What Is Keyword Research?
When you perform keyword research, you basically research search terms and queries that people around the globe enter into search engines like Google to find relevant websites, products, and answers to a specific question or problem they have. The goal of keyword research is for you to understand the search intent of your target audience and be able to create content that matches exactly what they are searching for. If your content doesn’t match any search intent, it will not be shown on people’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
What Is the Difference Between General Keyword Research and Local Keyword Research?
General keyword research focuses on broad keywords with a high search volume and does not aim to target only a smaller audience in a specific location. They are best for online-only businesses such as web blogs or e-commerce that want to gain traffic from an entire country, market, or even globally.
Local keywords, on the other hand, aim to help a business rank among a very specific audience, people in their geographic area searching for either a brick-and-mortar business (e.g., restaurants, hotels, shops) or a service area business (e.g., plumbers, electricians). Local keywords are, for instance, “restaurant near me” or “restaurant in [city].”
Why Is Keyword Research Important for Local SEO?
If you are not giving Google the right information about your business, how should it know you are a match for potential customers? This is where local keywords come into play; they make it easier for Google to understand what your business has to offer and where it is located!
Imagine you own a breakfast restaurant in the heart of Amsterdam. In the morning, Lisa wants to treat herself to a nice coffee and toast and enters “a breakfast restaurant in Amsterdam Center” into Google. Immediately, she gets hundreds of possible spots recommended as Google tries to match the best options possible with her search. The more she scrolls down in the results, the less matching these results are. They are too far away, or Google doesn’t think they are relevant or match her search query. So, if you do not send out the right signals, aka keywords, how should Google know that your breakfast restaurant is what Lisa is looking for?
The more relevant and optimized your content is (and for local SEO, that goes beyond keywords! If you want to know more, check out our complete Local SEO Guide), the higher you will rank in the local search results.
Before You Start: What Are Implicit vs. Explicit Local Keywords?
Before we start diving into the local SEO keyword research itself, we have to learn the difference between implicit and explicit local keywords.
It’s super easy, have a look:
Implicit Local Keywords
When we speak of implicit local keywords, we mean keywords that don’t actually mention a specific location. For instance, if a person searches for “restaurant near me,” Google will still be able to match this search query with businesses that are located in the area of the searcher due to the geolocation on the device.
Explicit Local Keywords
Explicit local keywords, on the other hand, directly mention a specific location such as a city or neighborhood. An example would be “hotel in New York.”
Because both keyword types are used frequently, you need to find a good blend and target them in your content. Thus, let’s not waste any time and let’s find the right local keywords to boost your business online!
How Do You Find the Right Keywords for Local SEO?
To find the right local keywords, you need a proper strategy. Below, you can see the steps that will lead you to a proper keyword list that you can target by using keyword research tools and evaluating intent, volume, difficulty, and relevance to your geographic location.
- Determine Seed Keywords
- List Local Terms
- Use a Keyword Research Tool to Test Your Seed Keywords
- Understand the Role of Keyword Volume and Keyword Difficulty for Local SEO
- Evaluate Your Keywords for Your Specific Location
- Analyze Your Competitor’s Keywords
Step 1 - Determine Seed Keywords
The first step is to find broad “topics” or “directions” that can be the foundation of your research. These seed keywords will start a pathway of discovering related terms. You can either start with a direct list or a mind map and write down all themes, unique selling points, special features, offers, services, and products that relate to your business. Think about terms that potential customers might type in the Google search bar.
Step 2 - List Local Terms
Once you have collected your seed keywords, you need the local extensions. These local terms are for instance:
- Near me
- Close by
- Near my location
- Name of your city
- Name of a specific neighborhood
- Near [specific landmark]
Try to think of as many local terms as possible. Sometimes some variations won’t deliver much traffic but we need to check this during our actual research.
Step 3 - Use A Keyword Research Tool to Test Your Seed Keywords
Now that we have our starting list ready, it is time to start our actual research. There are various keyword research tools available at different prices. Depending on your personal preferences, you can start with a free tool such as Google Keyword Planner. From our personal experience, having used many keyword research tools, some are more beginner- or user-friendly than others. For this article's example, we will be using SEMrush, but other tools such as Ahrefs or MOZ offer similar tools. All of the basic local SEO keyword research tools are fine.
Follow the next steps with your pre-defined list:
- Go to the Keyword Magic Tool
- Select your country
- Enter the first seed keyword and click on enter
- You will see the keyword list alongside the filter options. For now, keep your filters on “All” (for all keywords) and “Broad Match.”
- Now we need to include our local terms. Click on “Include keywords,” enter all your local terms, and select “any keyword.”
- Select the keyword intents: “commercial,” “navigational,” and “transactional” for local SEO.
Now you will get a long list with all kinds of keyword suggestions that broadly match your seed keyword. This includes all kinds of keyword variations and phrases that include your seed keyword and the local intent.
In our example, we have entered “restaurant.”. Keyword variations with our local intent can now be, for instance, “best restaurant in Manhattan” or “Italian restaurant near me.” Before you start selecting keywords and adding them to your initial keyword list, let’s have a look at the keyword volume and keyword difficulty.
