Adding Keywords in Local Directories

[v_mezoz]

Hi,

When submitting local listings in directories, do i have to enter the keywords with the city or area that im targeting, keywords+city+state or doesn't really matter?

see the screen shot 2013-10-18_1421 - Vlad22R's library

Thank you

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Depends on the directory. But generally, as long as you don't get too wild and repetitive then you should be fine.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Sorry, I don't deal with citations at all, so I'm not sure if that would be seen as spammy or not.
Let's see if others more tuned into directory submission have any feedback.

It's pretty quiet here on the weekends, so it may be Monday before some folks weigh in.

 

[Phil Rozek]

Based purely on my experience, I would say it doesn't matter. But I'd err on the side of not including cities/states in there: most IYPs have limits on how many words/characters can go into your keyword field, so although I'd suggest adding as many relevant keywords as you can think of, I wouldn't blow space on cities and the like. The "keyword" fields might at most be minor ranking factors for Google, but even so, Google already knows full well where you're located. The way I see it, your only job with any given "keyword" field is just to add little brush strokes to the picture you've been trying to paint for Google of what your business is and what it does.

 

[v_mezoz]

Thanks Phil for your great answer.

 

[whitespark]

I completely agree with Phil. I might even go so far as to say it can be a spam signal if you're stuffing the city name into every category and keyword field in all your citations. Like Phil said, Google knows what city you are in based on your NAP.

 

[Phil Rozek]

What Darren said.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: Google looks at the "keywords" and categories fields on your citations - even the little ones - and often populates your MapMaker category record with those.

Try this little experiment:

1. Go to the Google+ Local listing of a business that's been around for a couple years - preferably one that ranks OK.

2. Click the "Edit details" link.

3. Copy one of the weirder-sounding categories - or one that you know for a fact is a category Google doesn't let you choose from its "list." Let's say it's "Cat Grooming Service."

4. Type the following into Google: name of company "cat grooming service"
5. Look at the search results. Chances are you'll find an IYP where (1) your were allowed to specify "Cat Grooming Service" as a category, or where (2) you put "cat grooming service" in the keywords field or some other field.

To me, it's neat to see where Google sometimes pulls this stuff from. Of course, they strip out city names, so there really is no point in including those. It also goes to show that it's usually worth filling in those listings as completely as possible.

 

[v_mezoz]

Yes, interesting point Phil, i've see this before.