﻿88% of people who do a local search on their smartphone will visit a related store
within a week.
So if your local SEO game is weak, then chances are you're leaving a lot on the table.
Now, the first and arguably most important step of local SEO is local keyword research.
And this is when you find keywords that people actually search for to find local
products and services.
And the reason why this step is so important is because if you get it right, then your local
business will have the potential to rank for keywords that can drive targeted local traffic
to your website and send more customers your way.
So let's go through a step-by-step process to find keywords that your local business
should be targeting so you can get more customers through your doors.
The first step is simple: jot down a list of all services you offer.
For example, a plumber might offer services like drain unblocking, boiler
repairs, boiler installation, and radiator installations to name a few things.
A dentist might offer comprehensive dental exams, cleanings, teeth whitenings, fillings,
and crowns.
Take your time going through this brainstorming stage because we want
to make sure that your website will be searchable for all the services you provide.
Now, once you've completed your list, we'll want to expand on these ideas
for good measure.
As a starting point, I recommend digging through your competitors' websites.
For example, if you hover over the plumbing services menu for this company, you'll see
they also have services pages for toilet and sink installations and repairs, sump
pump replacements and frozen pipes to name a few.
If you offer these services, then add them to your list.
Another thing you can do is use a keyword research tool like Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer.
Just paste in your brainstormed list of services, set the country to where your business operates,
and run the search.
Next, go to the Matching terms report to find more keyword ideas.
Now, because our goal is to expand our list of services, we just want to scan the list of
keywords and look for other services we might have missed.
For example, you'll see new ideas like servicing gas boilers, commercial boiler
repairs, and combi boiler installations to name a few.
If you offer these services, then they're worth jotting down.
Once you have a comprehensive list of services, move on to the next step
which is to check for local intent.
Local intent refers to queries where Google assumes the user is looking for a local result.
And an easy way to infer local intent is by looking for map packs and local
organic listings.
For example, if you search for Mexican restaurants, you'll see that there's clear
local intent because there's a map pack that lists local restaurants and
the organic results are all directories and local businesses in the area.
So to check for local intent, you can search for each service one by one in Google and
check for a map pack and/or local organic results.
Alternatively, you can bulk-check them in Keywords Explorer.
Just paste in your list of services and run the search.
Then set a SERP features filter to only show keywords where a local pack is in the SERP.
Hit Apply, and you'll see keywords with local intent.
Alright, the next step is to check for search volumes.
Now, because nearly every keyword research tool is country specific, it's challenging to find
local search volumes.
As far as I know, Google Keyword Planner is about the only source for this.
And unless you're already advertising with them, you'll see broad search volume ranges
which aren't helpful at all.
For that reason, checking the relative popularity of keywords at the national
level will probably be more productive.
This is because what happens in one city is likely to be similar in the next,
seeing as we're looking at data for the same country.
You can do this with a keyword research tool like Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer.
Just paste in your list of services, run the search, and use the volumes to get
a general idea of how you might prioritize creating and ranking these pages.
Alright, let's move on to the next step which is to group keywords by page.
Now, this part of the keyword research process often gets ignored but it's super-important.
In short, we want to do two main things.
First, we want to find out which services will need a dedicated page.
And second, we want to get a general idea of the content type and format we should
use to give ourselves the best chance at ranking.
Take these services.
Based on the keywords alone, it's tough to know whether we need dedicated pages
for each one or whether we can rank for all of these terms with one page
about boiler installations.
To find out, you'll want to analyze the current top-ranking results for each target keyword.
For example, if we look at the search results for the query "oil boiler installation," you'll see
that this result is from a local company in the New York area that offers specifically
an oil boiler installation – not just a general boiler installation.
To top it off, all the top results are specifically about oil boilers.
So in my opinion, our site should have a dedicated page specifically targeting
"oil boiler installation" – and the type of content we should create is a landing page
that tells people details about our service – just like this page.
Now, if we do the same thing for "gas boiler installation," you'll see that a bunch
of the top 10 results are just about regular boiler installations despite
the query including the word "gas".
So we probably don't need a dedicated page for gas boiler installations and can try to rank
for this and related terms with a broader page about just boiler installations and replacements.
Now, if we look at the search results for "combi boiler installation", you'll see that there isn't
a local pack and the top results are all mainly informational results with instructions showing
how to install your own combi boiler.
Seeing as there isn't local intent, it probably wouldn't be worth creating a services landing
page – from an SEO perspective at least.
But if this is a service you provide, then you may still want to create it for business purposes.
Alright, the next step is to look for things to mention on your services pages.
Now, the way many local companies approach service page copy is by just
straight up keyword stuffing.
For example, if we look at this page that ranks for "boiler repair" in Albany, New York,
you'll see they've intentionally tried to mention "boiler repair" and "albany ny"
as many times as possible.
This is the wrong approach because it's not helpful to visitors in understanding if you're
the right company to help them solve their problem.
Now, while you shouldn't stuff keywords, it's still worth looking for relevant ‘things
to mention' for a few reasons.
#1. It can help improve ‘topical relevance'.
#2. It can help you rank for long-tail keywords.
And #3. It helps you to better serve your visitors by addressing questions they
might have when they land on your page.
For example, that might include details of your service, pricing, and other important details.
Now, to find things worth mentioning, the first place I'd look is at the top-ranking
competitors' pages.
And what you're looking for are potential talking points.
For example, this page ranks for "teeth whitening" in Los Angeles, California.
Their content uses words like "stained" and "discolored teeth."
It talks about "bleaching" your teeth.
It talks about over the counter vs. professional grade teeth whitening.
It tells you that it's a one-hour procedure.
That the results are long-lasting.
It addresses tooth sensitivity during whitening as well as the costs associated
with the service.
These are all important things that I think a) helps Google better understand what
the page is about; and b) provides a great user experience for those looking for teeth
whitening services.
The second place you can look is in the People also ask box or in this case,
a Buyer's guide box.
As you can see, the search results for the query "teeth whitening" shows questions
like "can sensitive teeth be whitened", how much does a teeth whitener cost,
what is the best teeth whitener brand, and more.
Now, if you want to cut out some of the guesswork, you can try the third
method and that's to look at your competitors' organic keyword rankings.
To find these keywords, we can paste our competitors' URL into Ahrefs' Site Explorer
and then head on over to the organic keywords report.
Next, let's set a filter to only show keywords that rank in the top 10 to
keep our results relevant.
And as you can see, the page ranks for things mentioning specific cities
like Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and even a specific zip code.
It also ranks for things related to tooth bleachings.
So these are some things that you'd want to consider talking about in the content of
your service landing page.
Now all you have to do is rinse and repeat these steps and you should know exactly
which service pages you'll need to create and what key points to talk about in them.
Keyword research is in the books and now it's time to actually create the content for
those pages.
Watch our video on content writing for SEO to learn how you can best
optimize your pages to rank higher in Google.
And I'll see you in the next tutorial.