Local Keyword Research Process

[foxxr]

Does anybody have a process to share for local keyword research? It seems to be our largest time suck. Ours is as follows:

Keyword Research Process for Local SEO

1. Client Intake - Client to list all revenue generating services
2. Keywordtool.io - Use this tool to discover Google Suggest keywords
3. Moz Category Research - Discover top categories for Google and directories using this tool
4. Google Webmaster Queries - Copy all queries in Webmaster Tools for further traffic analysis using Keyword Planner
5. Google Keyword Planner - Set geolocations and find top keywords
6. Page Strategy for Top Keywords - 1-3 per service
7. Blog Content Strategy for Long Tail and Supporting Keywords - use Moz keyword difficulty tool for rankable keywords

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Sounds like you have a pretty good, and thorough process

We also like to keep an eye on Google's auto-suggest and the "Searches Related to..." for keyword ideas.

 

[foxxr]

Thanks Colan. We use the keywordtool.io for the auto suggest. I forgot about the "related to" at the bottom of the SERP page. I'll add that to our process.

 

[360 Spin]

Thanks for letting us know about keywordtool.io ( new one for me )

What is the best process to find out search volume for the local keywords? eg. Generic to long tail?

 

[foxxr]

Our process is to enter the keywords in the "Get Ideas" section, set the targeting location, add relevant keywords to plan, export the plan, sort by volume (highest to lowest) and competition (lowest to highest), then copy spreadsheet to our Google doc.

The 2-3 top volume keywords are what we build the pages around, the rest go to blog geo targeted content marketing to support the core service pages.

We also look for long tail keywords we can create a content strategy around. We use the Moz keyword difficulty tool to discover test these keywords for rankability before sending the task to the content writer.

I hope this is right.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Your process sounds so comprehensive Brian. Thanks so much for sharing.