Include Location in Keywords?

[reidsteven75]

I understand Google's local search automatically searches keywords with the location you are searching from.   For example if I'm searching from Calgary and query "best shoe repair", Google knows I'm searching from Calgary and presents Calgary based results.

I'm using Google's new Keyword Planner tool which allows for city based search results, meaning I don't have to include "Calgary" in the keywords I submit.

The question I have is should I be attaching "Calgary" to my keywords for on-page optimization, and why or why not?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[joony]

I just want to ask more questions regarding location in keywords.

Can we treat these two keywords differently?

"Calgary's best shoe repair" vs "best shoe repair in Calgary"

or

"Canadian shoe repair" vs "shoe repair in Canada"

Searchers' intent is pretty much the same. but we should target two different keywords? if they are both popular?

[MiriamEllis]

Great discussion here with many excellent points covered by everyone who has responded. I will only add, because I think this is something that may come up frequently, Google's new Keyword Planner Tool only changes the way you might do keyword research - not the way you optimize a site. It is still vital to locally optimize the website. The only difference is that you hopefully now have more and better insight into important terms to include in your optimization.

[reidsteven75]

Great thanks a lot Paul!

Those search volumes were just made up, although I did see something similar with my research.  Once I decide what I'm going to do I'll let you know what I've decided.

Thanks again!

[IXBrandSEO]

Thanks very much Steve!

I discussed this issue last week with my Google Engage advisor and she recommended focusing on "shoe repair" instead of "Calgary shoe repair" since we'd be targeting the Adwords campaign to a specific city.  My landing pages will be focused on my Houston equivalent of "shoe repair" and "Calgary shoe repair."

As an aside, it surprises me that "Calgary shoe repair" would have 1000 searches per month and "shoe repair" within Calgary would have only 750 searches.  The keyword planner is supposed to include mobile searches and you'd think that most people wouldn't include Calgary in the search phrase in a mobile device search -- they'd just key in "shoe repair" on the tablet or smart phone.  My impression is that search volumes Google publishes for "Calgary shoe repair" and "shoe repair" within Calgary are not exact and should be considered as kind of "order of magnitude" estimates of search volume.  Please let me know what you decide to do in your campaign and what results you see.

Thanks again,  Paul

[reidsteven75]

Hey Paul,

Thanks for the in depth response, that makes a lot of sense.  Perhaps you can answer my next question...

I've received monthly search volume from Google's Keyword Planner tool on a bunch of keywords.  With this tool I returned search volume within Calgary as a filter.  Some of these keywords include the word Calgary.  For example lets say I have two keywords that look promising...

• calgary shoe repair - 1000 searches / month , low competition
• shoe repair - 750 searches / month , low competition

Both of these search volumes only include searches in Calgary.  Am I correct in assuming I can choose both "calgary shoe repair" and "shoe repair" as two separate keywords?  Or would it be wise to only choose one of the two?

[IXBrandSEO]

Hi Steve,

If I understand your question, yes you should include the use of the city name - Calgary - in your on-page optimization efforts.  You want to make it very clear to the search engines where your local business is located so you want your NAP: name, address, and phone number displayed in text prominently on multiple pages of your website.  You also want to make sure that the NAP you use on your site is consistent with the NAP information submitted to online business listings and local business directories like the Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau.

For a local business, I'll always use a location keyword in the page titles and meta description tags.  However, in using any keywords on-page in text, Alt tags, and headings, you want to be judicious in avoiding overuse.  So in talking about shoe repair, I wouldn't attach "Calgary" to the keyword phrase "shoe repair" every time I used it.

Remember that Google and the other search engines associate a location with a search phrase by associating a location with the IP address used to originate the search.  In many cities with substantial suburban populations, that means that people located in the suburbs and looking for shoe repair in the suburbs will be counted in the city search volumes because their IP addresses are associated with the city.  So if your business is located in the suburbs, you might want to think of using location keywords for the major city and for your suburb location too.

I hope this helps!

[john4math]

If you don't use the word "Calgary" on the page, how would Google know your website is related to Calgary for it's location-based results?  They have a location option in the keyword tool so you can see how much traffic that term has in Calgary, as well as the average CPC in Calgary, if you're planning on running an advertising campaign in Adwords.

As an aside, for Adwords you no longer have to include "Calgary" in your keywords if your campaign targets the location Calgary.  For your "best shoe repair" example, Adwords default location setting would show ads for "best show repair" for people searching that in Calgary, but also people searching for "Calgary best show repair" around the world.  There is a sub-setting to make it target only people physically in Calgary if you only want locals seeing the ad.

[Squee]

I would say yes, include your location in your on page text.

If I am searching for shoe repair I would most likely search "city shoe repair"

If your shoe repair shop does pop up and you have NOTHING about where you are actually located, I might go to the next site that has a location.

And location will just reinforce the location shoe repair that Google has already started on.It also would help if I am out of town and a bit lost, knowing exactly where this show place is without having to go to googlemaps or places or another map site...

Many times I actually use Yelp (Yelp always has address right easy to find, when websites hide their address)

It might not rank your location-shoe repair SERPS that much, but it SHOULD help your buyers conversion...