How To Estimate Local Search Volume

OK, I've been on the WF for a long time and it's about time that I gave something back. I saw a lot of posts in the forum about how to estimate local search traffic and really didn't see any solid answers. Some use Google Insights for search, which is a good starting point, but I only get what I'm after when I use Adwords.

Here are the steps:

Create a campaign in your adwords account and set the location to your "exact location".
Campaign >Settings >Locations and Languages

You should now be on the Select a location popup window.

Click the custom tab. Now click on the map where you think the center of your location might be. For example, the center of a city or metro area.

Now back on the left hand side of the popup you'll see a place that says, "Show my ads within"

Enter the number of miles around your center point here and now save your campaign settings.

Now you just create an ad group as usual and an ad with your keyword in it. When you click estimate traffic you'll get a pretty good idea of the clicks those keywords are getting in the very specific area that you chose on the map.

Note: If you're just doing this to estimate traffic like I do, then make sure your campaigns and ads are all paused so Google doesn't charge you for clicks!

Hope this helps!

Matt