How to do keywords research for localized search engine optimization?
Researching your keywords is one of the first most important steps of every search engine optimization plan. There are several tools you can use to aid you with in, one of them being Google's Keyword Tool.
The numbers that you get (be sure to choose the "exact" number of searches option) unfortunately aren't all that accurate, but they're a place to start and comparing keywords with each other can be quite useful. There are many keywords however that although appear in these rankings do not have enough traffic for the exact numbers to be noted by Google.
This doesn't mean that these keywords don't get any traffic at all, or that the traffic they get is irrelevant. No, it simply means that the numbers aren't high enough for Google to actually be able to determine them with enough accuracy to share those numbers through its AdWords Keyword Tool.
This is often the case when you examine phrases containing a location. For example hundreds of people search for a "tree doctor" in Australia every day. But how many of them search for "tree doctor Gold Coast"? Hard to tell. Google doesn't give us any information. That doesn't mean though that nobody every looks for tree doctors on the Gold Coast.
This issue is particularly problematic when trying to plan out an SEO strategy for a company that targets predominately a local market, especially one focused on one town or suburb.
How do you decide on which keywords to choose?
The approach I usually recommend is to do the keyword research in a couple of separate steps:
1) Forget about locations. Do your keyword research as if you were not targeting any specific area (be careful, there are areas in which certain products or services are called in a specific way, this could potentially skew your results). Once you have determined the most valuable keywords on a national scale, move to the next step.
2) Try to determine the most popular location names people use when searching for products and services in your area. Sometimes it's a town name, an area, suburb or state. You can do this by checking for very popular local searches (that do appear in the keywords tool) and comparing keywords with different locations in the search phrase to find the most frequently used. Append the best and most relevant location names to the top keywords of your previous research. The probability that you have nailed the best local keywords is quite high.
3) To refine your results perform some tests (you can use Google AdWords for this). On top the pay-per-click tests it's a good idea to do some tests on actual people you know, by asking friends, family and clients to do a search on Google for your service/product in the area. Note the way people usually describe your location. Try to notice also if they first enter the location or the keyword in their search phrases. Then use these results to refine your target keyword list.
Follow these steps and you can track down the best local keywords out there. Focusing on the local market doesn't mean you have to do your SEO in the dark. There's a bit more work to do, but the time and effort you put into it is certainly worth it.