Local Monthly Searches for a particular city
-
I'm not exactly new to SEO but totally new to local SEO. How do I check monthly searches for a specific city so that I know if it makes sense to develop a site for that a particular area.
-
Hi Vince,
Robert has given a great answer, below. Local keyword research is traditionally conducted without the use of geo-modifiers, because no keyword tool exists which provides accurate numbers for local terms. So, you would do keyword research without any geographic terms, and then city names, zip codes, etc. into your list.The free Google Adwords Keyword Tool is a great place to start.
https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__c=1000000000&__u=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEASAdditional ideas can come from Google Insights: http://www.google.com/insights/search/
And this is a neat newer tool for helping you discover local zip codes and other geo data:
http://www.localmarketingsource.com/local-keyword-research-tool/Beyond the use of tools, it's vital that you closely interview the client about their list of most common terms - things their clients say to describe the products or services at hand. There are regional differences in terminology that are very important to reflect. For example, you may discover that a plumber in California fixes 'water heaters', while one up in British Colombia fixes 'hot water tanks'. So, zoning in on regionalism is very important, custom work every good Local SEO does, and it's not something you can expect from any automated tool. This is something I find so interesting and exciting when taking care of my clients! I just love those language differences.
-
Red or Blue,
Having not seen Linkdex prior to your answer, I will first say that I have no experience with it.
I went to the site and read a bit of the data then downloaded their "white paper."
I also joined on the free trial and would suggest to Vince that he can do the same. (I like the sites where I don't have to dig out a credit card to try it out for a month and this is one.) NOTE: GeoRanking is not available on the free trial????? What's the point?
Unfortunately, I do not see how this could assist Vince given that the software is geared toward showing you where you rank and not toward showing traffic for the given keywords in a specific industry in individual cities. If, you are doing market research to determine an expansion, you would not have a site up and your competitor ranking in that city cannot be compared to where you are (because you are not there).
I appreciate you providing the info on Linkdex and will try it out for the month. If I am missing something as to how it could be used for the purpose Vince wants, please let me know.
-
Hi Vince,As Robert said, this is a common problem for many and an answer didn't really exist until a month ago when Linkdex released a scalable solution called geo-rankings. You can upload your keywords, enter any locations you want (cities, towns, ZIP codes etc) and compare your rankings for those keywords across all those locations. You can then see where there are new opportunities to rank in different areas and decide whether it makes sense to develop a new site for that region.A good place to start is the geo ranking page where you can download the whitepaper Linkdex have put out or use their tool to compare rankings in different locations.I hope this helps
-
Vince,
This is an oft asked question and I will give you my best work around. First, there is no really good software I have found that does this for you. (Yes, there are some that say they can...)
What I would do is to utilize the keyword tool in AdWords and use it as follows: Assuming you sell vegetables, search first on the basic terms you would use and the basic term plus the city you are checking. I live in Houston, so will use that.
Beets
Beets Houston
Fresh Beets
Fresh Beets Houston
farmers markets
farmers markets houston, etc.
For the broader terms like farmers markets, I usually see a number that is large and then a smaller number when the geolocation (Houston) is used. That will allow me to derive a general impression as to the efficacy of a vegetable market in Houston. If I am also seeing Geo Located searches on the more narrow terms, I assume that means more interest in that area.
Hope this helps,
Edit Note: For city to city, if you have a baseline city that is in same general geolocation and you want to see how city A is versus city B, use the same keywords and then append the location and compare A to B. So, for Texas: Austin Farmers Market vs. Houston Farmers Market. If there are 200 monthly searches in Houston and you are thinking of going to Austin, it could be assumed that a result for Austin of equal to or greater than Houston would be favorable given that Austin is smaller. (don't use a city in Texas against a city in New York as the data will likely have a location flavor).
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
-
Visibility Score Against Top Search Competitors
Top Search Competitors
Competitive Research | | PhoebeK
The competitors that compete for the same keywords as this domain, ranked by visibility. Other websites that compete with this domain for the same keywords, ranked by visibility. Visibility (What does the visibility rating mean on this report)?
For example: If you have a visibility of 8.33 on this report and your competitor has a rating of 6.21 or 4.64, is your visibility better than theirs?0 -
What to do about one site dominating search results? (multiple pages ranking)?
Anybody have thoughts on dealing with search results where the same site gets listed multiple times? "weebly vs wix" is one example (same site #1-3, repetitive articles, not crazy high authority), but I see this now and then. I know Google likes variety, so it's weird for me to see results like this dominating search results. Thoughts? What gets these sites to take over the top rankings for a specific term? Any way to rise up in this situation, outside of the usual? Any tips on duplicating this kind of success?
Competitive Research | | davidwaring0 -
Difference between Searches and Impressions
I've been using the Bing Ad Intelligence tool (which is great!), but I'm confused about one of the metrics and even the Microsoft customer support guy wasn't too clear. I search on "wills and trusts" and I get results that say there are 2,347 searches, and 7,228 impressions. How can there be more (ad) impressions than there were searches? If it was 5 searches and 1 impression, I'd assume that meant an ad didn't appear for all the searches. Makes sense. But 1 search and 2 impressions ... how does that happen? Appreciate any help, probably a dumb question but has me puzzled. Also, I hope non-Moz tool questions are appropriate. Thanks!
Competitive Research | | flyntime_tx0 -
Finding Local SERPs
Good Afternoon Everyone, I am looking into finding a tool that can use different IP addresses for local markets to find what their SERPs look like for searches such as: Cogs in Calgary Cog Installer Miami Cog Repair New York With local IP addresses for that search in that market. Not sure if such a thing exists, but thanks in advance!
Competitive Research | | RandyEpp0 -
Why my site doesn't come on top even though search terms are very similar or exact?
For example, when I search in google for "Kookaburra Pro 600 wheelie kit bag", my site comes 9th on 1st page but 3rd link doesn't even match the exact key word rather it has few of the words. Can one of you expert please explain how it works? Thanks, CricMax
Competitive Research | | cricmax0 -
How much time takes Google to Index a page in the search?
Hello all, I have created a page and published it 2 days ago and it does not appear in the Google Search.How much time can usually/on average take to index a page by Google in order to appear in the search results of a web search? I have check the Google Webmaster tools and neither no urls have been reported to be blocked nor the content should be blocked. Thank you very much, Best regards, Antonio
Competitive Research | | aalcocer20030 -
Searching for html on the internet
Is there a way to search for a piece of code on the internet to see what websites are displaying the code?
Competitive Research | | StreetwiseReports0 -
Local search
hi, Local search case i try to evaluate local competition on a local query such as "hairdresser + the city name" in Google for a merchant without website neither a google adresse listing. Top results : 7 google adresses pack : ok Organic results : SERP display only directories ! The first 10 pages are reviews platforms & local directories (qype, yelp, yellowpages etc..) except only 1 or 2 urls with personalized domains name. 1/ Would it be easy with to make a website + with a brand new domain name (myhaidresseShop.com) to dominate these serp (organics) quickly (first 2 months) ? 2/ Would it be better to first launch a targeted submission campaign (popularity) on those local directories with personalized data (first month) , and later on, to build a website ? 3/ Or ideally, from start, to make both a local campaign (Google adresse + submission) and launch a new website ? Tks in advance...
Competitive Research | | mlc0