Advance SEO question

[Joseph Then]

I think this is considered an 'advanced' SEO question.

I need to rank for my client whose business is for the local market.

Let's assume that it is for dog training.

Both keywords "dog training" and "dog training singapore" are getting a lot of searches. Of course, I can rank "dog training singapore" because it's easier to rank that.

However, "dog training" as a keyword also ranks Singapore websites. So, I have to rank for both "dog training" and "dog training Singapore".

In short, I want my client's website to appear in top 10 for the keywords "dog training" and because his website is for Singapore market, his website should appear in Singapore's Google result.

Now, here's the question: I know what to do for the onpage optimization. For backlinking, do I rank on "dog training", or "dog training Singapore"? Or both?


So far, my understanding is, "Both". But I would like to hear from some of the SEO experts here.

[steveniam]

I am not a SEO expert. But let me share my experiences.

I have a site in the weight loss niche. For backlinking I only rank "weight loss programs" and it appear on the front page of Google. However I do not backlink for "weight loss program" and it appear on the 2nd page and sometime third page of Google. They have a google broad search volume of 246,000 and 450,000 a month respectively.

But for another keyphrases -"best weight loss program" and "best weight loss programs" I am on the first page of Google as I backlinked for both keyphrases.

[Solidsnake]

I would prefer using "dog training singapore" most of the time... It's like hitting 2 birds with one stone... and to save time and space of course.

[jaggyjay]

Hi Joseph,

Yes, work on both, but focus on "Dog Training Singapore" first as it is easier to target. Continue scaling and building links to your site. Over the course of time, you'll start ranking for "Dog Training" assuming you've done things correctly.

- Jay

[Brett Topovski]

Both would work, but one may be a better option that then other.

What is the the <title> tag of the page you are linking to?

Remember: For the best results use anchor text with the the same keyword phrase as the <title> tag of the web page that you are linking to.

If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to post them.

[Jenie0109]

i would vote for "BOTH". I have that kind of story too

[TheHutz]

Hi Joseph,

I agree with aiming for "dog training singapore" as it also lends a hand to the main keyword too.

However, do they cover the whole of Singapore? If not, aim for cites/towns instead.

Other little "tricks" that help, is to try and have the site hosted in the country that you are aiming for, geo-target in Google Webmaster Tools and get inbound links from Singapore hosted websites.

This all emphasises to the search engines where the site is targeted for and in turn rank better in the local Google.

Also, be sure to add the business to Google Local if they have a physical place they operate from.

Hope that helps.

John

[intelinside]

I guess it depends on your business. I am sure if you are located in Singapore and do local business then getting international traffic will be useless for you so why waste energy and resources to go for something which ain't good for your business.

You need highly targeted traffic to get better ROI, which you can only achieve by optimizing your site for your country/region rather than going for global market unless you do business globally.

Get it listed in Google's Local Business directory, get links from related regional sites and you are on your way to get some targeted traffic.

[Joseph Then]

Originally Posted by TheHutz

However, do they cover the whole of Singapore? If not, aim for cites/towns instead.

Hi, in case you didn't know, the country of Singapore is smaller than New York.

So it's definitely covering the entire Singapore.

The suggestions are good:
1) Host in local servers
2) List in Google local directory
3) Optimize on the keyword "Dog Training Singapore" so that even if the user searched for "Dog Training" in Singapore location, it should bring up my client's website.

Thanks for the input, esp. (1) and (2). I must have missed that out in my thinking.

[EmpoweredCreator]

Using just dog training singapore you could also very well rank for dog training if your seo is done properly.

I say start off with just the long keyphrase unless you are in a hurry to rank well for dog training.

[Zeus66]

Yes, attack "dog training Singapore" first, then after it ranks well for that phrase, I would implement a multi-pronged attack using the very tough "dog training" and then a series of LSI phrases with that as the root. Things like "training a dog Singapore" - "puppy training Singapore" - "how to train a dog Singapore", etc. Chances are high that you'll be able to land on the first page of Google SERPs with those longtail phrases, and the traffic will accumulate from all the sources. It will also boost the site for the main phrases ("dog training" and "dog training Singapore") because you're using LSI in the alternate phrases. It all adds up and tells Google what the site should rank for from several different (but very closely related) angles.

John

[kkchoon]

Use google suggestion to find all longtail of dog training singapore, add more content with those long tail keywords, do backlinks to those contents with relevant long tail keywords.

Also do backlinks to "dog training singapore" to the main page, use paul and angela backlinks package and outsource it for someone to do the backlinks for you!

You can fairly easy to rank for it..! after you rank for the keyword, you may consider doing "dog training" backlinks only.

[sandraartox]

I absolutely agree with kkchoon. I think "dog training" is just to broad, and doesn't do much good for your client.

[Smokey_Joe]

I would still go for both, and think of a number of other keywords, as suggested by Zeus66.

Also, I think it would be valid to point out that google search is localized: for instance, when typing in a search query a person in Singapore is offered first of all Singapore sites.

[webdev08]

I would suggest to use both either. What's important are your backlinks. Try to build numerous quality backlinks.

[lalit.burma]

I would suggest you to first target Dog Training Singapore and after that go for Dog Training. If you want to rank for Singapore than make sure that you will get the links from Singapore related websites.

Regards ...

[John Pawlett]

register the Singapore domain ext.