Be Found Locally:
The Magic of Local Keyword Research
Be Found Locally:
The Magic of Local Keyword Research
Get found
Calling all local business owners, this might be you if you run for example a local marketing business that serves a small geographical area, which might mean serving a town, city, or region. When you start serving multiple regions of a country, this is when you become a national company. While some of the local SEO activities I’ll talk about in this blog post might apply to national companies, most won’t, so look out for a national SEO blog post.
So if you’re new to SEO, Local SEO, or Google My Business SEO, you’ll have worked out that most of your competition seems to be coming up in the Google My Business search results, and you’re wondering how do I get where they are? In this article, I’ll be talking about the very first steps you need to take to be more visible online, especially in Google My Business search results.
Get found
Calling all local business owners, this might be you if you run for example a local marketing business that serves a small geographical area, which might mean serving a town, city, or region. When you start serving multiple regions of a country, this is when you become a national company. While some of the local SEO activities I’ll talk about in this blog post might apply to national companies, most won’t, so look out for a national SEO blog post.
So if you’re new to SEO, Local SEO, or Google My Business SEO, you’ll have worked out that most of your competition seems to be coming up in the Google My Business search results, and you’re wondering how do I get where they are? In this article, I’ll be talking about the very first steps you need to take to be more visible online, especially in Google My Business search results.
Local Keyword Research
While to some, this is a dry subject, I actually find this topic really exciting. Finding profitable keywords, keywords that your competition isn’t using, is like finding gold. Finding profitable keywords that none of your competition is targeting means that your local SEO journey is going to be much easier. You might even rank your site faster than you expected.
So why do local keyword research?
You may or may not know that doing market research before you conduct any marketing activity is super important. Doing market research is the difference between beating your competition and beating your head against the wall, trying to figure out why your site or Google My Business listing isn’t ranking in search results.
Local Keyword Research
While to some, this is a dry subject, I actually find this topic really exciting. Finding profitable keywords, keywords that your competition isn’t using, is like finding gold. Finding profitable keywords that none of your competition is targeting means that your local SEO journey is going to be much easier. You might even rank your site faster than you expected.
So why do local keyword research?
You may or may not know that doing market research before you conduct any marketing activity is super important. Doing market research is the difference between beating your competition and beating your head against the wall, trying to figure out why your site or Google My Business listing isn’t ranking in search results.
Local SEO
Another benefit of doing local keyword research like this is that you’re able gauge the size of market. So you’re wanting to quit your job and start a local business, you have some ideas of what you want to do. By analyzing the search volume and competition for specific keywords, businesses can gain valuable insights into the level of demand and the competitive landscape within their industry. Keyword research helps identify the language and terms used by potential customers when searching for products or services, providing a deeper understanding of their needs and preferences. By evaluating the search volume for relevant keywords, businesses can estimate the size of their target market and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly, ensuring they effectively reach and engage their potential customers.
OK, so local keyword research starts by using tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, etc., all of which I’ve written about at length in this very same blog. Where local keyword research differs compared to national keyword research is that you need to almost always add a location modifier (keyword + location) to your keywords. For example, we Bell Clarke are in the digital marketing for London and the world as as whole, while our main national keywords might be something like:
National Digital Marketing Keywords
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
Social media marketing
Content marketing
Email marketing
Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
Digital advertising
Influencer marketing
Online reputation management (ORM)
Marketing analytics
Our local keywords will look more like this:
Search engine optimization (SEO) London
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) London
Social media marketing London
Content marketing London
Email marketing London
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) London
Digital advertising London
Influencer marketing London
Online reputation management (ORM) London
Marketing analytics London
Local SEO
Another benefit of doing local keyword research like this is that you’re able gauge the size of market. So you’re wanting to quit your job and start a local business, you have some ideas of what you want to do. By analyzing the search volume and competition for specific keywords, businesses can gain valuable insights into the level of demand and the competitive landscape within their industry. Keyword research helps identify the language and terms used by potential customers when searching for products or services, providing a deeper understanding of their needs and preferences. By evaluating the search volume for relevant keywords, businesses can estimate the size of their target market and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly, ensuring they effectively reach and engage their potential customers.
OK, so local keyword research starts by using tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, etc., all of which I’ve written about at length in this very same blog. Where local keyword research differs compared to national keyword research is that you need to almost always add a location modifier (keyword + location) to your keywords. For example, we Bell Clarke are in the digital marketing for London and the world as as whole, while our main national keywords might be something like:
National Digital Marketing Keywords
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
Social media marketing
Content marketing
Email marketing
Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
Digital advertising
Influencer marketing
Online reputation management (ORM)
Marketing analytics
Our local keywords will look more like this:
Search engine optimization (SEO) London
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) London
Social media marketing London
Content marketing London
Email marketing London
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) London
Digital advertising London
Influencer marketing London
Online reputation management (ORM) London
Marketing analytics London
Your first set of local keywords
The way I start this process is as follows:
Look at my competition
Look at the keywords they are creating content about, I write these down in a spreadsheet.
