Is [Location] a Keyword?

by GregBrass

Posted: 9 years ago 8 replies

Hi Warriors,
With the landscape of SEO changing as much as it has I have a question that nobody seems to be able to answer. Not even the forum that starts with an "M" and ends with a "Z". The software company I use can't even provide an answer.

As a prelude, I'm not referring to "Local SEO", as that is a different beast in itself, nor am I talking about a National campaign.

With that said, it seems to me my question would be regarding a regional campaign of say a metropolitan area like Dallas/Fort Worth Texas. With that long introduction here is the question: Do the names of the town(s) have to be actual keywords in the body of the text for effective SERP results. If the town names 'do' have to be keywords the copy would read unnatural because you can't naturally name the town or several town names in the text without it reading unnatural. It would be near impossible to have a few towns mentioned about 2% each without reading odd. See my point?

Towns can be added to title tags, description tags (which don't hold much weight) and in a couple H tags understandably. Beyond that, remains the question.

I have looked online to find how to do local (not local mapping), regional, and national campaigns, but I just can't find the answer. Any help from you Warriors would be appreciated. Or, if you have a link to share that I haven't been able to find-that would be great.

Greg

#keyword #location

awledd 9 years ago

What if you post some statistical data in a table? I think that way you can mention all the cities or what have you in there.
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- savidge4 9 years ago
  
  In part this is where schema tags can make a huge difference. That being said YES you have to have the location in your copy. < insert company name here > located in < insert location > has been serving the < insert broader location term > since 2000.
  
  what that would look like literally:
  
  Willies Widgets located in Garland Tx has been serving the greater Dallas / Fort Worth area since 2000.
  
  #1 if I land on a page looking for a local service and the location is not within the text at all.. well how do I know its local? - and how fast do I click back to google to find a listing that does meet my location needs?
  
  #2 The above text not only gives the town the business is located but the area it may service... multiple keywords with in the same context.
  
  #3 If you use a portion of your footer as a contact box ( I highly suggest the idea ) Then you can have the city your business is located in - and the region you may cover on your page at least once for sure site wide.
  
  When you really think about it, this information is VERY pertinent to the reader. I don't find it overly difficult to insert with out it feeling clunky.
  
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- GregBrass 9 years ago
  
  awledd, that might help with linking the page together with another page maybe? Maybe like a "historical data" page about a given area. That would play well with an LSI perspective.
  
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GregBrass

9 years ago

Thanks savidge4,

Good insight. Currently I have location in the header/footer/H1/ and a couple times sprinkled in the body of the text. The pages in question are about 2k words each, so I'm wondering also about "location density" being to low.

What I did fail to mention is when I do any ranking search I get different results with and without the 'town name' as the keyword. Using your good example above: if I have my Google location set in my browser I get different results when I include (or exclude) the town name. Let's say Google thinks I'm in Fort Worth and I look for Widgets, it gives a result in the SERPS. But if I type (like a user would search) "widgets fort worth", I get different placement in the results. So, it seems to me if I want to rank for "widgets fort worth" the town fort worth would have to be a keyword? See my conundrum? I guess that is part 'b' of my dilemma. And if "widgets fort worth" was a keyword if I had it too low in density I couldn't rank for that town. See my tangled web?

Thanks
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savidge4

9 years ago

So lets take this a bit deeper...

Just as an example you have an Italian Restaurant in Dallas Tx - a local user type "Italian Restaurant" Google then determines the Geo Location of the user and spits out a SERP. What is interesting to point out in this process is Google spits out SERP's based on the search being "Italian Restaurant Dallas Tx" - you can do the few searches and see what I am saying.

Now if someone types "Italian Restaurant Dallas" you will see they get a different SERP result. you would also notice if you are in the keyword planner that one has far greater traffic than the other ( and now you know why )

One of the variables at play here is Google's Hummingbird engine. It no longer is dealing with exact matches per say but there is the added value of intent or as Google has determines intent. This shows itself far greater with this type of local search than anywhere else - that I have seen.

Looking at some of the stuff I have done, and something I know an associate is doing in local market targeting I am more in the 1.8% range and they are more into the 3% range.. but I think a lot of this has to deal with the market itself. My market is twink compared to my associates. ( 50,000 vs 3 million I think ) so the competition is greater and there is more allowance for greater keyword density.

The other variable that plays along with this is the proximity as well. you really want to have the term spaced through out the piece and not crammed at the top.

Originally Posted by GregBrass

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GregBrass

9 years ago

Thanks for the insights savidge4. Finally someone gets my conundrum.

In the example you give with the "Italian restaurant" I have ran similar scenarios. I can have my browser set for a particular town and when I add the town name I get different results. To me, it seems rather inconsistent on Google's part, unless my brain just isn't thinking right.

To add fuel to the fire let's use the Italian restaurant as an example if one is actually IN Fort Worth. This time however, they will be traveling just 30 minutes away to a small town outside of Fort Worth (lets say Azle) and they will order a pizza (best food in the world after all). At that point "Pizza Azle" or "Pizza in Azle TX" seems it would have to be a "keyphrase" to be found in the SERPS.

In Google's own Geo-targeting they only allow for Dallas-Fort Worth-or Dallas/Fort Worth in their keyword planner. So, anything outside of their own parameters seems to indicate the town needs to be a keyword.

To take it a step further: in the scenarios [above] to get an accurate ranking of keywords tracking one would have to monitor a key-phrase with the town as a keyword....leading to the same problem. Is the town a true "keyword" or not? In the case of someone from out of town it would have to be. I try and use Bruce Clays competitor analysis tool (it's free) on his website. That way my PC doesn't favor any results due to any previous searches. I am using an "out of town" server in a sense. Just as in this conversation it isn't possible to use his tool unless I type the town as a keyword. Did I just muddy the water?

I really do appreciate your insight!

Greg

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savidge4

9 years ago

II would suggest reading this: Ranking Websites with Duplicate Content This pretty nails down the details to include it using TX as an example hahaha He and I very much follow the same philosophies on this ( I don't tend to use dup content - but has been successfully for a long time )

Like you say, Local search is a different beast.. I think its the Hummingbird factor that plays the most in this type of search and the Geo location stuff doesn't help any. Like you are going to read above. the city / town name IS a keyword, there simply is no way around it.

When you get into metro areas in particular, people know if the want results local to them in Garland Tx and not results from Dallas, they will have to use the term Garland or Garland TX.

How Google defines your location is dependent on your Internet service. So if you are in "Garland" but the leg of line that your cable company has starts in "Dallas" you would get "Dallas" results. Where I live its all kinds of screwed up because EVERYONE lives in a small suburb 20 minutes away LOL because that' is where the "Internet" originates.

If you happen to know anyone with Internet Satellite, their location is set by the user address so they have the most accurate listings when dealing with Geo stuff. Someday someone will get around to making it more accurate.. I think they would have to. but for now.. cities are the way to go! Happy Coding? hahaha

Originally Posted by GregBrass

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GregBrass 9 years ago

Thanks for the insight and conversation savidge4. Thanks for the link too....I'll read it.

Greg
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Is [Location] a Keyword?

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