Local Keyword Research

 

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Some people don’t want or need to reach a worldwide audience with their keywords and seek ways to optimize for local searches. There is a misconception about how local searching works though and how much you should spread out beyond the keywords that directly relate to your city or town.

Researching Local Keywords

If you use traditional means to research local keywords, you will often find that they all have low search volume and competition. Exceptions will occur for certain locations – if you live in a big city or are working within a metro area, you will find that the competition can often be quite high. However, mid-sized cities or towns do not often have the kind of economic or electronic competition that someplace like New York or San Francisco will.

A good way to start is to search within local directories. Look through local newspapers and guides for sections similar to your own business. Find websites that offer similar services and see which keywords they are already using.

After taking the keywords you develop from visiting your competitors or local sites, start your normal keyword research. Record topics, related keywords, search engine volume and competition. Look up advertising rates (if any) and how much work you will need to do to succeed with these keywords.

Analyzing your Results

After researching your local businesses, you will have a lot of small numbers and some discouraging data to sift through. Don’t fret – this is a problem that many people look at and throw their hands up in the air over – not necessary.

Remember that local results are on a much smaller scale. If you have only 6 competitors in your area and there are 41 searches for a particular keyword, that is a lot of traction to work with. Additionally, if you can find that certain keywords have 5 or 6 searches every month but 0 websites cater directly to those searches, you can use those keywords as well and guarantee 5 or 6 satisfied searches. Think small and you will be much happier with your results.

Another way to think, especially if your keywords are giving you zeroes or if all of them together do not total enough searches to warrant an online campaign is to broaden your search. You may have a very limited audience such as massage clients in Centralia, Washington, but if you spread out a bit and find ways to bolster your overall search traffic from outside sources (adding forums and a blog and targeting wider massage keywords) you can ensure all local traffic finds you as well as surrounding areas.

Local keyword research is vital for small businesses, but should not represent the beginning and end of what you decide to market your website with.

March 7, 2008 | Filed Under Basic Keyword Research, Local Keyword Research 

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