Include Location in Keywords?
-
I understand Google's local search automatically searches keywords with the location you are searching from. For example if I'm searching from Calgary and query "best shoe repair", Google knows I'm searching from Calgary and presents Calgary based results.
I'm using Google's new Keyword Planner tool which allows for city based search results, meaning I don't have to include "Calgary" in the keywords I submit.
The question I have is should I be attaching "Calgary" to my keywords for on-page optimization, and why or why not?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
-
I just want to ask more questions regarding location in keywords.
Can we treat these two keywords differently?
"Calgary's best shoe repair" vs "best shoe repair in Calgary"
or
"Canadian shoe repair" vs "shoe repair in Canada"
Searchers' intent is pretty much the same. but we should target two different keywords? if they are both popular?
-
Great discussion here with many excellent points covered by everyone who has responded. I will only add, because I think this is something that may come up frequently, Google's new Keyword Planner Tool only changes the way you might do keyword research - not the way you optimize a site. It is still vital to locally optimize the website. The only difference is that you hopefully now have more and better insight into important terms to include in your optimization.
-
Great thanks a lot Paul!
Those search volumes were just made up, although I did see something similar with my research. Once I decide what I'm going to do I'll let you know what I've decided.
Thanks again!
-
Thanks very much Steve!
I discussed this issue last week with my Google Engage advisor and she recommended focusing on "shoe repair" instead of "Calgary shoe repair" since we'd be targeting the Adwords campaign to a specific city. My landing pages will be focused on my Houston equivalent of "shoe repair" and "Calgary shoe repair."
As an aside, it surprises me that "Calgary shoe repair" would have 1000 searches per month and "shoe repair" within Calgary would have only 750 searches. The keyword planner is supposed to include mobile searches and you'd think that most people wouldn't include Calgary in the search phrase in a mobile device search -- they'd just key in "shoe repair" on the tablet or smart phone. My impression is that search volumes Google publishes for "Calgary shoe repair" and "shoe repair" within Calgary are not exact and should be considered as kind of "order of magnitude" estimates of search volume. Please let me know what you decide to do in your campaign and what results you see.
Thanks again, Paul
-
Hey Paul,
Thanks for the in depth response, that makes a lot of sense. Perhaps you can answer my next question...
I've received monthly search volume from Google's Keyword Planner tool on a bunch of keywords. With this tool I returned search volume within Calgary as a filter. Some of these keywords include the word Calgary. For example lets say I have two keywords that look promising...
- calgary shoe repair - 1000 searches / month , low competition
- shoe repair - 750 searches / month , low competition
Both of these search volumes only include searches in Calgary. Am I correct in assuming I can choose both "calgary shoe repair" and "shoe repair" as two separate keywords? Or would it be wise to only choose one of the two?
-
Hi Steve,
If I understand your question, yes you should include the use of the city name - Calgary - in your on-page optimization efforts. You want to make it very clear to the search engines where your local business is located so you want your NAP: name, address, and phone number displayed in text prominently on multiple pages of your website. You also want to make sure that the NAP you use on your site is consistent with the NAP information submitted to online business listings and local business directories like the Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau.
For a local business, I'll always use a location keyword in the page titles and meta description tags. However, in using any keywords on-page in text, Alt tags, and headings, you want to be judicious in avoiding overuse. So in talking about shoe repair, I wouldn't attach "Calgary" to the keyword phrase "shoe repair" every time I used it.
Remember that Google and the other search engines associate a location with a search phrase by associating a location with the IP address used to originate the search. In many cities with substantial suburban populations, that means that people located in the suburbs and looking for shoe repair in the suburbs will be counted in the city search volumes because their IP addresses are associated with the city. So if your business is located in the suburbs, you might want to think of using location keywords for the major city and for your suburb location too.
I hope this helps!
-
If you don't use the word "Calgary" on the page, how would Google know your website is related to Calgary for it's location-based results? They have a location option in the keyword tool so you can see how much traffic that term has in Calgary, as well as the average CPC in Calgary, if you're planning on running an advertising campaign in Adwords.
As an aside, for Adwords you no longer have to include "Calgary" in your keywords if your campaign targets the location Calgary. For your "best shoe repair" example, Adwords default location setting would show ads for "best show repair" for people searching that in Calgary, but also people searching for "Calgary best show repair" around the world. There is a sub-setting to make it target only people physically in Calgary if you only want locals seeing the ad.
-
I would say yes, include your location in your on page text.
If I am searching for shoe repair I would most likely search "city shoe repair"
If your shoe repair shop does pop up and you have NOTHING about where you are actually located, I might go to the next site that has a location.
And location will just reinforce the location shoe repair that Google has already started on.It also would help if I am out of town and a bit lost, knowing exactly where this show place is without having to go to googlemaps or places or another map site...
