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Location-Specific Keywords: are they Worth the Hassle?

In the modern internet-driven age, people rely on search engines to look up things.

The phrases or sentences that they type in the search bar ultimately end up becoming the ‘keywords.’ These keywords initiate their search and present them with relevant results from the search engine result page (SERP).

In the modern internet-driven age, people rely on search engines to look up things.

The phrases or sentences that they type in the search bar ultimately end up becoming the ‘keywords.’ These keywords initiate their search and present them with relevant results from the search engine result page (SERP).

The searched phrases or keywords are of utmost importance for marketers and content writing services. It’s important for businesses, especially startups to try and rank well on the search engine so that they can reach maximum potential customers.

Choosing the Right Keywords

Your choice of keywords determines your business’s potential for brand awareness and growth.

While choosing your keywords, it’s important for you to consider your prospect market and see what your customers need and prefer.

You may also get some valuable inspiration from the phrases customers are popularly searching for and the keywords your competitors are targeting.

In addition to this wealth of knowledge, there is another thing for you to do – choose between two types of keywords.

The Keyword Types

While it’s true that choosing the ideal keywords lay the foundation of a successful SEO strategy, you must first understand the difference between the types of keywords that you may target. The following are the two main types of keywords that you may choose for your online marketing strategy.

1. Generic Keywords

As evident by the name, generic keywords target a ‘global’ marketplace and are less relevant. These keywords are searchable phrases with comprehensible meanings that typically have a wide scope.

2. Local Keywords

These keywords are phrases that include the name of a particular city, country, region, neighborhood, or borough. Location-specific keywords are meant to be more targeted and relevant. Thereby, they offer a better chance of a conversion.

All about Location Specific Keywords

In contrast to generic keywords, location-based keywords are limited by location. However, searching with local keywords tends to give the best results. For example, if someone is searching for a restaurant, merely using the term ‘restaurants’ isn’t going to give them the best results. Instead, a more effective search would include the city or country name, like ‘restaurants in XYZ’.

It is important to note here that Google doesn’t even require you to type your city name anymore. Just typing a phrase in the search bar provides you with the services that are located in your area. This is because Google has become smarter and can read your location without you having to announce it out loud. However, this doesn’t mean that location-specific keywords are no more important. They are – in fact, they are one of the best ways to have your business rank on top of the search page.

As a matter of fact, people still do include their location in search phrases when looking for relevant information. Local keywords can never go obsolete. Why? Well, the following example will make it clear to you.

Consider a person who lives in ABC is going to travel to XYZ and wants to search for good hotels in XYZ. If he searches for ‘good hotels’ without mentioning XYZ, Google will offer results based on his location in ABC. To search for the best hotels in XYZ while sitting in ABC, he will have to type ‘good hotels in XYZ’ in the search bar.

Why Use Location Specific Keywords

While content is always the king, your use of keywords determines your chances of ranking on the local search page.

As a startup business owner, you’d want to attract customers living in your area to develop a strong local customer base. If the content that you post includes local keywords, chances are it will rank somewhere on the first couple of search pages. Using location-specific keywords in your content will ensure the provision of easy access to your audience who are looking for a particular product or service in your area.

Unfortunately, many businesses don’t realize the opportunity that they are losing out on by not using local keywords in their content. Google itself recommends adding location-based keywords and geographic information in your optimization content yet businesses aren’t taking full advantage of it. Location is a crucial segment for any company’s keyword strategy. By offering what your audience is really on the lookout for, you can build a big local customer base in no time.

The Implementation of Local Keywords in Your Content

The best thing about using local keywords is that there are several local search engine optimization strategies out there for you to attract potential customers in your area.

Contrary to the common assumption, the implementation of location-specific keywords in your content isn’t a very complicated task. All you have to do is find out what the audience in your area is searching for on multiple search engines, including Google, Yahoo, and Bing – and use similar relevant keywords in your content. Moreover, mentioning your business address, contact details, and product descriptions as well as getting your business cited on different online platforms help greatly.

5 Ways to Maximize Your Local Potential

Here are a few useful tips for you to be on top of your location based SEO game.

1. Sign Up for a Google My Business Account

Do you know that you can control the information Google displays about your business?

Well, most business owners don’t.

It’s very easy though… all you have to do is to set up a Google My Business Account. This site is the hub of all business listings that allows you to upload your location, website, contact information, and details of working hours. You can even upload photos of your location to attract more local customers. It’s always better to upload a photo of your choice to avoid a customer-posted photo showing up on your business profile.

2.  Produce Valuable Location Based Content

It is essential that you regularly create location-based content for your website. You may consider hiring professional blog writing services to handle your site’s blog section so that you may focus on other important business matters.

There are several content writing services available that can create content for every location you’re looking forward to targeting. Many businesses combine everything in a single ‘locations’ page, which isn’t recommended at all. If you don’t have the time or resources to do it yourself, hire expert content writers to do it for you.

3. Put Up Your Business URLs on Google My Business Page

Once all your location-based pages are in place, you should consider including their specific URLs on My Business Page. This is an awesome trick to guarantee higher rankings. Not only will it benefit your SEO strategy but it will also add value to your customers’ experience.

4. Provide Correct Details

Your business name, address, and phone number are the three things that should be accurate. It is important to note that when Google searches for something, it cross-checks these details with those posted on other platforms, such as Yelp and Yellow Pages to make sure that you’re running a genuine, legitimate business.

By ensuring that your business details are consistent across a variety of online platforms, you’ll not only be helping Google but also improving your rankings.

5. Use Location-based Google Ads

Location-based Google ads will serve as a cherry on top for your local SEO strategy. These sponsored ads will maximize your reach and ability to compete in the targeted areas. Having signed up for a Google My Business Account, you’ll find it easier to integrate your business information into Google AdWords.

Pro tip: you may use geo-targeting to make sure that your ads remain within a specific geographical radius.

The Bottom Line

The ideal way to decide which keyword approach to take is by defining your target audience and combining the search volume data with a competitive analysis of the most-used keywords. The idea is to use the keywords in different locations, and compare the analysis of Google results. This will help you understand whether or not the local approach will work with a specific keyword.

Today, the majority of searches are location specific. With the increase in the mobility and advancement of our world, we’ll see an increase in the importance of location-specific keywords in SEO strategy. Therefore, businesses should consider focusing on using local keywords to improve their ranking and expand their reach to local customers.

Written By

Dave Brown is a Sr. Editor at Content Development Pros – a leading inbound marketing company that provides comprehensive content solutions, web design and development, SEO, and blog writing services to small and mid-sized businesses. With more than a decade of experience and over 60,000 completed projects to their credit, they enjoy the trust of hundreds of regular customers from all industries and parts of the world.

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