Local businesses are not able to reach their audience or compete in the virtual space as there is heavy competition in today’s digital world.
Digital marketing cannot reach their audience effectively. It becomes important to know what the target audience usually searches for within millions of daily searches.
Local keyword research can help those businesses improve their online visibility, boost traffic and conversions in their site. Let’s read further about this.
What is Local Keyword Research?
Local Keyword Research is the strategy adopted to identify and examine specific words and phrases used by customers in relation to the attributes of products, services or brands in a particular location.
It helps connect with the preferences and interests of local customers. By creating high-relevant and high-traffic keywords, businesses can ensure a wider reach of audience and drive local sales.
Benefits of Local Keyword Research:
- Increased Online Visibility: Local keyword research helps your business more visible in local search results when searched by the local community.
- Targeted Traffic: You can attract local buyers to your website by giving proper local keywords and increase the chance of converting visitors into customers. It will boost your conversion and sale
- Competitive Advantage: Local keyword research helps you analyze your competitors’ strategies, identify gaps and opportunities. With the lessons learned from this, you can strengthen your online presence in your local area effectively to achieve growth in your business.
- Better Local SEO: Local Keyword Research is essential for boosting your Google My Business listing and website to get higher local search engine results ranking. It further helps you reach more customers in your area.
Types of Local Keywords:
1.Location-Based Keywords
- It refers to keywords or phrases that include specific geographic location such as: city names, state names, pin codes, region names, area or street names, area codes and so on.
- When people search for products or services in a specific location, these keywords will attract them to your page.
- Using location-based keywords will increase online visibility and reach the target audience.
2.Service-Based Keywords
- These keywords are used when a local business wants to drive more traffic to their site by referring to what services they offer.
- People who look for particular services like pizza delivery, hair salon, plumber services, cleaning services will reach these pages.
- By using specific and relevant service-based keywords, businesses can attract the right audience, driving more conversions.
3.Near me Keywords
- Businesses should always prioritize optimizing for ‘near me’ keywords to attract nearby customers.
- ‘Near me’ keywords are the most popular and widely used. Whenever people want to find services available in their area, they often type the “near me” phrase.
- They see it as a convenient option to go for an overall look in the search results. There are some variations of ‘near me’ keywords such as “close to me”, “near my location”, “nearby”, “within walking distance” and more. For example: gas stations near me, pharmacies near my location.
4.Long Tail Local Keywords
- These keywords contain location along with specific, descriptive phrases about a product or services available in a particular geographic area.
- Since only a few people search for this keyword, there is less competition.
- However, these keywords have high potential conversion as they reach a unique and targeted audience. For example, the best Chinese restaurant in Mumbai.
How to identify Local Keywords?
1.Keyword Research Tools for Local SEO
- The focus should be on using less competitive keywords that drive traffic to your website.
- Identify keywords and phrases potential customers are typing in, to search for local products or services and add them effectively within your content so as to increase online exposure.
- Make a note of the keywords that best suit your business, be mindful of changes or improvements necessary to incorporate the relevant and most searched words within your website.
- You can do this with the help of some keyword research tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush and Google Keyword Planner.
2.Google Keyword Planner
- Google Keyword Planner is a free keyword research tool offered through Google Ads.
- After setting up a Google Ads account, it suggests new keywords by analyzing relevant keywords, their search rate and competition.
- This tool is particularly helpful for identifying local keywords by searching words and phrases related to specific geographic regions and languages.
- With Google Keyword planner, you can effectively reach your local audience.
3.Analyze Local Search Trends
- By analyzing local search trends, you can obtain useful information about your local customer’s behavior, interests, preferences and search patterns.
- It allows you to optimize your website by creating targeted content that resonates with local audiences, driving more conversions and sales.
- For example, people searching for “weather forecast in my place”, “best school near me”, “gym nearby”, “Things to explore here”, “best Mexican restaurants in my city” and so on.
4.Google Autosuggest Feature
- The Google Auto Suggest Feature is a powerful tool for identifying local keywords.
- As a built-in feature within Google search, it provides suggestions as you type something, revealing related searches that show what people are looking for.
- By utilizing this information, you can incorporate these keywords, optimize your content and improve search ranking. It helps in boosting online presence and conversions.
5."People Also Search For" Section
- This section, located at the bottom of the search results page, is a keyword treasure trove for identifying local keywords.
- It reveals words related to your search that people are making in your area.
- You can understand the words, phrases, and question patterns of the local audience, thereby optimizing your blog content, marketing strategies and local keyword research to reach a more audience.
- For example, when you search ‘best bakery near me’, People also search for shows, ‘best bakery near me with price list’, ‘best bakery near me open now’, ‘best Birthday Cake Shops nearby’ and more.
6.Competitor Analysis
- It is a crucial step in identifying local keywords.
- List local businesses similar to yours and visit their website to analyze content, descriptions, headlines and keywords they use to attract customers.
- Analyze their Google My Business Listing and determine what they are missing and use those gaps as opportunities.
- You can refine your local keyword research with these findings.
Local Keyword Research: Best Practices
- Identify location-specific keywords: Including keywords related to your business location such as city, state and region to reach local audiences.
- Use core terms: Identify the fundamental keywords that define your service or product and incorporate them into your content.
- Use Geo-modifiers: Include geo-modifiers or location modifiers like “near me”, “in (name of the city), near (name of the area) to connect with local query terms and target location-based audience.
- Keyword research tools: Use tools like Moz Keyword Explorer, SEMrush to find local keywords and analyse search rate
- Optimize page elements: Include keywords in headings, page titles, meta descriptions and content
- Maintaining Keyword Density: It is important for SEO optimization and aim for 1-2% to avoid keyword stuffing. Using the right keywords show that your content is concise, reliable and meets user search query.
Conclusion
Local Keyword Research is the key to SEO optimization. By understanding the search patterns, interests and behavior of your local customers and incorporating them into your content as keywords, you can improve rankings in search engine results, drive more traffic to your site, and stand out from the competition. Effective local keyword research can significantly contribute to your online success.
If you’re looking for professional assistance to streamline your keyword strategy, our comprehensive Keyword Research Services will help.