Step 4 - Understanding the Role of Keyword Volume and Keyword Difficulty for Local SEO
In traditional SEO, you want to select high-volume keywords with the lowest possible keyword difficulty, as they are less competitive. When it comes to local SEO, the answer is not so straightforward. You can still rank for highly competitive keywords because local SEO optimizes for different ranking factors than traditional SEO.
Try to use low-difficulty keywords for localized website content (on-page SEO) and high-volume keywords for your Google Business Profile and Google Posts. However, we recommend sticking to a maximum keyword difficulty of 80.
SEMrush offers a feature of a personal keyword difficulty based on your domain. For this feature, enter your website link in the designated field and select a predefined or custom range for your keyword difficulty.
While the general keyword difficulty might be very high, for your business it can still be feasible. Thus, if your keyword research tool offers this personalized function, we recommend you use it.
Step 5 - Evaluate Your Keywords for Your Specific Location
Now that you have all your filters set, you need to select all matching keywords and save them in a keyword list before we start evaluating them for your specific location.
After you have repeated the two previous steps for all your seed keywords, you will have a long list of all your keywords. Navigate to your keyword list by clicking on “Keyword Strategy Builder” in the left-hand menu and choose your list.
Now, click on the first keyword in your list to get a more detailed overview in a new tab. To see the keyword volume for your exact location, click on “Select location” and set your city.
You can now check the keyword volume and keyword difficulty based on your city. If the keyword is still a good choice, leave it in your list. If it suddenly barely has search volume, remove it from your list that is still open in the other tab. Repeat this step for each keyword to create your final keyword list.
While you are checking the keyword overview of each keyword, it is also worth checking out the suggestions shown below. Here, you can find keyword variations, questions, and related keywords.
Step 6 - Analyse Your Competitor’s Keywords
Next, it will be useful to check out your competitor keywords to find any keyword gaps that you can use to your advantage.
Start by finding your main competitors. To find them, open Google and enter one of your local keywords. Let’s say you have an Italian restaurant in Manhattan, so you enter “Italian restaurant Manhattan.”
Most keyword research tools also allow you to find competitors that rank for chosen keywords. Click on “Domain Overview” and enter your domain and location.
Scroll down to “Main Organic Competitors” and identify your biggest competitors. Write them down and navigate to the “Keyword Gap” tool. Enter your domain and your competitors and click on enter.
Don’t forget to change from desktop to mobile view as many searches are nowadays performed directly from a mobile device.
Next, you want to find terms that your competitors already rank highly for. To do this, click on “Position,” select “Competitors,” and then “Top 10.”
We now want to exclude the brand names from our competitors. For that, we are clicking on Advanced filters” and select “Exclude,” “Keyword,” and “Containing.” Next, we enter our competitors' names.
The last step is to click on “Include,” “Keyword,” “Containing,” and finally enter our local intent keywords. You will now get a list of all the keywords that your competitors are ranking for.
Click on “Untapped,” and you can directly see keyword gaps that you can fill. If you click on “Missing,” you will see keywords that your competitors are all ranking for, and you are not.
How to Map Your Keywords to Your Webpages?
Now that we have your keyword list organized and set, we need to map them to matching pages. This ensures that there is an optimized page for each keyword that you want to rank for. This can be a dedicated webpage or, of course, a blog article.
- Start by exporting your keyword list.
- Open your keyword list in Excel, Numbers, or the program of your choice.
- Now, we want to group our keywords by intent or topic.
- For each topic, you can create a separate sheet.
- Each group should have its own set of primary keywords and related long-tail keywords (keywords with more than 3 words). Another option is to sort your keywords by target location (website, GBP).
- In our example, for an Italian restaurant in NYC, we have created the groups “general,” “Italian restaurant,” and “Menu items” and sorted the keywords accordingly. You could also create additional groups such as “amenities,” “services,” or “products,” depending on your business type. The sorting makes it easier to place the keywords in matching content pieces later.
- Get an export of all your already existing web pages and match them with your keywords. These web pages need to be optimized for the keywords later.
- For the remaining keywords that don’t have a target page yet, you need to create a new page. This can be either a regular page, product page, or blog article, depending on the keyword.
- Next, return to your keyword list in SEMrush and check each keyword again. Look at what the highest-ranking competitors created. This is the type of content you will need to re-create (and, of course, make it better!). You can add some notes and links in your keyword sheet.
How to Include Keywords Into Your Google Business Profile?
Adding keywords to your GBP can help Google match it with relevant search queries. You basically give more information in the form of signals that will generate more online visibility. You can add keywords to:
- Your GBP description
- Google Posts
- Indirectly: when choosing the correct business categories
Here is an example of a local SEO-proof description for an Italian restaurant in New York City that you can take as inspiration for your own business. We have marked the keywords we have used in bold:
“Welcome to La Dolce Vita, your go-to Italian restaurant in NYC, offering authentic Italian dishes right in the heart of Manhattan. Famous for serving the best pasta in New York and delicious wood-fired pizza in Manhattan, our menu is crafted with fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Whether you're looking for a cozy spot for a family dinner or a romantic evening, La Dolce Vita is the perfect choice. Visit us today for a true taste of Italy, just minutes away from all major NYC attractions.”
