28 replies to this topic

[DaveBeck]

In places where the match isn't as certain, such as a smaller town or county, residents will often start off with the item first, then narrow it down. ie plumber Strathmore.

This is the opposite to what I have found. In my experience you will receive plenty of targeted traffic from both versions of the phrase, but the location followed by the service/product seems to pull substantially more visitors.

I am definitely not saying this is always the case, it's just what my traffic logs are telling me. One of the sites is a web portal for my local town and we receive thousands of different referrals from the search engines each month for various local services and more often than not it is the town followed by the service that has been searched upon.

It would be interesting if anybody else has some statistics supporting which combination is more successful for them. It may simply be a country to country thing! Would be a nice study on searching behavior

Anybody who is on the ball will definitely be optimizing both combinations

[mcanerin]

I would certainly trust your logs in this case skarraman!

I actually tried to find an example just now but all my local towns showed the same behavior - location + keyword far out-searched over keyword + location.

And yet less than two years ago this was certainly NOT the case - we could be seeing smarter searching habits on the part of the general population coming into play.

Whatever the reason - you definately want to:

1. Do research on YOUR area, not just assume a pattern
2. Optimise for BOTH versions wherever possible.
3. Check EVERY keyword - don't assume that just because 3 of your keyphrases use location + keyword means that the 4th will, as well. Spend the extra 20 seconds and make sure.


Ian

[assafi]

Hi.
I'm currently doing a research for a client trying to get estimations and popularity stats for certain KW per certain Location (US states).
For example I'de like to know how many people search for the phrase Heart Attack located in New York State.

1. Do research on YOUR area, not just assume a pattern

Ian, How do you suggest doing this local research? Do you know of any recommended tools? I've been using Google Adwords Estimation tool (they now have the ability to estimate for certain location) and Wordtracker which I think also has geo targeted information.


Assaf.

[mcanerin]

One fast way to do it is to use Worktracker's compressed search on just your city/area. It will return searches that include the location in question.

If I do a compressed search on my hometown, Calgary, I get a list that looks something like (shortened to top ten):

CODE

Keyword                   Count
 calgary flames           3289
 calgary flames girls     1564
 calgary                  1468
 calgary stampede         1192
 calgary herald           1169
 job search calgary       802
 city of calgary          764
 calgary flamesgirls      744
 university of calgary    684
 calgary sun              642

As you can see, most searches start with the location, in this case, with the exception of phrases with "of", and, interestingly job search. Some background information: Calgary is the 3rd most connected city in North America, and it's growing so fast that I expect most of the job searches are regarding people who are not IN Calgary but are rather looking to move there. I don't know if thats relevant, but there you go.

The rest of the list is pretty similar - almost all of it being location + keyword.

I just noticed something. Look at this list:

job search calgary
city of calgary
university of calgary
map of calgary
escorts calgary
red mile calgary
massage calgary
first calgary
houses for rent in calgary
jobs in calgary
used cars calgary
escort calgary
17th ave calgary
flames girls calgary
hotels in calgary
mount royal college calgary

This is a list of all the terms in the top 100 that mention Calgary last. "university of calgary" "city of calgary" "mount royal college calgary"and "first calgary" are local institutions, so that's actually their proper name. Not ethat this a a small list, compared to the rest of the terms that start with Calgary instead of ending with it.

The rest of them I would associate with people travelling or moving to Calgary, NOT Calgary residents, for the most part.

Ian

[BrianR]

So tell me, Ian: Why is the second most popular search for 'calgary flames girls'?!?

BrianR

[Crichey]

LOL. Why do you think? I don't think that real estate is an exception to the rule. Looking at the above stat again the city came first in the searches entered. Perhaps its more of a geographical issue?

[barcelona]

I can underline the theory from mcanerin for our business: location + interest and there is a hugh difference.

But, where can I find exactly the tool you said for the "Worktracker's" as there are about 500 results in Google for that term?
thx.

[Jill]

Here's where you can find Wordtracker.

[barcelona]

yes, thx.
as you can see in the last post i was looking in G for "worktracker" not word... therefore only 500 results and not the 120000...
do you think that it is worth to by the full access for some days?

[Trellian]

But, where can I find exactly the tool you said for the "Worktracker's" as there are about 500 results in Google for that term?

An alternative, half priced service with a few more advanced search options, with a top 1000 list can be found at:
Keyword Discovery

Cheers
David

[Jill]

do you think that it is worth to by the full access for some days?

Yes, absolutely it's worth it. The free version doesn't really give you the functions you need, from what I understand.

[mcanerin]

A very interesting new tool , David (Trellian)! Thanks!

I'll have to play around with it when I get some time, but I really like the 12 month analysis. Related to that, can you restrict your research to particular time frames? For example, I only want to look at results that were entered between Jan 15 and Feb 15?

Ian

[barcelona]

And does anybody know a tool that includes other languages than only english?

[RobP]

One fast way to do it is to use Worktracker's compressed search on just your city/area. It will return searches that include the location in question.

I've done searches like this in WT, but sometimes the keyphrase associated with the location is not in WT's database. This doesn't mean that it isn't being searched. WT can't catalogue every search that is done. How can we get more refined data for local searches?

Also, using a previous example from this thread, my site comes up #1 in Yahoo for "message therapist" chicago (with quotes), but it's not even in the top 200 for message therapist chicago (no quotes). My exact phrase is very un-competitive (small town). Why the huge discrepancy in ranking? The site is 2 months old. Not too many inbound links yet.

Thanks,

Rob