail keywords for local businesses:
Google Trends
For a variety of reasons, Google Trends is an outstanding local keyword analysis tool, but the lesson here is that you can take a common term and see how it behaves per area. In there you can drill down and change your SEO content strategy to target rich regions in quest.
Keywords Everywhere is a great Chrome plugin that does your keyword searching for you! We love this local search tool.
The plugin lists keywords which are linked to what you enter in a regular quest. It also pulls data on length, CPC, and competitor, to the right instead of the information graph. This local keyword tool, when doing keyword analysis, is an amazing time-saver.
Answer The Public
A website designed originally for use by PR professionals, Answerthepublic.com takes a keyword phrase and breaks it down into a mind map of related keyword phrases. While local searching can only be done with the pro version, the free tool still gives great info regarding how keyword searches branch out on the search engines. Further, the site gives monthly volume and CPC. This can all be downloaded via CSV, which makes this a great local keyword research tool.
Google Autocomplete, Google Maps, and Google My Business
Google’s autocomplete functionality recommends various combinations to users on what they might be looking for to make a better user experience. Finsbury finds this important, because it reveals the true intent of the searcher to advertisers. When browsers type ‘Bicycle in Brooklyn,’ for example , Google can show additional long-tail terms that can further improve your research, providing valuable insights.
In addition, seeing what geographical areas Google references in a search and keeping a list of Google Maps neighborhoods can also help. Using these insights, you can find the areas of interest to Google and optimize not only relevant pages on your site but also your Google My Business entry. Having Google My Business set up should be your first step in a Local SEO strategy. You want to make sure that you have a fully filled out GMB listing in order to appear in the mapstack and draw in more traffic for that specific term.
How can I get started with local keyword research?
Keyword research involves knowing your customers, the market, your competitors, as well as creating a customer journey funnel that describes the experience ― from the first touch to final sale. This thread from Moz suggests that you use your tools to conduct basic keyword research and discover what local keywords you rank for in your geographical niche.
Where can I get my local keyword research questions answered?
We at Finsbury Media SEO want to help you win the fight over the local keywords. Searchers are knowledgeable, constantly using the local search words to locate the businesses and resources they need. If you have any concerns about local SEO resources, local search tools or long-tail keywords, contact us. We would love to discuss local SEO keyword research with you and to answer your local keyword questions.