How Many Keywords Should Be Used in the GBP Description?
In your GBP description aim to include 2-3 main keywords (max!) as you want to avoid keyword stuffing and confusing Google. Try to make the description sound natural and engaging. It should give a good overview of your services and offerings, as well as what customers can expect. The description has a 750-character limit. Try to tell the most important facts at the beginning of your description.
How Many Keywords Should Be Used in the Google Posts Captions?
For Google Posts captions, use 1-2 main keywords within the post, keeping the language conversational and engaging. Posts are generally shorter (up to 1.500 characters), so you should avoid overloading them with keywords. Instead, focus on making the content valuable and relevant to the user while subtly integrating your keywords.
Don’t forget that only by adding keywords, your GBP will not rise in the search results. Learn how to optimize your GBP for maximum search visibility.
How to Use Keywords for Multi-Location Businesses?
If your business has multiple locations throughout the city, state, or country, you need to conduct separate keyword research for all of them. You need to treat each location as its own entity, as search behavior varies per location. If you simply switch the location name (for instance, the city), you might miss out on potential traffic.
How to Organize Keywords for Each Location?
Create a separate keyword sheet for each location by following the previous steps. Start by checking your implicit keywords for the specific location. Then follow with the explicit ones and change the city (or neighborhood). Make sure you don’t forget to check out the suggestions and go through your seed keywords again. Your first keyword sheet should be more of a guideline for the next ones and not the sole base of your research, as you want to find all possible high-potential keywords for each location.
After you have completed all the steps, you will have a keyword sheet for each location.
How to Map the Keywords for Multiple Locations?
Create a local page for each location. These local pages should include your business name, the address (and other contact details), an image (or image gallery) of your location, and text that includes more information about the unique selling points and features of the specific location. Make sure you include your most promising keywords for each location in the Title tag, meta description, and throughout the page.
These local pages can help your locations rank better in the local map pack results, as they will enhance the visibility of your GBP.
Bonus tip: If you want to take it a step further, you can create more relevant pages (such as blog articles) that further elaborate on specifics about each location and feature your keywords. These blog articles can then be linked to your local page for a good internal linking structure.
Local SEO Keywords for Social Media
Your local keywords can also be used for your social media posts. If you create Google Post captions, you can rewrite them a bit and use them for your posts. Don’t forget to use a geotag as well, so your posts will show up when users are searching for posts from your area.
How to Monitor Your Keyword Rankings?
There are multiple ways to track the performance of your keywords and how they are either affecting your local search visibility or not.
Google Search Console: With this free tool by Google, you can measure the performance of your web pages or entire website in the organic search results. You can see the impressions that a certain page gets, the average ranking position, and the click-through rate. It also shows you how many clicks and impressions the page got for different keywords. If, for instance, you are checking the performance of a blog article that has a good position and gets good impressions but not many people click through, then you need to adjust the meta title and meta description to make them more engaging.
SEMrush Rank Tracker: Most keyword research tools, SEMrush included, offer a rank tracker for your keywords. Once an article or webpage you published is indexed by Google and ranked for a specific keyword, it will show up on the rank tracker. You can monitor if your ranking is improving or declining.
To add keywords to your rank tracker, you first need to create a project for your domain.
Afterward, visit your keyword list again and select all your keywords in the list. Click on “Send keywords” and choose “Position Tracking.” Select your project and click on “Send keywords.”
To find your keywords, click on “Project” on the menu bar, choose your project, and click on “View full report” under “Position Tracking.” You can now see all your keywords, keywords that gained a better ranking, or keywords that lost rankings.
Google Analytics: While Google Analytics is not a first-hand tool to monitor your keywords, it can still give you some insights into how your web pages are performing. You can learn more about the traffic source, bounce rate, and time spent on the page. Remember, SEO is not only purely about keywords; your content is also evaluated based on the value it provides to your users. If you have bad content that users bounce from quickly and spend basically no time on, Google will react with a lower ranking. Thus, it is useful to keep an eye on Google Analytics as well.
Google Business Insights: Your GBP offers insights into which keywords are bringing in the most impressions to your profile. You can find them under “Searches Breakdown.” Here you need to distinguish between “discovery keywords” and “branded keywords.” Discovery keywords are the keywords from your research and should bring in new customers, while branded keywords drive in customers who already know you (branded keywords are similar to direct search as they include your business name). You always want to have a higher number of people that find you via discovery keywords.
Wrapping Up
Local Keyword Research requires patience and skills but by following our guide step by step, you can easily find the best keywords for your business and enhance your rankings and overall online visibility.
Remember, local SEO is not only about keywords! There are many tasks you need to regularly fulfill to see sustainable results in your online visibility! Luckily, with Obenan you can automate most of these (quite annoying manual) tasks and spend more time on what really matters - making your customers happy! We make sure customers find you!