Many times I actually use Yelp (Yelp always has address right easy to find, when websites hide their address)
It might not rank your location-shoe repair SERPS that much, but it SHOULD help your buyers conversion...
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
-
What defines what words in a title are considered Keywords?
Hi, sorry if this is a silly question. I'm curious how keywords are defined. Is every word in a title a possible keyword? If I have a keyword titled "Linear Shower Drain | 40" Long", does it take the whole thing as a keyword? Is just "Linear Shower Drain" the keyword? Would "Shower Drain" pop up as a keyword, since its nested in the title? Thank you in advance for your answers!
Keyword Research | | ezable0 -
Keyword question
I am trying to rank for the long tail keyword "Personal Injury Lawyer Vancouver". If I want to still rank for this keyword can I add an "in" in between lawyer and Vancouver and can I make Lawyer plural? Will this give me the same results? THanks, Jonathan
Keyword Research | | H1_Marketing_Solutions0 -
Tools to group large list of keywords
Hi Guys, Was wondering if anyone knows of any tools which can group large lists of keywords. Currently using http://www.wordstream.com/keyword-grouper Any other good tools to check out? Cheers.
Keyword Research | | jayoliverwright0 -
Weekly Keyword Ranking Report Question
Howdy folks! Okay so apologies for the n00b question, and additional apologies for going over ground that's potentially already been ploughed. I'm compiling a tally of the Weekly Keyword Ranking Report for a client. For the past three reports, the particular keyword I'm logging has remained in the same position. However the Change column shows it as having decreased in rank, by the same amount every week. If there has been no change in the ranking, I would have thought it would display as "Unchanged". As it stands, it shows up in the Declined category, and that seems odd to me. Anyone have an idea as to why this would be happening? Thanks for any input you can provide! Kevin
Keyword Research | | Treefrog_SEO0 -
Serps rank different from each login location
I prepared a report yesterday morning and I had a variety of keywords ranking at #5. Today when checked from another location they are all over the place. kitchen mats has been 11-15 for months, and then when checking from a school computer that starts a new session upon each login Yesterday it was #5 as was anti fatigue mats - it has been 27-32. Is google pulling in local hits and shifting the serp rankings? the site is www.wellnessmats.com any there suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know we have had duplicate content issues, and now reading some of the posts - perhaps "key word cannibalization"? thanks
Keyword Research | | bakergraphix_yahoo.com0 -
How to target very broad, umbrella keywords on the homepage
Hey there SEO Mozzers, I'm new to the SEO Moz community and would genuinely appreicate any advice/input on this topic. I'm part of the online marketing team for a UK-based site called Tendea.co.uk. We operate an introductory platform for enabling the connection between parents and families seeking care services (childcare, pet care, senior care, home & garden care, etc.) and individuals providing care services (babysitters, nannies, pet sitters, housekeepers, etc.). To take a US site for comparison, the services are very similar to those offered by Care.com I'm currently having a bit of difficulty as to what very broad, umbrella keywords we should be targeting for the homepage, primarily in the meta title/description. We've started with keywords such as "care, family services, care services, and family care", but I think these terms are almost too generic and aren't necessarily terms we really want to be ranking for. I suggested to our in-house SEO team that we just target some of our strongest keywords from each of the individual care categories for the homepage (babysitter, pet sitter, housekeeper, caregiver, etc.). They were against this idea, though, as we have separate subfolders that target the individual care categories and their specific keywords (tendea.co.uk/childcare, /pet-care, /elderly-care, etc.) Essentially the argeument is that we don't want to be targeting these terms on the homepage and on a separate subfolder page, as then the two pages would be competing for each other's keywords. Instead we're being encouraged to find some sort of umbrella terms to target for the home page that can encompass all of the care categories. For comparison's sake, I took a look at Care.com's meta data and it targets all their specific keywords for the various care categories "Babysitters, nannies, Child Care & Senior Home care - Care.com". Is this the right kind of strategy to take, or do you guys have any suggestions for much broader, umbrella keywords to target on our homepage? Thanks in advance for your input! -Mike
Keyword Research | | Tendea0 -
The importance of meta keywords
Hello, I am looking into Meta keywords in the attempt to understand their importance. I have been reading about this in several blogs and get the feeling that the general view is that they are no longer very valuable. Some say it is because Google and Bing no longer use them, that in terms of SEO they carry little importance and that they are a great indicator to your competitors about which keywords you believe are important... My question is this: Without Meta keywords, how do you deal with misspelt search keywords on your website? For example, if you were looking for a product called 'El Mundo en Espa_ñ_ol' but spelt it using the normal 'n' instead of the Spanish 'ñ', and the keyword 'Espanol' was not included in the Meta keywords, would you still find the product? English speaking people commonly search without the ñ because this is more convenient to them. So how can I make sure that the page is optimised for these type of common misspellings? Thanks!!!
Keyword Research | | languedoc0