.Master Local SEO Keyword Research in Just Five Steps
If you're looking to boost your local SEO rankings in 2023, keyword research is key.
Local SEO keyword research is the process of identifying the terms and phrases that your target audience is searching for online.
Knowing the right keywords to target can help you create content visible to your potential customers.
In this blog post, we'll show you how to master local SEO keyword research in just five easy steps.
1. Define Your Industry-Related Keywords
Local SEO keyword research is an important part of optimizing your website for local searches.
It involves researching and selecting the most relevant keywords for your industry and local area.
This helps you to ensure that your content is properly optimized for search engine results pages (SERPs).
Local SEO keyword research requires common words and phrases your customers would use to search for your business.
For instance, if you're a real estate agent, terms like “homes for sale near me” or “real estate agents in [town/city]” are likely to be used by people looking for services in your area.
By defining your industry-related keywords, you can ensure that your content is optimized for local SEO searches and drive more traffic to your site.
2. Use Google Suggest (Google Autocomplete)
When it comes to local SEO keyword research, Google suggest is a valuable tool.
It's also known as Google autocomplete, and it can be used to uncover long-tail keywords for your industry.
To use Google suggest, simply enter in a keyword related to your business into the search bar.
As you type, you'll see suggestions from Google that are related to the keyword.
These suggestions can help you to uncover more specific keywords for your business.
3. Research Your Competition
One of the best ways to do local SEO keyword research is to look at what your competition is doing. What keywords are they using?
You can start by searching for your competitors on Google, looking at the titles and descriptions of their pages, and seeing which words they are using.
By researching their target keywords, you can get an idea of what search terms they're targeting and how successful they are at doing so.
You can use this research to find out what words have the highest search volume in your local area and which ones you should be targeting with your own campaigns.
This type of research is invaluable when it comes to optimizing for local keywords, and it's something that all business owners should take advantage of.
The Google Keyword Planner is a great tool you can use (more on that below.)
Just pop in the homepage URL of your competitor(s), and Google will give you a bunch of keywords based on the terms that appear on that page.
4. Utilize Google Keyword Planner
This tool gives you search volume data for specific geographic areas.
It is great for finding new keywords to target (as mentioned above) and picking the right keywords out of a list you have already made.
Using the Google Keyword Planner, you can see how many people are searching for specific keywords related to your industry in your target location.
Keep in mind that you need to have a Google Ads account.
This gives you valuable insight into what potential customers are actually searching for in your area.
You can then use this information to create content tailored to your local market and focus on keywords with high search volume.
Another great feature of the Google Keyword Planner is the ability to filter keywords by competition level.
This helps you identify the keywords that are easy to rank for and those that may require more effort or resources to achieve higher rankings.
5. Use Keyword Research Tools
If you're looking to understand how to do local SEO keyword research, then using keyword research tools is one of the best ways to get started.
Local SEO keyword tools help find the most relevant and highly-searched keywords for your industry.
You can find a detailed guide for finding your favorite tools for 2022 here.
These tools can provide you with valuable insights into the types of keywords people use in their search queries when looking for a business like yours.
However, it's important to remember that simply finding the right keywords isn't enough. You need to make sure that you're optimizing your content for those keywords as well in order to truly succeed with local SEO.
Bottom Line
No matter which route you decide to take, make sure that you stay focused on your goals and keep track of the keywords that you find during your research.
With the right local SEO keyword research strategy in place, you'll be well on your way to achieving higher rankings. You will gain visibility for your business in 2023 and beyond.
