How to do the best local keyword research for your business?
Hi! Since you came across this article, you are struggling to develop a list of the best local keywords for your business that you want to start ranking for and increasing your visibility on Google. I want to tell you that it's not a problem, and its solution, along with free tools, will streamline the whole process for you, is in this article. I'm sure you can't wait to get ahead of your biggest competitors for the best keywords, so let's not waste any time and get started!
What is local SEO?
Local search engine optimization or local SEO are methods used to improve the position and visibility of a company's profile and its website in Google search and Google Maps for keywords with local intent.
As the name suggests, local SEO focuses its power on a specific area or terrain. It can be a street, a neighborhood, a city, or an area within, say, a 2,000-meter radius of your business.
Let's assume that you have a dental practice in New York City. Your goal will be to become visible in the city or specific neighborhood, not the whole state or country, because no one will come to you from the other end of the country, and the entire process will be called local SEO :)
What are local keywords?
Local keywords are the words on which you want to increase the visibility of your business in Google in a specific area. You develop all your analysis, actions, and optimizations based on them. You want to choose ones that are most often typed into the Google search (or other search engines) by your potential customers who are in the area of your business and are looking for its services there.
Local keywords must always have local intent, and we will explain it best with an example.
- Local keywords: Dentist new york, attorney las vegas, roadside assistance berlin, house moving London, restaurant near me, etc.
- Of course, you don't always have to put city names in your words. Google already knows a lot about some words and if you have location tracking enabled on your device, just type the word restaurant, and Google will find the ones closest to you that best match that query.
However, what is essential is that by positioning yourself for relevant keywords with a city added to the word, e.g., dentist berlin, dentist new york, your website and your business profile on Google will display in a much larger area and to more customers! - Take a look at the comparison. The local rank tracker tool looks at what area a business is visible for these two keywords.
- Dentist New York (left) and dentist (right)
- Nationwide keywords: all the rest of the keywords for which the map package does not show up in the local search results, i.e., skirt store online, men's pants online, English course online, Localo, etc.
How to do keyword research for local business listings?
To do effective and valuable keyword research for the local SEO of your business, you need to go through a particular process that is both short and easy. Still, with the help of this process, you will prepare a set of the best local keywords for the SEO of your business.
Answer yourself these questions
- Who are your customers?
- What services or products do you offer?
- What city does your business operate in?
- What can potential customers type into a search engine to find the products or services you offer in the area where you sell them?
Prepare a set of local keywords
If you've answered these questions and you're a dentist in New York, for example, words like:
- Dentist New York
- Dental office New York
- Teeth Whitening New York
- Implants New York
- etc.
Check how often they are typed and searched on Google
Once you have them, you need a tool that will check how popular and how often these words are searched for by potential customers of your business every month.
You can use one of two free tools for this.
- Google keyword planner - A tool from Google for keyword analysis. In addition, Google offers other useful free tools, such as Google Trends and Google Search Console.
Keyword Surfer - A free plugin for Google Chrome from Surfer
Choose the words that are most relevant to your business and are searching for
If you have already analyzed these and other words and know if they are popular, how often customers type them in Google, and you have found others similar to them, it is time to prepare the final list.
Prepare a few keyword ideas (for example, five) that meet the following requirements:
- Reflect on what you sell
- Customers type them in to find those products or services you sell
- Are popular and searched for by users on Google
What is the search keyword volume?
The number of searches is one metric that shows how often people type a word into Google (every month) and expect results. The number of searches is vital to your SEO strategy because it reflects the popularity of a particular word and service or product.
Ideally, look for keywords that generate high search volumes but have low competition.
Start positioning your business for the local keywords you have chosen
Done! You now have a list of the best local keywords for your business's local SEO! The final step in this entire path is for you to start positioning your business profile on Google and your website for your chosen set of keywords.
Contrary to what you may think, this is not a difficult task as there are special tools that will make this process easier for you.
Localo - A local internet marketing tool with which you can check, monitor, and increase the visibility of your business in local Google search results. The tool also develops guidelines for your business profile on Google, based on which you can easily and quickly establish optimizations and thus quickly overtake your competitors in the area and become the number one business.
Surfer SEO - A local keyword tool to create and optimize content for your website. You can easily and quickly prepare optimized content for your website, with the help of which its visibility in Google will significantly improve and thus overtake your most prominent competitors!
Why performing local keyword research is necessary?
Local SEO keyword research is one of the most critical steps in local SEO. It is mainly responsible for the success (or failure) of promoting your business in local search results.
Consider whether local SEO for words:
- Which are not searched by users would make sense?
- Which are not topical and don't match your business, would it make sense?
If you answered NO, you have also responded to why you need to conduct local keyword research.
What local keyword research tools are the best?
- Google keyword planner - A tool from Google for keyword analysis.
- Keyword Surfer - Free keyword research tool - as a plugin for Google Chrome from Surfer.
- Localo - When you add your business to Localo, where you can monitor and develop optimizations to increase your business's visibility on Google, type in one word. The tool will instantly suggest many equally important others to your business.
How can I track local keyword rankings?
Keeping track of your local keyword rankings and how visible your business is on Google is crucial for your business to continue growing and developing strategies to increase its visibility on Google and stay ahead of your competitors.
The ideal tool for monitoring local keywords and visibility of your business profile on Google is Local Rank Tracker from Localo.
Just add your Google business profile, enter your keywords, and you're good. Local rank tracking is enabled and will refresh automatically.
Summary
Now you know how to perform effective local keyword research, do the analysis, and choose the popular ones. They best fit your company's business model, meaning they will help you increase its visibility in Google and leave your competitors far behind. Good luck!
