How to Select the Right Local Keywords

A lot of people believe that getting their business sites on the first page of a popular search engine through SEO is going to help push traffic. While this is true, you have to remember that people seeing these search results still have to click on your site’s link to actually see what your business offers. Even if you did your keyword research and your site finally reached the number one spot, your site might not be getting enough traffic and it is most probably because the search engine users that see the results do not find your site relevant to what they are looking for.

Before you conclude that your business site isn’t appealing enough, think about your target audience for a moment. Don’t just think about the type of people you want to attract but also think about the location. If your business website only targets one or a few local communities, using local keywords for your next big SEO effort can potentially solve the problem.

If you already know how to use Google Keyword Tool for keyword research, you can simply use that tool and try out local keyword phrases so you can analyze the results. Basically, you are looking for a keyword phrase that has a low amount of global searches and a high amount of local searches. This way, you won’t run into any serious competition. Taking a common keyword search phrase and adding the city or state that your business is based in could be a good local keyword phrase to use. Just make sure that you filter the results to “exact” results because “broad’ results do not have as much potential for local searches.

Try to avoid using verbs as nouns for your keyword phrases. For instance, if you want to advertise your local car repair shop in New York, do not use a phrase like “New York car repairing”. Many professional Internet marketers discovered that conversion rates can significantly improve if they use a product or profession name. So going back to the example, “New York car repairer” or simply “New York car repair” is more recommended.

Remember, when you go down to the local level, high advertising competition and high searches still gives you the potential to rank high. As long as you create a single root keyword along with other keyword phrases that are closely related to that root keyword, your site’s traffic should increase after a few weeks or months.