Best practice for targeting 'unnatural' location based keyword phrases
-
When optimising for a local based service, lets say a painter in texas, you will have various keyword phrases which are relevant e.g
Texas painter
Painter in Texas
Painter Texas
I have found that often the phrase which has the most searches is:
[Service] [Location] = ('Painter Texas' in this example)
But unlike the other phrases this is very hard to work into a natural sounding sentence or heading.
Is the best practice to try and target the unnatural sounding phrase anyway due to the higher search volume, or target the next one down to stay natural sounding in your copy?
thanks
d
-
I'm very much interested in this question as well.
Someone told me that small words such as 'in' are stop words and as such ignored by Google and that [painters texas] would be the same as [painters in texas].
But in that case, why does Google's keyword tool give such different exact results for these 2 phrases?
Anyone else got any input on this?
Thanks
-
Definitely go with natural syntax. Google can figure out what the page is about without having to sacrifice readability. In fact don't overdo it with the frequency - just having the phrases in the title tag and a couple of times on the page is plenty.
-
Thanks for your answers guys, but you have all focused on the anchor text of inbound links, whereas what I am really enquiring about is the on-page optimisation.
Specifically, optimising for a phrase like 'Painter Texas' which is hard to work into headings or body copy in a way that doesnt sound strange to humans reading it.
e.g:
Texas painter = "If you are looking for a texas painter, you have come to the right place!" - Fine
Painter in Texas = "People often call us the best painter in texas" - Fine
Painter Texas = ?????
The problem is that this final phrase has the highest search volume. So do I go with this and sacrifice 'naturalness' (e.g. If you are looking for a painter texas, then you are in the right place), or sacrifice search volume and go for more natural copy ?
-
I agree with David in that variety is the key. I also think that Google is doing a much better job at determining local intent in queries. I would make sure to build links without the geographic modifier as well. In fact, I would think that too many links with geo-modifiers may be a spam signal if it isn't already. Additionally, be sure to include lots of "stop" words in your anchor text along with verbs, adjectives, etc. Things like "a painter in Texas" or "recognized as a top painter" are phrases that real people would use to link to a real site rather than "painter Texas."
You definitely want to build links with the company or personal name and include the keywords next to it as Google can definitely discern the proximity of the keyword and score it accordingly.
For example: Joe Bob is a Texas-based painter...
Hope that helps!
-
It's always better to target a page with a single phrase. However it doesn't mean you can't use your alternate phrases at all. Just don't try to make it compete with your primary phrases.
"So remember Tom's Painting next time you need a Texas Painter."
I'm going to resist any urge to refer to Tom's Texas sized paint brush"
-
I run into this all the time as a local heating contractor. IMHO, the best practise is to target all the top three phrase combinations. This avoids the penalty of having too many identical anchor phrases, and, at the same time, helps you to rank well for all the different combinations of your keywords. Gewgle is smart enough to give you credit for "Painter in Texas" as a close match to "Painter Texas" and to see that Texas Painter is likely the same as Painter Texas. Anchor text variety is the key.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Related keywords as subjects or predicate ?
Hello, When writing my content do my related keyword need to be noun subject in my sentence or can they be predicate ?
Keyword Research | | seoanalytics0 -
Creating a new page versus adding to existing page (for targeting a keyword phrase)
What are your considerations when deciding whether to create a brand new page versus adding content to an existing page when targeting a new keyword phrase on your site? My thought is that if it is mildly competitive, a new page would make more sense since you can optimize the title tags and URL. But if it is long tail and low competition, you would be better off to add a paragraph to an existing page to minimize diluting your website by adding more pages.
Keyword Research | | ProjectLabs0 -
3 (similar) keywords - 3 (similar) domains - best strategy?