Brainstorm some ideas with your business partner
Look at the Google Keyword Planner suggestions.
Once I have all my keywords in a spreadsheet, I start tracking down the search volume, competition, cost per click, and I order these keywords in the spreadsheet by cost per click. Then I start picking keywords with low competition, high cost per click, and high search volume. So I’m trying to find keywords that have low competition but have other great metrics that I know will make profitable keywords.
Your first set of local keywords
The way I start this process is as follows:
Look at my competition
Look at the keywords they are creating content about, I write these down in a spreadsheet.
Brainstorm some ideas with your business partner
Look at the Google Keyword Planner suggestions.
Once I have all my keywords in a spreadsheet, I start tracking down the search volume, competition, cost per click, and I order these keywords in the spreadsheet by cost per click. Then I start picking keywords with low competition, high cost per click, and high search volume. So I’m trying to find keywords that have low competition but have other great metrics that I know will make profitable keywords.
Relevance for local keyword research
Relevance might seem simple at first, but it might be more complicated than you think. As you can see from the “Digital marketing company in London” keywords above, these are all related to what we do. Here are keywords that are closely related but not quite what we’re after.
Print media marketing
Radio advertising
Offline marketing
Event planning
Etc.
Here are some more that we would, for sure, not be interested in:
Step-by-step Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) course London
Cheap Social media marketing London
Low-cost Content marketing London
Affordable Email marketing London
Relevance for local keyword research
Relevance might seem simple at first, but it might be more complicated than you think. As you can see from the “Digital marketing company in London” keywords above, these are all related to what we do. Here are keywords that are closely related but not quite what we’re after.
Print media marketing
Radio advertising
Offline marketing
Event planning
Etc.
Here are some more that we would, for sure, not be interested in:
Step-by-step Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) course London
Cheap Social media marketing London
Low-cost Content marketing London
Affordable Email marketing London
The wrong local keywords
You can imagine that if you tried to target all the keywords that you find that are even closely related to your main niche keywords, which in our example is digital marketing, then you will be wasting budget on keywords that are never going to make money for you. There could well be 10’s of 1000’s of keywords that are related to your niche but are pretty much duplicates.
Duplicate keywords
London SEO agency
SEO agency London
SEO services London
SEO services in London
Best SEO company in London
Best SEO company London
SEO experts London
SEO experts in London
Local SEO London
Local SEO in London
Affordable SEO London
Affordable SEO in London
SEO consultant London
Top SEO agency London
SEO optimization London
London SEO specialist
Whilst this looks like a different keyword on each line, really they are so similar it’s not worth targeting keywords that are this similar, especially if you are running Google ads. For the same cost of targeting similar keywords you could be targeting much more different keywords. So instead of SEO experts in London, you could target keywords such as social media marketing company London.
Search volume for local keyword research.
Search volume is just what you think it is; it’s how much customers search for your keyword. In the following table from Google Keyword Planner, we can see that these keywords have low search volume. So while these keywords might be a place we can start with local keyword targeting, this isn’t the end of the analysis.
Here are keywords with high search volume
Looking at the table’s previous, you can see that the keywords that have come up might not even be useful for us. For example, keywords like Google SEO, backlinks, and Serfer SEO are all high-volume keywords but are not profitable keywords for us, and we certainly don’t want to pay for them if we were doing Local Google ads.
Competition in Local keyword research
Google Keyword Planner is a wealth of great info, and it’s free. Check out the competition column. You guessed it, this is an indication of where you might want to start. The reason you might only want to target low-competition keywords is if you have a shoestring budget, and want to start small. Be aware that these low-competition keywords, especially ones with a low cost per click for Google ads, might be like this because they don’t attract high-paying customers for your niche, or could be an anomaly, and are actually profitable.
Conclusion
To sum up, local keyword research is a crucial step for businesses aiming to improve their online visibility, especially in Google My Business search results. By finding profitable keywords with low competition and high search volume, businesses can gain a competitive edge and rank higher in relevant searches. Conducting market research and understanding the language and terms used by potential customers allows businesses to tailor their marketing strategies effectively. Additionally, considering relevance, search volume, competition, and cost per click helps businesses identify the most valuable keywords for their local SEO efforts. By prioritizing the right keywords, businesses can increase their chances of reaching and engaging their target audience effectively.
Cost per click for local keyword research
One trick I perform each time I’m doing keyword research is simply to look at the cost per click for each keyword. This is almost always a strong indication of which keywords are worth the effort when it comes to local keyword targeting. If the keywords you find have a high cost for Google ads, then it’s likely that these keywords are going to bring in high-paying customers. This isn’t the case all the time; remember these keywords need to be relevant.