How To Do Keyword Research For Local SEO | Celeste Gonzalez | Wix SEO Hub (2023)

Author: Celeste Gonzalez

Understanding your potential customers has never been more valuable than now. "Speaking their language" isn't just a marketing cliché - knowing the exact language people use to find local products and services like the ones you sell can be very lucrative.

By doing keyword research, you can learn to "speak their language". This can be as simple as describing your products/services and can involve identifying new ways to explain your offerings to different types of customers. It can even introduce your business to a new audience.

This process is essential for any local business that wants people to follow them online. To know where to start, you need to do some keyword research, so let's get started.

Contents:

• What is local keyword research?

• The difference between traditional and local keyword research

• How to find local keywords

• General local keywords

• Local keywords changed

• Identify local keywords by query (using tools)

• Consider your search intent

• What you need to know about keyword research for local business blogs

What is local keyword research?

Local keyword research (or keyword research forOK SEO) refers to the process of identifying keywords that potential customers can search for to find local goods and services. Performing this type of research on a regular basis and implementing a strategy based on it will help you find local businesses in searches that best match customer satisfaction.

The difference between traditional and local keyword research

Local keyword research works best when a potential customer is searching the Internet for a locally available product or service, also known as "local search intent." This makes it a valuable technique for local business owners (or the marketers and SEOs who work for them).

Traditional keyword research, on the other hand, is not limited to the local search intent (more on that in the search intent section).

This means that local keyword research companies want to reach customers in their service area, while traditional keyword research would be more suitable for companies that serve customers regardless of their geographic location.

So a larger multi-market company like Optimum Nutrition can do traditional keyword research to identify opportunities to capture the attention of searchers, for example those who want to know ifPlant-based or whey protein is better, For example.

A local business would do essentially the same, except to cater to an audience looking for products/services locally. For example, a chain of falafel restaurants might conduct local keyword research to find an opportunity to attract falafel diners in the Boston area andpage specifically for this purpose.

An example of an offer page targeting local search engines.

(Video) How to Find Keywords with Semrush | Wix SEO

In practice, many parts of the keyword research process are similar whether you run a local or global business, but there are important nuances that I'll explain below.

How to find local keywords

In general, the content you create, whether it's e.glocal landing pageor an informative blog post or anything in between - it should be informed from two angles:

• What do you offer

• What your target group wants

Let's look at keyword research for local SEO from both sides, starting with your listing. For this part of the process, it's a good idea to separate your keywords into two categories: general and custom.

General local keywords based on your listings

When thinking about generic (or general) keywords, think about all the products/services your local business offers. These are the main keywords you want to target (ie create content based on them).

An example of a global search with a local intent.

By targeting these popular keywords, you can increase your business' visibility in organic search results. That way when someone is lookingBurbank detailsFor example, your Burbank auto repair shop's service page can appear in search results, bringing you closer to winning a new customer.

It helps you list the products/services you offer and organize them by priority or how important they are to your business.

For example, a medical spa might include the following services (which can also act as general keywords for content creation):

• botox

• Juvederm

• Restylane

• Cool Sculpting

• Laser hair removal

• Facial treatments

  (Video) Local SEO Q&A With William Jones SEO

• B12 arrows

Depending on the nature of your product/service (and the questions customers have about it), you can create a one-size-fits-all page, or you can create a dedicated page for each page.

Modified local keywords based on your listings

You can change the identified keywords (in the list of common keywords from the exercise above) by searchinglong tail variants—the keyword variations they havelow number of searchesbut there is a higher intention behind them.

This approach helps you reach potential customers who have very specific needs. for example the way a local baker's website about themgluten-free bread, veganaddressed to a specialized audience.

Going back to the medical spa example, this could be as simple as identifying the types of Juvederm offered.

• Juvederm XC

• Juvederm Ultra XC

• Juvederm Ultra Plus XC

• Juvederm Volbella

• Juvederm Vollure

This also applies to home service companies. If your home business offers 24/7 or emergency services, be sure to add that to your top service keywords as well.

Another way to narrow down your keyword list is to add the appropriate location before or at the end of your keyword. You can use "offer + location" (egtacos near me) or "location + offer" (e.g.Los Angeles tax authorities)for keyword research.

Identify local keywords by query (using tools)

Besides listings, how can you find other keywords for your local business?

Keyword tools likeGoogle Search Console, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs,Helloetc. it can give you an idea of ​​the keywords people are searching for to find businesses similar to yours. You can even use Google's autocomplete suggestions to get keyword suggestions.

