What is the relationship/difference between categories and keywords in terms of google local seo?
-
I know that they are very similar as search signals, but I would like to understand the exact relationship. My company is in the process of adding local seo services to our seo offerings, and we are trying to hammer out a process for determining optimal categories for businesses based on keywords we are already using for optimizing their sites. Any insights or suggestions on how best to do this would be much appreciated.
-
Hi Rahul,
I am assuming that you are talking about Google Place Page categories. Hopefully, I'm correct and my response will be pertinent.
A first step is to look at the top ranking competitors of your clients to see what Place Page categories they have chosen.
I consider it critical to choose at least 3 of Google's pre-set categories, and I use Mike Blumenthal's awesome local categories tool to see what my choices are:
http://blumenthals.com/index.php?Google_LBC_Categories
If it's necessary to choose custom categories, make sure they describe what the business is rather than what it does. So, 'plumber' vs. 'plumbing'.
Never include location information in the categories (no city names, no zip codes).
In addition to looking at competitors' Place Pages and using keyword research tools to turn up potential categories for your client, never skip the step of asking the client which categories HE thinks are most important. Very often, you will find yourself working with a client such as an attorney who may fit 8 or 9 different potential categories. He needs to help you narrow this down to his 5 most important categories (typically, the ones in which he does the most work).
Keywords you are using to optimize your clients' websites differ in that they can describe what the client does (plumbing) instead of just what he is (plumber) and they will certainly incorporate geo data (cities, counties, neighborhoods, zip codes, etc.). You have a wider latitude to work with on the website, whereas in Places, you must fit yourself neatly into a 5 phrase box without violating the guidelines.
Additional notes:
I found this article to be pretty good:
Don't miss the comments on that post, too.
There is strong evidence that picking categories well is one of the most important steps in creating a Google Place Page. Hopefully, my feedback and the information in the article I've linked to will get you off on the right foot with this. Good luck!
Miriam
-
Categories are higher up the "relevance heirarchy" than keywords because local seo is in its infancy. So for example if you have a plumber that works on heating systems, sprinklers and air conditioning systems, the plumber would be the category and could provide instant local seo value as a plumber and for all of the other the associated keywords that I showed. Whereas if you put all your focus on air conditioning, it is too far down the heirarchy to provide any plumbing value for a keyword search, and obviously wouldn't be relevant to heating and sprinklers....
To determine the optimal keywords you need to do the kleyword research and work with your clients. But with local seo, make sure you start at the top of the heirarchy.
Hope this make sense....
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How do I enter my own keywords to better my listing on google, using Squarespace?
I'm trying to use better keywords on my Squarespace website but can't quite figure out how to plug in my own using the site. I'm trying to improve my ranking on my google listing. Any help would be very much appreciated! (Sorry, I'm new to this!)
Keyword Research | | CloudJammer0 -
Why do my keyword ranking differ from the results on Google ?
I've been working on a specific campaign for a couple of days, and been noticing that my keyword ranking is much different on my campaign than in reality. I tried my keyword on Google (with the same settings I have on my campaign) and my keyword ranks at #5 instead of not in 50, as indicated on my campaign. Can someone give me a hint on this issue ? Thank you !
Keyword Research | | marketingmedia.ca0 -
Identifying Keywords - Longtail
I need some clarification as to how exactly keywords work. I learned that I should focus on more specifically targeted long-tail keywords. However I am uncertain of how this actually works. Say I decide to use the longtail keyword "online dyslexia test for children". Will my page only be found by people when they enter that exact search term or will it also be found when people search for any of the other terms containing the same words? For example like all the phrases below: free online dyslexia test
Keyword Research | | EJDekkers
online dyslexia test
online dyslexia test children
dyslexia test online
dyslexia test
dyslexia testing
dyslexia test for children
dyslexia tests for children
free dyslexia test for children
test for dyslexia in children
dyslexia online test
testing for dyslexia in children
free online dyslexia test for children
free dyslexia test
online test for dyslexia in children
online dyslexia test free
dyslexia tests online
online dyslexia testing
test for dyslexia for children
how to test for dyslexia in children online
online testing for dyslexia
dyslexia online test for children
child dyslexia test
dyslexia test online free
free dyslexia test online
how do you test for dyslexia in children Also if I have a page that I optimize for "online dyslexia test free" can I create another page for "free dyslexia test online" or will this be creating competition? In other words are these both unique keywords that will independently rank. Last question about keywords is are they still important and what is the search volume you should be targeting with your keywords. (Allot of my long tail keywords only have around 20 monthly US searches) Thanks! Joy0 -
How reliable is GWT's keyword data & what is the most accurate way of determining keywords you currently rank for?
I have been monitoring the query data (keywords, average position, CTR, etc.) in GWT, but sometimes the ranking data seems off. I filter the dates for the past week, so it is the most recent. I manually check some of the rankings and they are way off. Does anyone have feedback on this? If you have access to multiple domain data, that would be great. What is the most accurate way of determining keywords you currently rank for? I have also used keywordspy, and that is off too!
Keyword Research | | inhouseseo0 -
Page keywords
How many keywords should the home page of a Real Estate site be optimized for?
Keyword Research | | bronxpad0 -
Keyword Ranking Information
Recently I received an email from an SEO marketer with the following ranking information for my site (image attached) ( link to image http://imgur.com/CAo4D) I am sure he ran some sort of tool to this ... Is there any tool , which can give a list of low ranking articles in my site which have high search traffic CAo4D
Keyword Research | | iamnew1 -
Keyword and Keyphrases
I'm looking to optimise my website for some keywords and keyphrases I'm getting a bit confused on how different pages might compete (or help) each other. As we are an automotive dealer I was thinking about building the hompage around 4 keywords (one for each franchise we represent e.g 'Ford'). These show high local monthly searches and medium competition for just the manufacturer name on its own. Then if someone drills down into a franchise homepage (linked from our homepage e.g. www.ourwebsite.com/ford) I was thinking to optimise the page around e.g. 'Ford Dealer' (which has medium local monthly searches and high competition). Then if someone drills down into a particular model I optimise around that and so on. Question is will I be playing the franchise homepage vs the group homepage (Ford vs Ford Dealer) as I have read here on Keyword Cannibalization? Or will it work together? Alternative I guess is not to focus around a franchise on the group homepage and then only focus on the franchise from the franchise homepage onwards but I feel I would be missing a trick? As a new kid on the block help will be most appreciated.
Keyword Research | | design_man0 -
Keyword Difficulty Score Assesment
What is a good keyword difficulty score to pursue when deciding which keywords to try and rank on? I'm in a very competitive field and I am currently in the process of doing keyword research to look for the low hanging fruit.
Keyword Research | | 13375auc30