Tactics for Local Businesses and Ecommerce

Keyword Research for Local Businesses

Google has an algorithm for its local map results that is independent from the algorithm it uses to rank standard web results Those two algorithms have become more closely aligned with recent updates (and that trend is expected to continue), but it is still possible to rank well in local results but not in the main results (or vice versa).

Ideally though, you want to show up in both places. The best way for a local business to go about doing that is to start out by focusing on the local results. It seems to be easier to rank locally first and then cross over to the normal results than the other way around.

This can have a powerful impact. A very successful example of this is a business aptly named Audi Tulsa. They are one of a few Audi dealerships in the Tulsa, OK area. As of this writing, a search for “audi tulsa” brings up their dealership in the number one organic position.

That is the power of local search optimization. Normally, unless you happen to be Audi itself, it would be incredibly difficult to rank anywhere on the first page of results for such a high-volume, broad search like that. But because of Google’s increased focus on returning localized results, it is possible to own those searches, at least for people searching in your area.

Part of Google’s reasoning behind that sort of ranking choice is that mobile has become an important component of local search. A huge percentage of local searches are coming from mobile devices, and mobile users are generally used to searching without location qualifiers and expecting the search engine to know where they are.

Using Google Keyword Planner to Get Local Keyword Data

The process for getting localized keyword data from Google Keyword Planner is fairly straightforward.

When starting out with a search, enter your keywords as usual and then edit the location targeting option in the Targeting section of the search form (the default is set to ‘All locations’):

Pro Tip: If you select a city, Google will restrict your search to the exact boundaries of that city. It is generally a good idea to expand the boundaries a bit by hitting the “Nearby” link and adding surrounding areas, like so:

Once you have your locations dialed in, simply proceed with the regular process of keyword research. Keep in mind that the search volumes you see in the tool will probably be significantly lower than you are used to. Don’t be too discouraged. This is due in part to the way that Google normalizes and averages the data. If you are in a reasonably sized metro area, the searches are probably there.

Finally, don’t forget to include locally modified versions of your main keywords in your list. Here is what those keywords generally look like:

Typical local keyword patterns

“Keyword” + “city name” - i.e. auto mechanics phoenix
“City name” + “keyword” - i.e. phoenix auto mechanics
“Keyword” + “city st” - i.e. auto mechanics phoenix az
“City st” + “keyword” - i.e. phoenix az auto mechanics
“Keyword” + “city state” - i.e. auto mechanics phoenix arizona
“City state” + “keyword” - i.e. phoenix arizona auto mechanics

Ecommerce

Keyword research is critical for ecommerce sites. From your homepage onward you want to align the language on your site to the language your customers use for your products. That includes internal navigation links, category and subcategory divisions and names, individual product names, and the text in your product descriptions.

If you are selling your own original products your keyword research should focus on the words people use to look for similar products.

If you are selling products made by other manufacturers, your research will focus more on how people refer to those products and what exactly they call them. Electronics is a good example.

Many electronics, like TVs, have somewhat complicated naming conventions in order to differentiate all the makes, models, sizes, and features (e.g. Vizio E24-C1 24-Inches 1080p Smart LED TV). In order to capture specific searches for a particular model, you will need to make sure you are including the full (and most common) name on the product page.

You can also break down those complicated product names in order to generate higher level keywords. Using the above Vizio example you get:

• Vizio - the brand (related keywords include ‘vizio tvs’, ‘vizio led tvs’, ‘vizio smart tvs’)
• E24-C1 - the style (related keywords: ‘vizio e24-c1’, vizio e24 c1 tv’, etc )
• 24-Inches - the screen size ( related keywords: ‘24 inch tvs’, ‘24 inch led tv’, ‘vizio 24 inch tv’, etc)
• 1080p - the resolution (there are now three common screen resolutions, 720p, 1080p, and 4k. It would make sense to provide sub-category pages for each.)
• Smart LED TV - Smart designation and display type (related keywords: ‘smart led tvs’, ‘led tv’, ‘smart tvs’, ‘vizio smart led tvs’, etc)

Once you have come up with a good set of variations you can drop those into Google Keyword Planner to check search volume data and discover even more alternatives.

Another handy feature of the Google Keyword Planner can help generate keyword variations for sets of products with common options for colors, sizes, or accessories.

When you start a search, or modify an existing search, select ‘Multiply keyword lists to get new keywords’. You can then add up to three sets of keyword combinations. The tool will combine all of those sets of words together and check traffic levels for all of the permutations.

Here is a simple example:

When you click ‘Get search volume’ Google will show you a list of all the combinations of those keywords (so, ‘mens motorcycle helmets’, ‘mens motorcycle helmet’, ‘mens helmets’, ‘mens helmet’, etc). The tool will automatically filter out any keyword combinations that don’t get enough traffic.

One issue that ecommerce site owners run into is that their potential keyword lists are so large. Rather than attempting to create pages/content focused on every single minor keyword variation, combining very similar keywords into groups can help manage the overflow.

For example, you might create a ‘mens motorcycle helmets’ group that includes:

• ‘mens motorcycle helmets’
• ‘mens motorcycle helmet’
• ‘men motorcycle helmet’
• ‘men motorcycle helmets’
• ‘motorcycle helmets men’
• ‘motorcycle helmets for men’
• ‘motorcycle helmet for men’

You can then look up the search volume for all of those terms and focus your page on the most commonly used version (and potentially work the second most common version into the copy on the page as well).