Consulting web page for SCORE Chicago
How do I incorporate a local keyword, one with a city name like Chicago, to tell the search engines that this web page relates to a local business, one serving the Chicago area?
I asked Miriam Ellis, whose company offers local search engine optimization services, help me choose the best keyword phrases for the Chicago management consulting page of my nonprofit’s Chicago-focused website, www.SCOREChicago.org. Below, she instructs me on how to modify general keywords to encourage search engines to index the page for local search.
(In the first of the series, Miriam advised me on how to determine keyword phrases for my web page. In the second, she instructed me how to evaluate my web page’s competition. In the third, she recommended principles to select the best keyword phrase for my page.)
MIRIAM: First Decide — Do You Want to Rank for the General Keyword Phrase, or For a Local One?
Because your site has a local focus, the big question for SCORE Chicago is whether it is important to rank for “small business consulting,” for example, or whether you need to rank for ‘”small business consulting chicago”.
Unfortunately, keyword tools like Google’s Keyword Tool have yet to become sophisticated enough to yield reliable local search data for most cities and industries. What Google shows you is a big search term like “small business consulting.” However, the data center delivering the keyword data may display some but not all the city names, zip codes, or other geographic modifiers being appended by users to their queries.
Because of this, expert local SEOs generally advise that you use the keyword tools just as you would traditional SEO, but add your geomodifiers — in this case “Chicago” — onto the end of all of your keyword phrases.
What is the outcome of this? While your pages may still strive to rank for the broad terms, you are sending a strong signal to Google that your pages are most relevant for Chicago searchers. This may have the effect of reducing your overall search engine traffic. Nevertheless, your targeted traffic will be a better match for your local business. Because of this, more visitors to the page are likely to “convert,” or become customers.
PEG, Checking Keyword Volume and Competition on Local Keywords.
While I understand that results are not necessarily accurate, I’d like to look at Google search volume and competition with my local keyword added:
management consulting chicago: 1,300 global volume — 1,210 competition
small business consulting chicago: 91 global volume — 5 competition
business management consulting chicago: insufficient data — 1, SCORE Chicago already
business consulting firms chicago: 36 — 1
small business consulting services chicago: insufficient data global volume — none
MIRIAM: Once You Have Selected a Main Keyword Phrase for your Web Page, Here’s Where and How to Incorporate It.
You should settle on one main keyword phase for each page of your website. Then use this phrase in:
- Title tag. A title tag is code in your website that gives the page title, which may or may not be the same as what displays on the page. See further explanation here.
- H1 tag. (One of several HTML code heading tags, the first of which is the H1 tag. Tag definitions.)
- Text copy, repeated a couple times. Using the phrase in the first couple sentences is critical.
- Subheadings
- Bold or italicize selected text using those keyword phrases
MIRIAM: Where to Use Your Local Keyword, i.e., “Chicago.”
In our earlier conversations in Local Search Keywords on Your Website: 5 Questions for a Local SEO Pro, you and I have discussed how to think about which geographic terms might be right for your local business.
I know that SCORE Chicago has locations in many suburbs as well as Chicago. I’ve advised you to start with Chicago but to also consider developing pages and keyword phrases with suburban town names, too.
Use the local term, in this case “Chicago,” in both the title and H1 tag of any page as part of the main keyword phrase. Then, perhaps repeat the word “Chicago” once or twice somewhere in the text of the page. It doesn’t have to be attached to the main keyword phrase but can act as a word of its own, simply to establish the geographic location of the information. Determine two or three other related keyword phrases and let them appear in the subheadings, bold headings and text.
PEG: Thanks.
Miriam, thank you very much for helping me understand how to use the techniques of search engine optimization to improve the position of the small business consulting page of the SCORE Chicago website in search engine results. After I obtain feedback from our consulting team on terms their clients use, I’ll start to implement your suggestions. I know now how much work SEO takes, and why businesses hire consultants like you to do it.
RELATED POSTS IN THIS SERIES
Use Keyword Research to Evaluate Keyword Phrases for the Web Page of a Local Business: SEO Advice Part 1
Evaluate the Strength of My Website Competition for Keywords: SEO Advice Part 2
Choose One Best Keyword Phrase for a Web Page: SEO Advice Part 3
Local Search Keywords on Your Website: 5 Questions for a Local SEO Pro
When to Write a Meta Description for a Web Page, and When Not To
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Awesome series! Thanks for taking the time and putting it all together. The information for local search and keyword research is especially helpful.
Andrea