Keyword Research: How best to target keywords without using a region as part of the search query.
-
When doing keyword research and trying to rank for a keyword. I am wondering if we need to localize the query by adding a city to it. For example Phoenix Web Design vs. just targeting web design since Google is localizing search results now.
Then when creating content and optimizing the site do we just put the keyword in the title and page content or do we also add the region/city to the keyword phrase?
Any insight would be appreciated.
-
You are looking at two different types of queries, but yes, you should focus on having the city name plus the product. While Google does localize results based on IP and personalized preferences, it is not not completely independent of keyword optimization.
Another way to think about this is that, lets say that Google only took into consideration the IP of the user versus what the keyword the user typed into the query. How would Google know where you are local to? It is partially due to the keywords you have on the page related to your location.
You should be able to optimize for both your location and product by using a combination of the keyword (and variants of it) and the city
See what the most common term using KW research and then vary off of that. So if Houston Plumbers is the main keyword you can use that and variants of it. (Plumbers in Houston, Plumbers near Houston, Dependable Houston Based Plumbers etc).
I have seen pages that I have optimized using this methodology on large scale Yellow Page type sites for a number of products/services and had the page rank on Page 1 for both types of searches such as "Dallas Plumber" (locality plus product service) and "Plumber" (product/service only). Obviously, your mileage may vary depending on the competition, but, the basic message is that you are going the right direction when targeting locality + product/service vs just service alone. The error in your case would be to leave out the location information.
Good luck.
-
For your research, you can use the new Keyword Planner in Google Adwords and leave out the region to see how many searches for that term regionally. So, for nail salon Tucson, you can set the Targeting for USA, Tucson AZ or for that DMA OR SMSA, etc. (DMA is just a branded SMSA by Nielsen). I like to look at both with and without the region identifier just to have an idea as to how people are searching. This will teach you what will work if you use enough terms with it.
Now, when it comes to optimizing, there are multiple considerations and I am going to _generalize._First, if it is a situation where you can utilize the 7 pack or whatever pack, you first need to insure you are optimized locally. Then, if you have a url that you are wanting to be in that, you will want one in the organic search not associated with maps (so you need two different urls with different content but the same city identifier). For your title tag do not do Nail Salon Tucson | Tucson Nail Salon | Salon Tucson, etc. Use the city only once there. Then, be sure you do not overdo the city any more than you do the keyword. (KW stuffing).
Also, today only I am giving away two bonus tips and a set of ginzu knives to the first ... (Just kidding, no knives). For the page you want to show in the 7 pack I suggest having the Google map API in that page with address, etc. and I urge you to make sure you have good photos with exif data showing lat/long, etc. For the photos your alt text should have a location identifier and I would suggest an H-1 with a location identifier.
Hope that helps you out,
Robert
Edit, I forgot to add, if you are not using structured data, start.
-
Hireawiz, You're better off adding your place name and keyword in the title tag and body. It's going to help you rank better for the query whether or not the searcher includes a place name.
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
-
Keywords in URL
I have an ecommerce store and i am using moz to get it into the best seo situation... my question is this..... I want to know how important it is to have the targeted keyword actually in the product page url.... I working on meta title and description which is good, but if i start changing all my product urls, it has major impact on the work i have to do since i would have to redo all my product links in ads, and all my product urls in emails, etc. So how much of a part do the urls play in seo?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Bkhoward20010 -
[Very Urgent] More 100 "/search/adult-site-keywords" Crawl errors under Search Console
I just opened my G Search Console and was shocked to see more than 150 Not Found errors under Crawl errors. Mine is a Wordpress site (it's consistently updated too): Here's how they show up: Example 1: URL: www.example.com/search/adult-site-keyword/page2.html/feed/rss2 Linked From: http://an-adult-image-hosting.com/search/adult-site-keyword/page2.html Example 2 (this surprised me the most when I looked at the linked from data): URL: www.example.com/search/adult-site-keyword-2.html/page/3/ Linked From: www.example.com/search/adult-site-keyword-2.html/page/2/ (this is showing as if it's from our own site) http://a-spammy-adult-site.com/search/adult-site-keyword-2.html Example 3: URL: www.example.com/search/adult-site-keyword-3.html Linked From: http://an-adult-image-hosting.com/search/adult-site-keyword-3.html How do I address this issue?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rmehta10 -
Keywords in URL: sub-directory or single layer keywords?
