Local Targeting without the city’s name
-
Here’s an interesting one for you guys: We show up on page 1 for “Edmonton web design,” (our website is http:web3.ca), however when you search for just “web design” in our city, we don’t seem to show up at all. I know Google is now placing a higher percentage or local companies in a search. So my question is: how can we show up better for a local search that is just “web design”? Does this just come down to domain authority & content or are there other key local factors at play?
-
Hi Gordon,
Thanks for coming back for further clarification, and I apologize if my response was too vague to be properly understood. Let me try to explain this better.
When you do a search for something like 'pizza manchester' or you do a search just for 'pizza' from a Manchster-based device, Google will typically show you 3 types of results. One will be the traditional organic results that have been around forever. There will also be PPC AdWords results, right?
But there will be a third type of result for this specific kind of query, and that will be the true local results, which are accompanied by the grey tear-drop shaped pins with letters in them. Those are the local results, currently most typically linked to the business' Google+ Local pages. They are governed by different data and are really separate from the traditional organic results.
Google may show only one result like this on a page, or they may show 3, or 7, etc. The display has changed many times over the past half decade, but basically, the idea here is that these must be viewed as totally distinct from the other types of results on the page, as different factors govern them.
What we were discussing earlier is that, back in 2010, Google stopped showing true local results for website design and SEO firms. So, you'll get organic results for these queries, not local ones.
I hope this makes better sense.
-
Hi Miriam,
I guess I'm simply showing my ignorance by asking the question how can I tell the difference?
-
Hi Web3 Marketing,
I'm finding it challenging to provide a really good answer to your reiterated question, because, to me, 'web design' just isn't a local search, because Google doesn't view it that way. If personalization is having a localizing effect on some devices, signed in/not signed in, turned on/turned off, then, yes, we can sort of say that Google is giving some local treatment of this as they would to all queries, but overall, I think this has to be viewed organically rather than locally.
That being the case, your organic SEO is likely going to boil down to a mixture of the traditional age+content+links+authority, etc. Of these, I would imagine that your content strategy would be really crucial in sending a strong message of locale, so that, in those instances where you are seeing some effect of localized personalization happening, you might gain an edge. The trouble is, are your potential clients seeing these types of SERPs or are they simply seeing the common, broad results for this broad search term?
-
Hi Gordon, Thanks for your reply. The results you are seeing are organic, though, not local, right? If they are actually local, that's big news. But, even if they are organic, then, yes, that is different than how I see this broad search handled where I live in the US. No local companies...just (presumably) big companies.
-
From what I've been seeing, it depends how your browser is set up. For instance, if you have geotargeting turned off on your phone, you will get much broader results, however, I have seen the same local results (just like Gordan) When searching from my desktop. So that still leaves the question: how can you perform better on a local search without the city's name? That is - from a computer where google has your location set to your specific city (Edmonton in my case). We will see what effect a new website for http:web3.ca will have.
-
I wasn't aware web design companies were treated differently.
I've just typed web design into google here in Manchester, UK, and the top 5 spots are taken up with Manchester based companies....
Maybe it's different in the states.
-
Hi Gordon, By that, I meant that standard Local procedures relate to typical business models like those. Web Design firms, however, fall into a category of their own, and Google handles them differently than they would almost any other local business model.
-
Hi Miriam,
you say " If you were a plumber or a doctor, the answer would be simple". How so?
-
Hi Anton,
Because of the nature of your business (web design), you fall into a funny category in Google's handling of the SERPs. If you were a plumber or a doctor, the answer would be simple, but Google hasn't shown local results for queries like 'web design Edmonton' since 2010. Both website design and SEO firms all got knocked out of the true Local index at that point, and so, your efforts for rankings actually have to be viewed as organic, rather than local, because of this oddity.
What are you seeing when you simply search for 'web design' from an Edmonton-based device? Are you seeing organic rankings of any local companies, or are they random, national businesses. When I search for web design from my computer, I don't get any companies in my town (despite the fact that my own website design company is located there!) What I do get is big, monster design firms and entries from things like Wikipedia giving definitions of the term 'web design'. So, that leads me to view a search like 'web design' as a really broad search. I'm not doing a technical analysis of each of the top 10 listings, but whatever their authority is, Google is showing them to me, and it appears to have nothing to do with my locale.
Do this same search yourself, and I would bet you are seeing the same. If so, this means that ranking for the broad term 'web design' would be a matter of major organic SEO work (and probably not something most web design companies are even aiming for) simply because of the scope of the competition. Now, if you are seeing something different than what I'm describing, that would be worth noting, too. If Google is showing Edmonton-based companies for the broad search, that would be very interesting to me to know.
At the end of the day, regardless of what Google is displaying, everything must be viewed from an organic mindset rather than a true local one, because of Google's handling of web design firms.
Hope this helps!
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
-
Is having a Video important for SEO or is it the time-on-site that's important?
