Keyword tracking- Local
-
Silly question about Local ranking monitors.
If I have a local client in Pheonix, AZ and I want to track rankings for keywords. Is it best to monitor city+keyword or just keyword?
I have ran tests with multiple clients and locations, and cannot ascertain the difference- as far as rankings go. I appreciate all input.
-
Hi Tammy,
We now have local ranking tracking! Check out the information over at http://moz.com/blog/local-rankings-in-moz-analytics.
-
Excellent thank you so much!
-
Very nice, thank you!
-
Hi Tammy,
A couple of suggestions.
-
You might want to check out Whitespark's Local Rank Tracker (see: https://www.whitespark.ca/rank-tracker). The creator, Darren Shaw, is extremely Local-aware.
-
If you are in the dental space, you might like to follow Linda Buquet, if you aren't already doing so. Linda used to be a specialist in Local SEO for dentists before she started her forum (see: http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/) and she often shares good tips related to this.
Hope this helps! Dentists are really nice clients, in my experience. It's a nice market in which to specialize!
-
-
Tammy,
As a side note something I am doing in the Chiropractic and horticultural space is doing you tube videos and pictures with good key words. This seems to shoot up in the rankings higher. Especially if you have authorship set up. I would also suggest virtual seminars on Google Air that are saved to Youtube. These are great ways to get top rankings on harder key word sets. Another simple thing is to do a quick presentation in Presenter(powerpoint) with voice overs and export to video. Either of these can be done on a fairly small budget and they get good results.
Ron
-
Excellent answers, thank you everyone.
1. Currently using Myseotool ( and Moz of course) - Myseotool allows you to set the 'city, region' when you have a campaign.
2. Yes, I STRESS to the clients that rankings are essentially eye candy and not much more, that traffic and conversions are the most important. But, as with most clients, they are determined to look at rankings.
3. I understand geo targeting and expect it - as well as personal results based on user intent and previous searches. I have also explained this phenomenon to the clients, but not sure 100% of them get it or recognize the fact.
4. While world domination is on my list, over 70 of the clients are dentists, so local is by far the most important. I do find the longer tail keywords to be easier when combined with a local G+ place optimized - yet have a few that will show up in National rankings, which is what made me ponder.
Thank you again, these are all awesome answers- I heart Mozzers!
-
Tammy,
First of all this is not a silly question, it is very astute. The problem/opportunity is that the search engines are in transition and location is just one consideration on your ranking in any given search. The answer depends on what your ultimate goals are as well as where your client is at now.
What I have observed is that long tailed key words like SEO Phoenix are in relative terms easier than general terms. As you improve your ranking factors in general relative to your local competition you will start showing up higher in the rankings. As these other factors improve more you will start showing up everywhere on more and more general terms.
So if your goal is just local listings just track the long tailed key words. If your goal is to rule the rankings universe on the searches your client wants I would track the general terms as well as the more specific long tail strings for your area.
because of my own megalomania issues I always track both ;).
Ron
-
Hi Tammy,
Your question isn't at all silly. What are you using to track local rankings? What tool? Or are you doing this manually?
Do bear in mind that there is no authoritative, set ranking for any local business. Why? Because Google personalizes the results for all users. So, what you see ranking #1 on your computer in your location may not be what I see ranking #1 for this term. Though you can get a relative idea of rankings, you can't really get an exact idea, making it important to educate clients on the fact that other metrics are a better gauge of marketing results. Traffic and conversions really matter! Rankings matter, too, of course, but not as much as phones ringing.
-
Google has geotargeting enabled for everyone searching on google.
What does Geotargeting mean?
1. Potential customers/clients might search for a "dentist" and not type in "phoenix" however google knows that they are in phoenix so google provides search results as if you typed in "dentist in phoenix."
For local search terms, always use the keyword + city. In some cases, there are multiple cities with the same name in different states. In that instance, monitor keyword + city + state, spell the state out or use initials.
-
I would definitely monitor city+keyword.
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
-
On-page optimization for closely related keywords or acronyms of keywords
We are in the process of on-page optimization for a site that sells one kind of software. We are trying to optimize each page for a target keyword and variations of the keyword, however we have more pages than keyword variation types, so I'm looking for feedback on whether the below plan would be keyword cannibalization. Examples: URL: www.domain.com/product
Keyword Research | | seo_1234b
Tarket Keyword: device imaging software
Title Tag: Device Imaging Software | Company Name URL: www.domain.com/solutions
Target Keyword: device imaging solutions
Title Tag: Device Imaging Solutions | Company Name URL: www.domain.com/products/product-name
Target Keyword: dis (acronym)
Title Tag: DIS Software | Product Name | Company Name My question is are these keyword too closely related for each of the pages? Will they be considered duplicate title tags? Keyword cannibalization? etc. Thanks!0 -
Are Keywords treated as Case Sensitive?
We found that keywords are not case sensitive, but MOZ show same keyword in different case under "Top National Keywords" tab. Eg: 1) Wobble Wedge 2) wobble wedge
Keyword Research | | torbett0 -
Local Keywords
Hello everyone. Still loving MOZ. Question: When I research a keyword phrase such as Entertainers it is returning a local search of 15,972. I want to target three specific cities in my area ( Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Akron). When I research the phrase Cleveland Entertainers I'm getting a local search result of 0. Should I just assume that the search is still large enough to use? Should I target Cleveland Entertainers still with feedback of 0? Also is it a good idea to target the word entertainers with three separate pages to three separate cities? I'm planning on making three separate blogs with new content on each. This will not be duplicate content.
Keyword Research | | Jasonalanmagic0 -
Title keyword and synonyms in content ?
what is the % relation in between a keyword in title and that given keyword's synonyms in a content of that page? if i use the keyword "apple pie" on a page title once, what should be % of reappearance of this keyword in the content ? and its synonyms in relation to the entire content on that page. thank you
Keyword Research | | orion680 -
How to stay organized for keyword research?
As most of you know keyword research can be quite taxing. I have been trying to get organized and do extensive keyword research. But trying to stay organized is proving to be more and more difficult. Can I get some expert views from experts in the community as to how you all go about organizing your research and how you track things over time. Thanks
Keyword Research | | EricMoore0 -
Keywords and Rank Checker Tool
Two questions about checking the rank of keywords. The easiest way to say this is by example. I have a keyword that SEOMOZ ranks on google in the 32nd position but when I look for that keyword in Google it's nowhere to be found (it's buried deep in the results pages somewhere). Where does SEOMOZ get its keyword results from? How do I non-localize my browser so I can see "global" keyword results? Is there such a thing? thanks in advance.
Keyword Research | | dpdeleon10 -
Keyword competitiveness/research
I'm familiar with ranking factors and can get a pretty good idea of whether going for a keyword is realistic by looking at the seomoz keyword difficulty tool. As well as the % score it has a lot of useful information. There was an seomoz article a while ago that detailed how 100 or so experts determine a keyword's competitiveness. Does anybody have the link? Or just as good, any useful guides to interpreting the data to gauge how possible it is to compete? Thanks
Keyword Research | | PTMPercy0 -
Top Ranking sites for specific keywords
Is there a way to put in a list of targeted keywords and see what the top 5 sites on Google are? There are several competitor tools in SEOmoz but I can't find anything that would allow you to do that. I have a list of 40 or so keywords that I would like to check what sites are in the top 3 positions on Google for each of the keywords. Thanks in advance
Keyword Research | | summitliveevents0