Local SEO Question - What if they don't use [city name]?

5 replies
  • SEO
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I am building out my site for local offline consulting services (no, not SEO) and I am wondering how best to create landing pages based on KW search volume for my local area.

For instance, if I am offering reputation management services in Miami and I create a page optimized for [miami reputation management] will that page rank for [reputation management] by people searching in Miami, as well as those who use the full [miami reputation management]?

How does Google handle queries when it knows the location of the searcher?

What would you do in this situation?

Thanks!
#city #local #question #seo
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    Do you see local listings when you search? A trick you can try is adding the zip codes of miami and a location tag but that isn't likely to help. If someone searches reputation management without specifying then no you probably won't be picked up unless there is a pack of google places already on there.
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  • Profile picture of the author FormerWageSlave
    Thanks for your input guys. I'll create the localized version and just not put it in the Nav. The problem with creating a page for a local keyword is that adding the city name to all the keywords in the content looks and reads poorly. Hmmmm...
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    grrr...

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  • Profile picture of the author C Rebecca
    Yes, your listing will appear for both the keywords... This is why always prefer to use long tail keywords, because it covers short tails as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author rbrShorty
    There are many ways for the search engines, and specifically Google, to associate particular website and its pages to a particular location. Only one of these is having the name of the location mentioned anywhere. Others might be: ZIP, phone with local code, landmarks mentions, local-specific words and vocabulary in general, local names mentioned in the content, other than the one you are targeting, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author DynaPass
    I believe the question was whether you would be shown locally for a search with an exact keyword right? However if they search "reputation management" they will never see local results unless the use places. This is not in the local business category. The only way to do SEO is to add the city name in like you said and build backlinks with that anchor text.

    Hope that helps.

    To answer your other response about keyword padding. You do not have to have the city name next to all keywords. Just a couple of important ones. Google will match them up naturally and the magic happens when your backlinks are full "city name + keyword" links. That way your onsite reading is better and the keyword density for city name does not get too high.
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