Hi guys, im putting together a proposal for a new site and trying to figure out if it'd be better to (A) have a keyword split across multiple directories or duplicate keywords to have the keyword hyphenated? For example, for the topic of "Christmas decor" would you use; (A) - www.domain.com/Christmas/Decor (B) - www.domain.com/Christmas/Christmas-Decor in example B the phrase 'Christmas' is duplicated which looks a little spammy, but the key term "Christmas decor" is in the URL without being broken up by directories. which is stronger? Any advice welcome! Thanks guys!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JAR8971 -
What are the best practices for geo-targeting by sub-folders?
My domain is currently targeting the US, but I'm building out sub-folders that will need to geo-target France, England, and Spain. Each country will have it's own sub-folder, and professionally translated (domain.com/france). Other than the hreflang tags, what are other best practices I can implement? Can Google Webmaster tools geo-target by subfolder? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Justin
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Rhythm_Agency0 -
Will multiple domains from the same company rank for the same keyword search?
I'm trying to convince people that we need good marketing reasons for starting multiple domains, as it will be more difficult to rank multiple sites. Does anyone know if Google actively discourages multiple domains from the same company appearing in the search results for the same keyword? We are creating a separate content website which is related to an existing company website. Would you agree that is best to have these sites on one domain with the content site on a sub-domain perhaps? I'm worried about duplication of effort and cross-keyword targeting in particular. These sites would not have duplicate content.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RG_SEO0 -
How to best handle expired content?
Similar to the eBay situation with "expired" content, what is the best way to approach this? Here are a few examples. With an e-commerce site, for a seasonal category of "Christmas" .. what's the best way to handle this category page after it's no longer valid? 404? 301? leave it as-is and date it by year? Another example. If I have an RSS feed of videos from a big provider, say Vevo, what happens when Vevo tells me to "expire" a video that it's no longer available? Thank you!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JDatSB0 -
Changing domains - best process to use?
I am about to move my Thailand-focused travel website into a new, broader Asia-focused travel website. The Thailand site has had a sad history with Google (algorithmic, not penalties) so I don't want that history to carry over into the new site. At the same time though, I want to capture the traffic that Google is sending me right now and I would like my search positions on Bing and Yahoo to carry through if possible. Is there a way to make all that happen? At the moment I have migrated all the posts over to the new domain but I have it blocked to search engines. I am about to start redirecting post for post using meta-refresh redirects with a no-follow for safety. But at the point where I open the new site up to indexing, should I at the same time block the old site from being indexed to prevent duplicate content penalties? Also, is there a method I can use to selectively 301 redirect posts only if the referrer is Bing or Yahoo, but not Google, before the meta-refresh fires? Or alternatively, a way to meta-refresh redirect if the referrer is Google but 301 redirect otherwise? Or is there a way to "noindex, nofollow" the redirect only if the referrer is Google? Is there a danger of being penalised for doing any of these things? Late Edit: It occurs to me that if my penalties are algorithmic (e.g. due to bad backlinks), does 301 redirection even carry that issue through to the new website? Or is it left behind on the old site?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Gavin.Atkinson0 -
Search terms that have the same meaning
If there are two fairly equally strong search terms that mean the same thing and want to direct people to a single page on my site, is it recommended that both phrases be placed in the H1? For example, Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich (BLT Sandwich) I don't want to rank high for only one phrase while ranking lower (and potentially losing users) for the second phrase. What's the best strategy for this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | hamackey0