If you’re running a local business, you know that Google AdWords is an essential tool. For local businesses, the most important metric to track is the click-through rate (CTR) of your AdWords ads. But after you’ve got those ads running and are getting clicks, what do you do next? The answer is keyword research—the process of figuring out which keywords (or phrases) are best suited to drive traffic to your website or landing page and convert customers into leads or sales.
In this guide we’ll walk through four steps for finding high-quality keywords: developing a list of relevant terms; identifying search intent; defining your customers; and measuring relative value based on volume, competition and relevancy. The first two steps are similar to general keyword research since they involve identifying broad concepts that people might search for on Google when looking for something like yours; whereas steps three and four get more specific about who exactly is looking for what before arriving at your site in the first place
Step 1: Develop a List of Keywords
The first step to local keyword research is developing a list of keywords that you want to target. Use the following resources to find keywords and keyword ideas:
- Google AdWords Keyword Planner: This free tool allows you to enter in up to 10 different local terms, then gives you suggested related terms (using their own metrics for relevance), and also gives suggestions based on your query. You can also use it for competitive intelligence purposes by looking at what other companies are bidding for in search engines like Google or Bing.
- Google Trends: A free tool from Google that allows you to see how much interest has been shown over time in specific queries (i.e., search queries made by users). You can also see related searches, whether they’re rising or falling, and get information about geographic trends using location-specific data points such as city or state names (for example “San Francisco” would tell me what people are searching for related specifically under that category).
Local Keyword Research, Step 2: Identify Search Intent
Next, you must identify the search intent. The intent is the intention behind a user’s search query that tells you what they are looking for. You can identify this by analyzing the phrase and its individual words, as well as how they’re used in context with one another. For example, “pizza delivery nearby” could mean that someone wants to order food and have it delivered quickly or that they want something local (to their current location), so they don’t have to drive far away to pick it up themselves.
A list of common types of search intents is below:
- Product/Service Searches – These searches are often done by consumers interested in finding information about some sort of product or service available locally, such as restaurants or hotels nearby; these users may also be searching for coupons or deals from those businesses so they can save money on their purchase(s).
Step 3: Define Your Customers
Now you know what to look for in your local keyword research. But how do you actually find it?
It all depends on who your target customers are. If they’re business owners, you might need to look at search terms like “website design” or “business website.” But if your target audience is people who live in the area and want a new place to eat, then maybe “restaurant reviews” or even just the word “reviews” would be good keywords.
In order for your local SEO to work well, you’ll need to define your target audience as clearly as possible. Think about the following questions: – What are their needs? – What are their pains? – What are their fears? – What are their goals? – What are their aspirations? – What are their dreams? – What are they most concerned with when choosing a business like yours?
Step 4: Measure Keywords’ Relative Value
The next step is to determine the relative value of each keyword. To do this, you need to know two things: 1) how many people are searching for your keyword compared to how many people are searching for competitor keywords and 2) how much money those searches are worth in your area. This can be done with a couple of different tools.
Google Keyword Planner (GKP) is by far the most popular tool used by local SEOs to get search volume data. It’s free, easy-to-use, and gives you access to more data than any other tool available today. The only downside? It doesn’t calculate your ranking very well if you don’t have an exact match domain name (EMD). If there’s no EMD available for your city or area, then Google’s Traffic Estimator Tool will give you a good idea of what position you’re likely going to be ranked in based on their algorithm information from other domains that rank well in search engines like Yahoo!, Bing!, etc…
Determine the Current Volume of Your Top Keywords
There are a number of ways to determine the volume of your top keywords, but I’ll just give you three:
- Google’s keyword planner
- A keyword research tool
- A keyword tool to find the volume of keywords (like Keyword Scout)
I use all three when doing local keyword research.
For example, Google’s keyword planner gives you a clear estimate of how many people are searching for your keywords. It also shows you the cost per click and competition of each keyword. Keyword Scout (a great tool made by SEMrush) is another resource that allows you to find the volume of keywords and their difficulty. Most SEO tools can be used to do local keyword research, but these two are particularly useful because they offer insights into how people search for specific topics.
Analyze competitors’ keywords.
Now it’s time to take a look at your competitors.
What are the most common keywords that your competitors are using? Are they bidding on these keywords? How well do they rank for them? What about the keywords that they aren’t bidding on but are ranking for, or vice versa?
This data will help you determine which types of content should be created and how often it should be published.
When you start thinking about how to do local keyword research, it can be overwhelming. Not only do businesses have to consider their own marketing strategies, but they also have to compete with other companies for customers. Luckily, we’re here to help! Follow these six steps below and you’ll be well on your way toward ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) than ever before.
The first four steps in our local keyword research are the same as doing general keyword research.
The first four steps in our local keyword research are the same as doing general keyword research.
In this blog post, I’ll walk through the first four steps of a successful local SEO campaign, including what to do before you start, how to find the best potential longtail keywords for your website and business, and how to analyze their performance.
If you’re not familiar with local SEO, it might seem like it has a lot in common with general SEO. That’s true in some ways, but there are also some key differences between these two approaches.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to do local keyword research, you can use these skills to expand your business and attract more customers. Remember: when doing local SEO, it’s important not only to focus on the keywords and phrases that people might be searching for but also on those related terms that may not come up as often but could still prove valuable for your business!
If you have any questions about this process or want more information on how we can help your business grow with digital marketing services such as search engine optimization (SEO), call us today at 9569470489 or send us an email at umangchugh5@gmail.com
In a conversational tone