Ranking nationally but not locally
-
Hi everyone,
I'm working with a client that has a strange situation. He's ranking for his target keyword on a national level but when searching locally, he's in the 100s (see attached).
Any idea what could be going on here? He did have an old domain that got hacked that is redirecting to his current domain.
Thanks,
Tim
-
Haha, thank you, Patrick!
-
Miriam does it again!
-
Hey Tim,
Your client is physically located in Clovis, so ranking in the local packs in Fresno would not be a good goal to set for him. If you take a look, your client is ranking #2 in the local pack for 'it support clovis' https://www.google.com/search?q=it+support+clovis%2C+ca&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Given that your client is about 9 miles away from Fresno, and should not expect to rank in the Fresno local packs, you have two paths to suggest to him:
-
Build organic content on the website specifically geared toward work he is doing for Fresno-based businesses. Goal here is organic rankings.
-
Invest in Adwords for Fresno traffic
Hope this helps!
-
-
Hey,
Just had a quick look and my only guess is that Google is super-localising the organic rankings for people in Fresno? I don't think that is the 100% reason, but as your client is not exactly smack bang in the middle of Fresno, I think it is showing closer businesses before you. But that doesn't explain why you aren't even in the top 5 pages? Very strange!
It might be something to do with your links, as the few that you do have are what I would call over-optimised. So you might be highly authoritative for those search terms that mention the location Fresno, but I would assume all other local ranking factors are weak which would explain why you don't show. But I'm just guessing, never really seen anything like this before.
-
What does your clients local citations look like? When did their site get hacked?
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
-
US rank worse than the UK
Hi, Can you please advise? We have been focusing on the UK traffic, but this year we are expanding to all English speaking countries, primarily focusing on the US market. Our SEO efforts are not equally fruitful in the US, but they are really good in the UK. Can you please suggest what seriously impacts rank these days? our main domain that we use in the UK is domain.com. The US version uses sub-directory domain.com/us. Is this a problem? we have about 3 times more traffic from the UK than the US, and we have only UK backlinks. Do they still impact SEO significantly? can our poor US rank be related simply to a larger market? Any ideas on how we can improve? Technical suggestions, page organisation etc, I'm open to any suggestions. Many thanks. Katarina
Local Website Optimization | | Katarina-Borovska0 -
Site is not ranking, please help.
For some reason, we have been fighting and fighting to get a website to rank and no matter what we do- nothing seems to work. I'm just taking over the website handle it personally, but was curious if anyone here had advice on what the issue may be. It isn't even ranking for its brand name, any ideas? http://estesroofingtx.com/
Local Website Optimization | | spadedesign0 -
Is it possible to rank for street name searches?
I am working with a real estate agency who serves a very small geographical area in Dallas, TX. Many areas with Dallas addresses have proper names (e.g. Uptown, Highland Park, Lake Highlands, etc.), but the area my client wants to target is nameless, so we had the idea of trying to target searches for particular street names instead (e.g. homes for sale on easy street). I have looked around quite a bit, but have not found a website that takes that approach. Any thoughts on whether it's possible?
Local Website Optimization | | cbizzle0 -
RE: Keep Losing Keyword Ranking Position for Targeted Keyword Terms Can't Figure It Out, Please Help!!!
Hey Mozzers, I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out why one of my clients keeps losing their SERP for their targeted keyword terms. We're actively pursuing local citations, making sure their NAP is consistent across the board and refining on-page content to make sure that we're maximizing opportunities. The only thing I've found is a 4xx error that my Moz 'crawl diagnostics' keep returning back to me, however, when I check to see if there's any problems with Google Webmaster Tools, it doesn't return any errors. Is this 4xx error the culprit? Are there any suggestions any of you could give me to help me improve the SERP for my targeted keyword terms. Anyway, any and all insight can help. I'm at my wits end. Thanks for reading and for all of your help!
Local Website Optimization | | maxcarnage0 -
Drastic changes in keyword rankings on a daily basis
Anybody ever seen keyword rankings for a site change drastically from day to day? I've got a client, a local furniture store, whose local keywords (furniture + city) rank consistently well without much change, but when it comes to broader keyword rankings (like "furniture" or "furniture store") in their zip code, they'll go from ranking at the top of Google one day to not being ranked at all the next (at least according to Raven Tools). My best guess is that it's just a reflection of personalized results from Google, but such a dramatic change day in and day out makes me wonder.
Local Website Optimization | | ChaseMG0 -
Will NAP Schema Impact non local searches
Hi, Just got a business address and a toll free number for my website. I have read that adding the NAP details schema to the site gives that additional weight of trust to Google and also helps local search. Now my website is NOT local. However, if I add my LA address details on my website using the Local Business schema.org, it might give Google the impression that I am based out of CA. Fair enough, but my question is, will it impact negatively for SERPs from other states. For example I might want to rank for KW "Autism Alternative Treatment". Obviously now that I have added my NAP, if someone keys in Autism Alternative Treatment LA or Autism Alternative Treatment CA, google should give my site preference. But if someone searched Autism Alternative Treatment Arizona, will google exclude/downgrade me (even though there may not be a local site for Arizona) from the search results under the pretext that I am not Arizona based? Your suggestion would be very helpful.
Local Website Optimization | | DealWithAutism0 -
URL structure for local SEO
Hi fokes, question; which url structure is best for local rankings. For example: when I want to rank on the keyword: "Plumber Londen". And I dont have plumber in my brand. What is the best url structure: example.com/plumber/londen example.com/plumber-londen
Local Website Optimization | | remkoallertz1 -
Can a localization web design update hurt SEO?
Hi mozzers, Me and my team are having a major website refresh and update for one of our client's. The structure of the website can be divided into 2 types of pages: corporate pages(representing the core services of the company which rank nationally) and microsite pages(representing each and every 30+ franchise locations ranking locally). Right now when you visit the Seattle microsite page you have localization feel but the main nav(of corporate site) remains at the top on top of the subnav(orange under map) which is customized for the location where you are in. My colleague who is the main person in charge of this website update would like to create a better localization experience for users in specific cities by having one main navigation instead of 2 displaying exactly the same pages displayed on the actual subnav (actual microsite) (images are below of actual and potential look of the website). FYI: URLs will remain the same. I really like this idea of a more personalized experience but I am afraid that the local seo strategy we have done so far may be jeopardized because of this new design but i am not sure. Am I right? Are we going to lose national and/or local rankings? Will this fresh design hurt the SEO we have been doing for the past few years? It would be great to provide me "best practice" tips to follow for this case as far as what are the steps I should be paying attention... Thank you guys! ktJrsNx.png Boq4Pvt.png
Local Website Optimization | | Ideas-Money-Art0