Google Search Console is always a great place to start. You can find out which queries are already generating impressions and clicks for your business. You can easily use this data to create part of your ownSEO Strategy.

For example, you can see for which searches a page appeared in the search results. To do this,visit Google Search Console, I:

• ChooseSearching resultsin the navigation menu on the left

• click+ Newin the filter section

• ChooseSide

• wSidepop-up window, selectThe exact URLfrom the drop-down menu

  (Video) How To Rank On The First Page Of Google | Wix Website SEO

• Enter the URL of the page you want to check

The table below the graph shows for which searches this page appeared in the search results. (Note: Google Search Console is not 100% accurate anddoes not show all data.)

From here you can enter these searches into Google Keyword Planner orSemrush to get local search volumes. Based on this list, you can then decide which keywords to target.

And remember, targeting a password doesn't always mean creating a page dedicated to it. It could also mean, for example, adding a section on that topic to an existing page.

Consider your search intent

Once you have a narrow list of keywords you want to target your business, it's time to get startedlook for intentions. It is important to look at the search results for the keywords you are looking for. This will give you an idea of ​​what content Google offers to people searching for those terms, which will affect your success when searching for that keyword.

Look atwhat's on the search results page(SERP) for the keyword you are interested in. Are there movies? It's mostly therefolders(Curling, Angis, etc.)? What you see in the search results can be an indication of the type of page or even the type of content you should put on the page for the keyword you want to target.

Let's say I'm searching for keywords for my medical spa and I've noticed that I'm getting a few hitswhat is botox. So I might want to target that keyword on my service page. Let's see howwhat is botoxseen in SERPs.

When I scroll down, I see that Google shows mostly medical resources.

This tells me that the keyword (what is botox) doesn't quite match my botox page. The purpose of the search isinformative, meaning the person searching for that term probably doesn't want to pay for botox yet. The results also reflect mostly medical sources, which means it's possiblehard to create and try to rank a blog postthis term as a local company.

A keyword like "botox (city name)" is intended to be a local search, as indicated by local business listings and directories in the SERPs.

(Video) WIX SEO: A Complete Guide To Ranking on Google

If you search for another term, e.gbotox (injection site), you'll see local businesses or directories (as shown above). These are signs that the intention is to make a purchase or pay for a service. This is a good sign that your service or site page is likely to rank for these types of keywords.

What you need to know about keyword research for local business blogs

There are a few important onesbenefits of bloggingon your local business website. It can help you:

• Create updated relevance for your website

• Increase in traffic and that's itskilled funnel readersfor your goods/services

• Victory is necessarybacklinks

Back towhat is botoxFor example from before, you remember that no local businesses showed up in the search results – they were all information pages or blog posts. However, these were from very reputable sites like WebMD, not local spa companies.

This can happen with all types of blog post keywords. Depending on the position, Google may work with itstricter standards of expertise, authority and credibilityTherefore, the likelihood of a local business ranking for these keywords is lower. But as long as you create quality content that is useful to your audience, blog posts will always be valuable.

Sometimes customers just expect you to have a blog post that explains why your product/service is special, just because ranking for the perfect keyword may not be realistic, it shouldn't stop you from create this content.

Ultimately, this is a marketing decision: you need to assess whether building credibility on a larger scale matters to your local audience. If yes, you can followbest practices for basic keyword research, along with some of the tactics listed above to get you started with content your audience might be looking for.

Find in more ways than one

What I have discussed above belongs to the so-calledin-place optimization category- just one aspect of mastering your company's online presence. But what happens on your website is only half the battle for local businesses. Potential customers may be looking for youGoogle's corporate profile on the search engineor on Maps or search for them inreview directory like TripAdvisor or Yelp.

In addition to the local keyword research you do for your website, make sure you expand your presence in all the locations where potential customers might be looking for you:

• Choose the mostexact GBP classfor more utility

• Earnlocal reviewsfor better ratings and more leads

• UsePost on the market and contact potential customersfire google

In conclusion, it is important that your website and profiles provide useful information to people looking for your offer to be discovered by new customers.

Celeste Gonzalez - SEO Strategist at RicketyRoo

Celeste Gonzalezis an SEO Strategist at RicketyRoo. She started her SEO adventure doing what she loves most: science. He continues to teach publicly and share his experiences - good and bad - with the community via Twitter and SEOBreakdown.on Twitter|Linkedin