Local company keyword research

Is there any difference between keyword research for a niche/affiliate type site vs. keyword research for a local service company?

Any thoughts on the best way to find keywords for this?

Good question, Pam.

The first priority is to get listed in Google Local.
http://www.google.com/local/add

As for keywords, you want to choose Primary Keyword Phrases that relate to the products & services offered - and then also include your local terms as well. That will include city, state, town, community - any names or keywords that local customers might use to pull up their location on Google.

Just as an example, here are some local search terms:

104 atlanta plumbers
103 atlanta georgia plumbers
102 plumber in sacramento california

If you cannot find your location in any keyword phrases, just combine the location term with the keyword phrase. Local search is becoming more and more popular every year, especially with the rise in mobile device use & 3G service. People are using their iphones and blackberries to find local businesses while they are out and about - and your business needs to be "on the map"!

Thanks Lynn. I will definitely put this into action.

Sushi is one of my favorites and you must live close to me!! :) I should check out that place, sounds wonderful!

Thanks for your words of wisdom! The service I am looking into is a pool service/repair company that a friend owns. Has a nice website and a local domain, but not much content or anything that would help drive traffic.

Content is good, but it's all about having the keywords in the title tags, having the relevant inbound links, and getting into Google Local. Since the competition is relatively low for these types of searches, that would be an excellent start for them!

Local/Offline is a huge market, largely untapped ;)

The offline market is huge! I have been working with small businesses helping them get into Social Marketing. Lynn is 100% correct that http://www.google.com/local/add is a great place to start that many, many small businesses miss.

Make sure to include keywords in your description there and use locations as keywords. I changed a few descriptions in the Google local search for some clients and it made a huge difference.

BTW--keywords in your Twitter Bio are important too! Make sure you the location you want to be found in and you keywords somewhere (creatively) in your bio and they can show up on page one of Google! Make sure you have a link back to your site there so people can connect with you too!

Tina Williams
TwitterTina.com

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