Local SEO questions

[eastco]

Been getting into Local SEO a bit but still not completely up to speed on a few things. Would appreciate any input by experienced local SEO's to any parts of this:

Ill ask my broader questions within the context of an example. I have a client who is a part of a keyword niche that isn't exactly what Google might consider "local". What i mean by this is that if you are a car accident lawyer and you type this into Google Google with spit out local results because it seems to know which terms are searched for with intent to find local results.

This client makes essentially medical form software which I dont get any local results for when I search for their keywords. But they do have a local focus as in they have an address in a city which is a target market. The client told me they are looking to target other markets nationally as well down the road. However they don't have brick and mortar locations for these other cities so I am under the impression that it wouldn't be something we could target locally.

This brings up a strange question in my mind though - if you need an address for a physical location  for each city you want target...if you want to target the whole country locally, you would need to have a location in every city? Is there any way to target local focus without purchasing a new office in every city you target? Or can you target a state with one office etc or is Google bond things down to cities or understood regions? Does it sound like this company should even be doing local?

The last part to this is whether or not there is any way (tool?) to figure out what local areas are searching for you keywords? Why doesn't Google allow us to use the Keyword Search Tool to see traffic etc for more than just a nation or the globe? What I would love to see is, which cities get the most traffic for X keyword term and have the lowest competition. Then it might justify having to buy some Regis office in a random location. I feel like this doesn't exist but maybe some of you have some ideas to direct me...

[VMLYRDiscoverability]

Does anybody have examples of a restaurant chain that is doing local SEO effectively?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Eastco,

Good discussion going here. Of first importance: you must determine whether your client truly qualifies for local inclusion. From your description, this isn't totally clear to me. Can you answer yes to all of these 3 points about the client:

1. Has a unique physical address in the city of location (not a shared address, not a P.O. Box, not a virtual office).

2. Has a unique local area code phone number in the city of location (not a share number, not an toll free number)

3. Has in-person transactions with its clients, either at the location (like a restaurant) or at the clients' locations (like a plumber).

If the client doesn't meet all 3 of these criteria, he doesn't qualify for inclusion in the eyes of Google. As you've mentioned your client develops software, the question naturally arises as to whether the business meets face-to-face with its clientele or if the business model is solely virtual.

So, that's step one - to determine qualifications for local inclusion.

On to your second question regarding wishing to target a whole country - yes, you would need a physical office (and all of the 3 above criteria) for each location you wish to target. McDonald's would be a good example of this. Obviously, they have a national (and international presence) but they also have a physical presence in countless cities across the nation. So, you'd have to approach it like that.

Regarding your third question, there has never been a keyword research tool that offers accurate data about local keyword searches. Local SEOs typically do their research by searching without geo modifiers and then adding the geo terms back into their list of discovered product/service/brand terms. That being said, Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends/) does offer you some ability to play around with location settings, but the accuracy of the data is going to have to be seen as relative rather than black-and-white.

Hope this helps!

[BlueprintMarketing]

I would definitely include the regions where you are located. In the text but do not go over 5% of your text with one keyword phrase if you do Google will penalize you.  I think what you just said is right on the money if you do a well-rounded campaign including local and national search engine optimization you will build up authority and have a site that converts quickly.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[eastco]

Thanks for the help, but I am already very familiar with regular SEO practices. (good resources though )Just trying to get my head around the specifics of how certain aspects of local. What you said above makes a lot of sense. So pretty much if I am mounting a good SEo campaign in general it is still a good idea to add in that local focus for the area which they have an address.

Im thinking what makes the most sense is this case is using their address in Erie and using the term "Western PA" to denote a regional focus across the text. Anyone have a nay or yay vote for this?

[BlueprintMarketing]

Check out http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

I hope I have been of help.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[BlueprintMarketing]

"But we still need a location everywhere we want to focus???"

No you do not

[BlueprintMarketing]

yes local SEO is always worth doing is 90% of what is in your area. If you look at it like this you have a headquarters somewhere in the United States. You will have a much higher rank in that area if you follow local SEO best practices.

It sounds like your business is not really something that revolves around local search engine optimization and that you should focus on not only local which everyone should but regular search engine optimization as well. You have to know how many links you have a whole bunch of things if you give me the URL I can give you a profile. However you are a pro member therefore you have access to the software if you run the URL to a campaign you will get a ton of new information.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[eastco]

Maybe it is an incorrect assumption that 7-pack results are what we are after primarily for local SEO. I suppose what it would do would be to give us an advantage if the searcher is in the location of our focus...But we still need a location everywhere we want to focus???

[eastco]

These are all great tips on how to perform local SEO, however my biggest question is really around the keywords and the local listing process.

1 - in order to get most local listings you need an address to verify. You can't possibly be expected to do this for every location you want to target locally can you?  (Bryan - As far as I am aware you can no longer sign up for a Google places account correct? Its all Google + Local? )

2 - Is it even worth doing local SEO or is it even possible if your keywords do not lend themselves to a local focus in the SERP? ( Ex. car accident lawyer is a local "tinted" keyword you will get the 7pack because people need lawyers near them. One of our keywords "patient intake forms" will never probably yield a 7 pack. ) But they still want to target a local area, does this make sense?

[eastco]

Thanks for your input. Would it change the equation if it turns out they actually are looking to do everything remotely and do not want local traffic to their address? I clarified a few things and it turns out they have a location for various internal things but arent actually taking sales or anything at the local address. Local SEO still valuable?

[BlueprintMarketing]

yes the best way to do it is to shoot for the areas you care about most by the relevancy and text meeting place text in your website stating we are in this state and/or town. However if you optimize the site correctly you should do it so that you encompass the entire United States. This is tough to tell you if it will be easy not I don't know what the keywords you are trying to rank for our. If it's medical software you will have a tough time but it is achievable you can rank very high for anything you want if you put the time and effort into it. If you make it so that  your site caters to people already searching for what you sell but say it's an MRI machine you will have a much easier time than simply medical software. Remember when people type into Google they tend to type long tail keywords meeting a more descriptive text placed into Google before searching. I strongly recommend optimizing your site for the keywords most relevant to your company's niche  this will make it much more effective than simply medical software because there are so many you could get people calling you out of the blue for things that you don't even provide.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[Bryan_Loconto]

WIthin your Google Places account you should be able to place all the zip codes/areas that you provide service in, I should not be limited to one area.

The key to getting a higher placement is NPA (Name Phone-Number Address) citations.

Getting listed in all the major relevant to your niche directorys and making sure that the pages are easily crawlable.

Its also beneficial to have you NPA on the footer of your site.

[eastco]

That is part of the problem, they have target markets but they don't have locations in those markets. They are located in Pittsburgh, however they have a location in Erie and  would like to target other regions like NY. I believe they receive at least part of their clients to their office. Im not sure how well Google related Erie PA tp Pittburgh, but could they simply optimize their site for Pittsburgh with an address in Erie and then they would show up in national results everywhere else?

[BlueprintMarketing]

you may also find just as good if not better information here however this is some relevant easy to understand info about local search engine optimization http://www.localseoguide.com/

[BlueprintMarketing]

is there only one city that is the target market? Definitely use the address available in the target market and make a Google places account put the URL and the company name on that address. Via Google places also use Yellow Pages, Bing & Yahoo

when writing your text you need to place keywords relevant to the area that you are trying to target into your text content.

If the keyword that you are searching for using Google ad words is being searched enough it will definitely show up regionally even the exact state or ZIP code sometimes. You may also want to look into using http://www.semrush.com/

I hope I have been some help to you.

Sincerely,

Thomas