SEO ranking for local businesses - What Works?

[csteinwolf]

For those who do local SEO, have you found better success doing the local city followed by the niche or the niche followed by the local city?

For example, if you were trying to rank for a plumber in miami...have you seen better results by going after the keyword "miami plumber" or "plumber miami?"

I understand I should trying for both, but was curious if you could only choose one, based on learning is there a clear winner?

Thanks.

[3fifths]

I just use the google keyword tool to see what the search traffic is. And don't forget "niche" in "city"

[John Romaine]

Adsense / PPC / SEO Discussion Forum

[MikeFriedman]

Easy answer...

Which one has the highest search volume? That is the one that will lead to the most traffic.

[MrLinkBuilder]

Originally Posted by csteinwolf

For those who do local SEO, have you found better success doing the local city followed by the niche or the niche followed by the local city?

For example, if you were trying to rank for a plumber in miami...have you seen better results by going after the keyword "miami plumber" or "plumber miami?"

I understand I should trying for both, but was curious if you could only choose one, based on learning is there a clear winner?

Thanks.

This doesn't matter as long you have the traffic for each specific keyword you are using and it has low competition.
Choose your main keyword + add your long tail keywords + include some semantic keywords within the content.

This should give you some variety of traffic.

[agmantz]

Originally Posted by csteinwolf

...I understand I should trying for both, but was curious if you could only choose one, based on learning is there a clear winner?

For me, do KW research and whatever is the best results will be my main target kw.

Then add some LSI on the page
then lastly and the most important is to do backlinking.

[Raul991]

I have experienced success with both variations, because the same keywords are in the url one way or the other. The most important part is backlinking to take that #1 by storm.

[MikeFriedman]

Originally Posted by MrLinkBuilder

This doesn't matter as long you have the traffic for each specific keyword you are using and it has low competition.

In my opinion, this is wrong.

First of all, in almost all offline niches, the competition is pretty low. There are a few exceptions (like real estate in new york city), but in most towns there is little competition.

Second, you shouldn't avoid something that has a higher level of competition. It may take longer to rank, but offline SEO is different than SEO and keyword research of IM'ers. It is not about just picking off the low hanging fruit.

If that keyword is what their potential customers are searching for and where their competition is, you need to get them ranked. Maybe you will not be able to get them to #1, but they need to have a presence in any significant keyword for their local business.

If you can't do it, give them back their money and suggest they hire someone who can.