Assuming it's a relevant video, is having a video on your landing page considered a good SEO tactic in and of itself? Meaning, when google crawls the page, will they say "good job, there's a video here." Or is having a video on your landing page something that helps you improve on other ranking factors like increased time on site? So, it would not be the video itself google "likes" but rather the increased User Experience factors that went up. (Crossing my fingers I explained this well enough) Thanks for any input, Ruben
Image & Video Optimization | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
How businesses get local citations without submitting them?
How do some businesses get listed in directories like YellowBook, SuperPages, MerchantCircle, etc. without submitting their information. For example, my dad's company listed themselves in YellowPages and Google Places years ago, but also show up in the ones listed above without having submitted the information to them or having paid anyone else to do it...
Image & Video Optimization | | ChaseCameron0 -
Google Local Listings dropped in all major keywords
One of our websites had dropped dramatically in all of his major keywords over the past several days. He was ranked in the maps section in google (the old pages not the google plus pages) in the top 3 in his most important keywords and all of a sudden they dropped off the first page completely - not just down one or 2 places. Not sure what happened and how to fix it.. help please!!!
Image & Video Optimization | | levylevy0 -
Targeting cities and services
I'm having a dilemma about targeting different cities and services. My client has offices in different cities but the services offered are the same. Let's say for divorce, the current url structure is website/city1/divorce website/city2/divorce website/city3/divorce 6 different locations so that makes 6 different divorce pages. They offer 13 services so there are 7 different pages of each of the 13 services targeting different cities. I hope I said that clearly but I guess you know what I mean. My problem is the pages are kinda competing with each other since all of them are about the same topic. It also messes up the internal linking since sometimes you link to one city using the anchor text "divorce" and then link to a different city later on using the same keyword. Any advice on how to target different cities and services better? I was thinking of subdomains in order to target the different locations without having competing pages but I'm not sure if it's a good idea. city1.website.com/service city2.website.com/service That way each site is stand alone. What do you think? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | spersily0 -
Tips for local link building?
Hello Mozzers, Working on a site that has locations around the country and is targeting words like "city name+long tail keyword". They're fairly well optimized on-site, so we're working on recommending localized content but could use some advice for link building. Beyond Google places, what have you guys seen that works?
Image & Video Optimization | | RiseSEO0 -
Local listing | Virtual office
Hi Miriam (and all Local SEO mozers), I read a couple of your answers where you advice people in different situations not to consider a virtual office when creating their Google Places listing and I would like to know if you would apply the same advice in my case. This is the scenario: I have a client who's in the limousine service in Orlando, he just bought the URL and registered the business with the City using a "virtual office" in Orlando. This virtual office provides him a physical address, local area phone number, 411 listing, a listing for the businesses in that building and an office to have his meetings. This is the part where it gets confusing when I read your answers and I will give you an example. You said here:
Image & Video Optimization | | echo1
_The requirements in order to qualify for a Google Place Page are that you have: __1. A legal business name__2. A local area code phone number__3. A physical street address (not a P.O. box or virtual office) to which customers either come to do business with you or from which your employees depart in order to serve customers at their locations (think chimney sweep, landscaper, etc.)_Number 3 says "A physical street address (not a P.O. box or virtual office) to which customers either come to do business with you".
My client is going to rent one of those virtual offices, which does have a physical address, on as-needed basis. This office actually does exist. Why would Google have anything against it?
One of the reasons why he chose that location is because he is running the business from home and he does not want the clients to see it.
Another reason is the image he wants to create for his company by having a different address where he can hold meetings and such. The phone number will be either a local land-line or a local cell phone number, in any case, it will be a _local area code phone number. _
So this is where we stand: he dispatches the cars from home (he does not have a garage, the cars stay with the drivers 24 hours) but he meets his clients and business partners at the other address. There is nothing fake about it, he does have a legal business name, a local area code number and a real place where customers come to do business with. Which address should I use for his Google Places listing?0 -
Street name or Highway number- which is best ?
In Google places my address shows up in two different ways. I want to establish a consistent way of listing my business, but how do I determine what's best at this point? My listings now show up as the street name: "122 Maple Street" and in other listings as the Route number: "122 Route 44 " The locals all know this street as Maple Street, but we are a tourist business and tourists probably know the Rt. # better. Is there a systematic way I can determine which is going to be the best way to list this? I have the same question about variations like using Rt. or St. versus Route or Street. Thanks Tio
Image & Video Optimization | | stephenfishman0 -
Meaning Behind Google Local Search Results Icons?
I can't seem to easily find this answer anywhere (even in the Google Places FAQ page), so thought I'd stop digging around and simply ask it here: What are the meanings behind the icons to the right of the link and to the left of the "place page" link in Google's local search results? I see a checkmark/question mark in a circle, then a bar chart with various levels filled in, then a dollar sign in a circle, then a magnifying glass. 1. What are these telling me, as a searcher? 2. What are they telling the owner of the business? Thank you for your help; I just can't seem to find a reference for this...
Image & Video Optimization | | keethgee0
