Local keyword research is the process of finding keywords that people search for when looking for local products and services. Ranking for these keywords drives targeted local traffic to your website and sends more customers your way.
But how exactly do you do local keyword research?
In this guide, you’ll learn:
Why local keyword research is important
How to do local keyword research
How to deal with multiple locations
What to do with blog posts
How to track local keyword rankings
Why is local keyword research important?
Local keyword research is important because you need to understand what people type into search engines like Google when looking for your business’s products or services.
That might sound obvious, but that’s kind of the problem.
Most people just guess these keywords and assume they know how people are searching for their business. This often leads to them targeting the wrong keywords or completely neglecting keywords that could positively impact their bottom line.
For example, if you’re a plumber in London, you’ve probably already figured out that you want to rank for keywords like “plumber in London.” But what about the other services you offer? Do you have a page dedicated to drain unblocking? Do you know how people search for those services?
These are all things local keyword research aims to answer.
How to do local keyword research
Follow these five simple steps.
List the services you offer
Check for local intent
Check search volumes
Group and map keywords
Look for ‘things to mention’
Step 1. List the services you offer
Before you even start looking for keywords, you first need to understand the services offered by the business. You should do this whether you’re doing local keyword research for a client or your own business.
Here’s the process I would recommend:
a) Ask or brainstorm
If you’re doing this for your own business, you probably already have a good idea of the services you offer. Note them down in a text document and move on to the next step.
If you’re doing this for a client, ask them to list the services they offer.
This exercise is super-important because many people never consciously think about all the different services they offer.
For example, a plumber might offer all of these services…
The workload like this whatsapp number list allows both the vendor and the affiliate to focus on. Clicks are the number of clicks coming to your website’s URL from organic search results.
Drain unblocking
Boiler repairs
Boiler installation
Boiler servicing
Radiator installation
Burst pipe repair
… but in their mind, they probably just think of their job title: plumber.
People are indeed searching for “plumber,” but many are searching for more specific services too. That’s why it’s crucial to understand everything offered as a starting point.
b) Expand ideas
Brainstorming will rarely uncover all the relevant services people are searching for. So it’s worth taking a minute to check for services you might have missed.
Here’s the easiest way to do this:
Enter your brainstormed ideas into Keywords Explorer
Select your country from the dropdown
Go to the “Having same terms” report
This will show all the queries from our database that contain all the words from your keywords (in any order). It’s then just a case of skimming for services you might have missed.
For example, if we do this for plumbing-related services, we see things we missed like “combi boiler installation, “gas boiler installation,” and “radiator installation.”