Local SEO is killing me.

[samson_is_furry]

I'm really struggling with local SEO strategy. It's leading to SEO block, if there is such a thing. I'm staring at my data and unsure how to proceed.

I have a geo-targeted exact match domain. My keyword research has revealed a few local keywords, for example: Rug Cleaner Richmond Va. I'm creating landing pages specifically targeting those keywords. No problems there. It's the keywords that don't include "richmond va" that I am struggling with.

Using the rug cleaner example...

My keyword research shows that the term "rug cleaning quote richmond va" had zero exact or phrase matches. However, "rug cleaning quote" has 60,500 exact match searches. The way I see it, I can do a few things:

• Target the longer tail version and hope that Google's algorithm will recognize me as an authority for local search.
  
• Target the broader term and hope that the page is recognized as an authority for local search.
  
• Scrap the keyword since there are no local searches reported.

What would you do?

Thanks,

Mike

[InitialEffort]

I would probably build a mixture of both. But I would start with the keyword rug cleaner and see if there are other related keywords like carpet cleaner that the broad term has a higher exact match search volume. Then change it to start targeting "keyword Richmond" or "keyword Virginia". Your City State keyword might be too narrow.

[samson_is_furry]

Makes a lot of sense, but keyword Richmond will bring traffic from: Richmond Va, Richmond Indiana, Richmond Texas, etc. Should that be considered in geo targeted SEO?

[yukon]

The first thing I would do is look around at the local competition, what are they doing, how long have they been online, what keywords are they targeting?

Look at the competitions keywords & pick the best keywords they target.

A couple of other things you should target is area codes & zip codes in a 50 mile radius of downtown Richmond Va., or whatever the distance your client is willing to travel for rug cleaning jobs.

[cniemann]

You have to remember with local searches, that you may be competing with businesses that have registered their location with google as Richmond Va, and they are carpet cleaners. It is possible to beat the local page results, it just takes a lot more work than if there is no local page results.

I would build the site for the location + keyword, then move on, it is easier to build one page or site for each location than to rank a page for competitive keywords for several locations. If you are targeting just the keyword you are no longer competing for a local market.

To give an example of what I am talking about, I own a photography business, Chris Niemann Photography. If you search for New Bern Wedding Photographer on google I pop up as number one. If you search for Wedding Photographer you will see sites from all across the US on page one of google. By putting the location in I am no longer competing with photographers that have thousands of links and a couple hundred page/post site, but rather somebody that has a couple hundred links and maybe a 20 or 30 page/post site.

So, it is possible to rank for a non-location specific keyword, but if you are only doing local work it is much easier to rank for a location specific keyword.