Hi all! I've got head scratcher here, your input would be super valuable! We have these 3 exact match domains. FloatTank.ca
Keyword Research | | BrightIdeas
IsolationTank.ca
SensoryDeprivationTank.ca The domains are all 3 different ways of saying the exact same thing - and each of the 3 keywords have roughly the same amount of traffic. Right now we are just providing information on Float Tanks / Isolation Tanks / Sensory Deprivation Tanks, their benefits are and how to use them, where to find a location etc. Do you have any strategies or advice considering the current domains and the points below? The content on each site would be VERY SIMILAR, as they are all talking about the same thing, "floating". Any suggestions for this? We want to (sometime in the near future) create a branded website. ie. FloatNation.ca in which we rank for all 3 of the above terms. Should we spin content for each site, and then create a 301 down the road to our main domain? Your input is appreciated! All the best,
Bright.0 -
Help finding some decent keywords
Anyone care to help a SEO Newbie find a couple of key words that would be easier to rank for for my website that provides kayak fishing information? mysite: yakangler.com The key words that I've identified are as follows: best kayak
Keyword Research | | mr_w
fishing from a kayak
fishing kayak review
fishing kayaks
kayak and fishing
kayak fishing
kayak for fishing
kayak reviews
kayak rigging
kayak weight limit
kayaks fishing
kayaks for fishing But I'm worried I'm missing the point, I don't see hardly any traffic from most of these. I've really tried to rank for "kayak fishing" but seem to be totally lost in the Google Panda abyss. Any advice on a different word or strategy would be greatly appreciated!0 -
Check competitors keywords
Hello I not too old to use seomoz, i am looking for a feature please let me know if i can see this kinda feature in seomoz pro account. I am looking for a keywords for my competitors like i enter my competitors domain name and i get the list of keywords my competitors are ranking in top 50. I searched a lot but i am unable to find the automatic fetching of keywords of my competitor. The same is available in other website www.seoprofiler.com In seomoz i have to manually enter the keywords and than it shows ranking of my competitors, i want to fetch the keywords for my competitor directly.
Keyword Research | | DanishWadhwa0 -
Question about keyword analysis
I am working on a keyword analysis for a range of keywords. I want to target these keywords in the Denver market. I know if you search google for something like "IT Support" and you are located in Denver it knows where you are and caters the results to be more Denver IT Support oriented. I did notice that those results are different than if you search for "Denver IT Support" My pages are optimized for the Denver market and the keyword like "IT Support" but I am a bit confused on how I should be doing my research into keywords. Should I be putting Denver into all my keyword analysis research even though I still want to rank for just the keyword when they are searching from the Denver area. I hope this all makes sense. I guess I just need some guidance on how to deal with the location specifics of my keywords. Thanks in advance for any help.
Keyword Research | | ZiaTG0 -
How to choose keywords for a small, local business
I have a client who is a small, local business that isn't interested in competing outside of their market. Let's use a Toyota dealership in Anytown USA as an example. Which method makes more sense? A: Optimize for keywords like "toyota", "used cars", etc. and hope the search engines show the site to local users? Or B: Optimize for keywords like "toyota anytown" and "used cars anytown" and take localization out of the equation? Kind of a newbie trying to figure out how best to approach SEO for sites that are highly geographic.
Keyword Research | | jimlast0 -
Tittle + keywords = ?
Hi everyone so it's time for a refresh. I want to improve my rank for couple of terms on one page, so whats you recommend me. Currently I am thinking to go with option 1 and be as much specific to my main keyword, but at the same time I am not sure if I'll be able to link well for my 2nd keywords. Option 1 Term 1, Term 2, Term 3 - they are more or less related Tittle: Term 1 and Term 2 and Term 3 Keywords: term 1, term 2, term 3 Meta description: Term 1, la lalal mama term 2, ta da da lalaaas term 3 or Option 2 Tittle: Term 1 Keywords: term 1, term 2, term 3 Meta description: Term 1, la lalal mama term 2, ta da da lalaaas term 3
Keyword Research | | DiamondJewelryEmpire0