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***SEO EXPERTS please advice: Local SEO Question

by Dominica Alicia
13 replies
I am a bit confused as I heard that Google (Keyword Tool) doesn't show results for local searches or a specific city in other words: (keyword + local area),
ie: plumber Hampton (Hampton is a small town London's suburbans, UK)

So apparently, when you type it in Google Keyword tool, it won't show any results. And it doesn't.

However if you search for "plumber hammersmith" (this is the district in London), it shows 390 local searches per month.

What does it mean?
Does it mean that there were no searches for "plumber hampton"?
#advice #experts #local #question #seo
  • Profile picture of the author zannix
    What you're saying is highly inaccurate.

    I get normal results for all of my local searches. If you don't get anything for plumber Hampton, then chances are the search volume is insignificant and you should try something else instead of plumber.

    Also, make sure your keyword search parameters are set for both your country and language.

    I found dozens of keywords for my city, including "home food delivery CITY", "school of foreign languages CITY", "notary public CITY", etc.

    All exact searches and over 200 monthly searchers

    Try it again, for a different term.
    Zannix
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    • Profile picture of the author Dominica Alicia
      Originally Posted by zannix View Post

      What you're saying is highly inaccurate.

      I get normal results for all of my local searches. If you don't get anything for plumber Hampton, then chances are the search volume is insignificant and you should try something else instead of plumber.

      Also, make sure your keyword search parameters are set for both your country and language.

      I found dozens of keywords for my city, including "home food delivery CITY", "school of foreign languages CITY", "notary public CITY", etc.

      All exact searches and over 200 monthly searchers

      Try it again, for a different term.
      Zannix
      Yes, that's exactly what I've been doing for the last two years, delivering results to my clients
      If Google didn't show any searches, it was clear for me there's no searches. Simple. Period.

      However yesterday, I spoke to some "SEO expert", who literally told me, that Google is cheating on the number of search results, and even if it doesn't show any searches, it doesn't mean nobody searches for it.

      It was really strange for me, but decided to confirm in case I'm missing something....
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      • Profile picture of the author zannix
        I understand what you're saying, but I wouldn't say it's cheating exactly. Google is flawed, just like any other thing in the universe.

        I once ran into a keyword that had 1000 exact monthly searches and virtually no competition. Within 1 week, I was ranking #1 and I have yet to receive any traffic to that page.

        That said, you can't "only" rely on the Google numbers (although they are a good indicator), but sometimes you have to use your reason instead, as well as examining the search results to see how many pages are competing for that exact term.

        If your brain tells you "Nah, noone's gonna search that", and you check search results and there is virtually noone competing + Google says "- searches", then you're better off simply targeting another keyword, aren't you?
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      • Profile picture of the author ImDanHoward
        Originally Posted by Dominica Alicia View Post

        Yes, that's exactly what I've been doing for the last two years, delivering results to my clients
        If Google didn't show any searches, it was clear for me there's no searches. Simple. Period.

        However yesterday, I spoke to some "SEO expert", who literally told me, that Google is cheating on the number of search results, and even if it doesn't show any searches, it doesn't mean nobody searches for it.

        It was really strange for me, but decided to confirm in case I'm missing something....
        Everything that I have ever read or researched says that if Google's Keyword tool doesn't show any results for a local keyword,doesn't really mean there are no searches at all for that keyword.

        A few thoughts is to take a broader term in your niche that you know is getting searches and just add your city to it.

        Another way to find some info that Google isn't reporting is to take a survey with friends, fam, colleague's and others...ask them what they would search to find "keyword you want to target". If you get a keyword/search phrase that keeps coming up, then take note and use that one.

        Just a few thoughts.
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        • Profile picture of the author rjhartl
          Or at the very least you can use Google Instant for your search term. If it auto-fills for you it will auto-fill for someone else too. Test that for a week or so and if it stays consistent you've got your answer!
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          • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
            What that "expert" may have been trying to convey to you was this...

            If people are searching for "plumber Hampton", then Google will show those results in the keyword tool. If nobody is searching for that, it won't show up.

            HOWEVER...

            What Google will not tell you is how many people in the Hampton area are searching for just the term "plumber" and getting local results (Google places, etc).

            That is one area where it would be great to have some data, but I doubt we ever will. It would only serve us SEO's, and really wouldn't provide any benefit to the AdWords advertisers for whom the tool is really meant for.
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  • Profile picture of the author Taimour
    I agree with zannix !
    Google shows local searches, if it is not then try changing your keyword or part of it.
    But then you should not relay completely on Google or any other tool. you should see reasoning.
    Google runs on algorithm and it can fail sum times or can show results which are not accurate. SO you should try thinking with your mind time to time.
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  • Profile picture of the author RentItNow
    Wait, I'm confused here. Dominica, are you saying google will not display for instance the amount of searches from CITY for "plumber" (which I believe is an accurate statement) or the country wide search for "plumber CITY"? In other words, there is no way to use the keyword in GEO targeting mode...if there is, please tell me how to access this anyone. I can use that all day long.

    EDIT - I apologize, I do see a city geo search function in the traffic estimator tool...duh! Was that always there?
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    • Profile picture of the author zannix
      I think so
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  • Profile picture of the author davidmelamed
    In my experience the only real accurate keyword data you can get is to target it with a small adwords campaign.... Or you rank for the site and check your google webmaster tools account for search impressions.

    The keyword tool is an algorithm, and I am not aware of an actual accurate keyword tool since the overture tool was taken down several years ago. You can try some newer keyword research tools like zenya.com as well.

    Good Luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author rbrShorty
    I (almost) completely agree with David Melamed.

    I would like to add that when you search for [keyword]+[location] in the AdWords Keyword Tool, it actually shows you statistics exactly for that search term - [keyword]+[location]. However, the enormous part of the local residents, say, in London, would not search for "London plumber". They will simply search for a "plumber". And then Google will show them plumbers in the area. That, together with what David said, means that such kind of keyword research would be highly inaccurate. I'd suggest using Google Insights instead. However, I'd advise that you read the manual for using Google Insights first, as well as understand what Google Insights actually shows - it is NOT real, absolute numbers. It's coefficients.

    Cheers,
    Nyagoslav
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  • Profile picture of the author andersontrott
    Actually Google search engine shows each and every related keywords in particular cities or areas.I have seen the result of yours and it shows many results. try once again and give a correct keyword.
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