How to choose the best local keywords
So, you’re looking at your website analytics and notice that you’re not ranking for local keywords. You might tell yourself that local keywords aren’t that important. “I’m ranking for my big keyword categories. Why should I care about local keywords?”
Because you have local customers.
We at Ottobix want to see you achieve victory over your local competitors.
We’ll introduce you to the local keyword tools so you can start doing your local keyword research.
Why local keywords are good
At first glance, local keywords seem like low volume dead ends. Keyword tools don’t usually provide incredibly accurate data for them. Local keywords represent more specific searches than high-volume keywords and represent buyers more prepared to buy.
Dominating these local keyword niches can be the key to victory over your local competitors. Consider if someone lives in Milan and is looking to buy a new bicycle. They will probably start with “where to buy bikes in Milan”, “cheap bike shops in Milan”, “bike shops” or “where to buy a bike” just to see what comes up.
In any case, if they were to live specifically in Monza, they would eventually narrow their search queries with location modifiers like “bikes for sale in Monza” (and other nearby neighborhoods) as they do their searches to compare models and prices. If you’re using the right local keywords research tools, you can find these local keywords and rank them for these “long tail keywords” in that area.
Local keywords are usually long-tail keywords as well. They’re called “long-tail keywords” because they’re not searched individually with high volume but, taken together, they make up the majority of searches done online. These are low-volume keywords that represent buyers further down the buying funnel.
Therefore, these customers are more targeted and can be found more easily with long-tail keywords than with more general keywords. Customers are more qualified and more prepared to buy. Examples of long-tail keyword phrases are searches like “best bike deals in Milan.” Local keyword tools can help you find long-tail keywords for local businesses in your niche.
The importance of long-tail keywords for local businesses
While you may be running a location-agnostic business (for example, various types of e-commerce businesses like Amazon sell to national customers), researching local keywords is still important. Long-tail keywords for local businesses that rank higher for your niche can help you create content targeting those locations.
How do you do a local keyword search?
There are some great free local search tools that will help you find long-tail keywords for local businesses:
Google Trends
Google Trends is a great local keyword research tool for a variety of reasons, but the point is, you can take a generic phrase and see how it evolves by region. From there, you can drill down and adjust your SEO content strategy to target search-rich regions.
Answerthepublic.com
A website originally designed for use by public relations professionals, Answerthepublic.com takes a key phrase and breaks it down into a mind map of related key phrases. While local search can only be done with the pro version, the free tool still provides great insight into how keyword searches branch out to search engines.
Also, the site provides monthly volume and CPC. All of this can be downloaded via CSV, making it a great local keyword research tool.
Google Autocomplete, Google Maps and Google My Business
Google’s autocomplete feature suggests users different variations of what they might be looking for to improve the user experience. Ottobix finds it invaluable as it shows the actual intent of the researcher. For example, when users type in “bicycle in Milan,” Google can show additional long-tail terms that can further enhance your search by providing valuable insights.
Also, it can help to see which geographic areas Google refers to in a search and keep a list of Google Maps neighborhoods. Using these insights, you can find areas of interest to Google and optimize not only relevant pages on your site but your own as well
