Ranking a business website at the top of the search results isn’t possible without local keywords. These are the phrases your audience is searching on the web. By optimizing your pages with these keywords, you’re bringing your website closer to your target audience.

It’s also important that your keywords indicate your location. This way, search crawlers will attribute your business on the right location.

To get you started, here are some of the steps you can do:

Step 1. Look for industry-related keywords

Start by searching for industry keywords. These are generic phrases that your audience will use to look for your business’ niche or industry. Ask yourself: “what phrases would I use to look up a business like mine?”.

Here’s an example: if you have a seafood restaurant, some industry keywords include seafood buffet, seafood restaurant, or unlimited seafood.

Step 2. Add a keyword modifier

After that, you should add keyword modifiers to your industry keyword. Some examples of keyword modifiers are “best”, “top”, “where”, “affordable”, “cheap”, and more. So for the examples above, you’ll then come up with modified keywords like “best seafood buffet”, “top seafood restaurant”, or “affordable unlimited seafood”.

Play around these keywords and make sure that it has search traffic.

Step 3. Indicate your business location

The last step is to add your business location. Consistent to our examples, your local keywords will then be “best seafood buffet in Atlanta”, “top seafood restaurant in Palm Beach”, or “affordable unlimited seafood in West Avenue”.

Additional tips:

Use Google Autocomplete

If you don’t have any idea for a keyword, you can use the Google Autocomplete. Just enter a starting industry keyword then click the space bar. The autocomplete suggestions will show up. This is an excellent way to find other topics and keyword variations for your business.

Spy on your competitors

If you want to soar past your competitors, you have to spy on their keywords. There are online tools that will help you scrape your competitor’s keywords. By knowing what your competitors are doing, you can mimic it and do it better.

Always check the user proximity

You must be optimizing keywords relevant to the location of your audience. This is why location modifiers are important. It will also prevent confusion on the part of the search crawlers so your business will be indexed in the right location.

Utilize online keyword search tools

You can use many online tools to perform keyword research for your local business. This way, you’ll never run out of ideas both for your keywords and your content.

Online tools like Ubersuggest, AnswerThePublic, KeywordsEverywhere, and SearchVolume.io are free to some extent. Utilize these tools to find the best keywords that will suit your niche. Also, it will help you discover low competition keywords that will rank better.

Final words

It’s important to optimize your business website using local keywords. This way, you will reach your target audience and your pages will appear on the first page of the search results.

Simple Steps to Perform Local SEO Keyword Research