Does Google Localize Keywords?

Hello,

I am attempting to build a website for my family members business which is a towing company in orange county, ca.
I started building the website in wordpress and was using YOAST plugin for help for onpage optimization.
I am having some difficulty understanding the best strategy for local keyword optimization.
As I first thought, seemingly mistakenly, all we needed to do was capture 'orange county towing' 'orange county tow truck' 'orange county towing company'

but it seems as though many of the original keywords I had thought about monetizing have less than 10 searches per month in his geographic region according to keyword planner.

So this leads me to believe, that when people are in need they just simply enter Tow Truck, or Towing, or Tow in their mobile phone and google will localize the results to the users location.

Does anyone know if this is true, or is that just for the MAPS results section?

If it is true, does that mean in order to get first page ranking you have to compete nationally for the word tow truck with all of the countries other service providers?

Or is google understanding the word tow is a service and it should return localized results in MAPS and also in the results page so it then returns pages that are monetizing both the keyword in the content + the city name on their website?

I am just having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

The answer is yes, google does localize rankings based on where the user is. So if someone in orange county searches "towing service", their results will be websites and services around there.

yup it localizes.. but yes if u put more effort in your seo you can hit international level.

Yes the results are localized, and there is more traffic than you think. Your research is showing you the traffic for an exact match, but there will be traffic from your area who will not search with a geo modifier just as you describe. Their location is resolved by IP address, and the results localized,but this traffic is not reflected in the keyword research.

Yes, Google localizes the result.

jononaquest said:

I am just having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

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You got it. Your head needs rewiring. There are two algorithms; one for organic (non-locational) results, and one for local. Two completely different algorithms, and two completely different sections on page one. Might as well be two separate search engines.

For certain keywords, Google can tell that they have local relevance (plumber, dentist), but not all. You might find some local, legitimate niche that does not get localized results. In those cases, browsers must therefore modify their search term to include the local region (cityname, zip code, area code, whatever).

Otherwise, Google knows that when you search for restaurants from a mobile phone with a local IP address, you don't want results showing restaurants on the other side of the country, or planet.

I haven't read the whole thread yet. Your skype name is wrong; I tried to find you and the search failed. What you need is Local SEO, and if you send me a PM with your skype, I'll spend some time with you on skype rewiring your brain for local SEO. Avoid scammers and flim-flammers. Local SEO is pretty white hat, and those that don't believe this get punished HARD.

Thanks Nigel, skype is jon-l.a.

I grasp this now. So I guess my question actually is - how do I compare myself amongst local websites going after the same keywords.
It seems as though I would need to outrank or outperform in SEO only those sites within a certain mile radius going after the same service related keyword.
Is there a tool which allows you to view results based on an IP location?
i.e. see my websites ranking on google for #TERM in #ZIPCODE

I can see why supplementing organic SEO with some Mobile PPC would be a good option in Local SEO for some service providers.

Has anyone ever done a study on where peoples eyes go on Mobile Search Results when searching for a local service, I would actually think people tend to go first to the MAPS/LOCAL BUSINESS listing section than the sponsored ads or organic SEO results.

for local you need, local seo of course and paid search. The paid search will get fast exposure while your local seo is kicking in. *Hint- keep a very active google + page

Make sure you add structured data to your site, marking the address of your business using this information: http://schema.org/LocalBusiness

bartosimpsonio said:

Make sure you add structured data to your site, marking the address of your business

Click to expand...

bartosimpsonio,
Thanks for the tip, I didn't know those tags.

seobats said:

Yes, Google localizes the result.

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I cant send PM's yet. thanks nigel.

Nigel Farage said:

You got it. Your head needs rewiring. There are two algorithms; one for organic (non-locational) results, and one for local. Two completely different algorithms, and two completely different sections on page one. Might as well be two separate search engines.

For certain keywords, Google can tell that they have local relevance (plumber, dentist), but not all. You might find some local, legitimate niche that does not get localized results. In those cases, browsers must therefore modify their search term to include the local region (cityname, zip code, area code, whatever).

Otherwise, Google knows that when you search for restaurants from a mobile phone with a local IP address, you don't want results showing restaurants on the other side of the country, or planet.

I haven't read the whole thread yet. Your skype name is wrong; I tried to find you and the search failed. What you need is Local SEO, and if you send me a PM with your skype, I'll spend some time with you on skype rewiring your brain for local SEO. Avoid scammers and flim-flammers. Local SEO is pretty white hat, and those that don't believe this get punished HARD.

Click to expand...

There are also lots of situations where the "two algorithms" cross-over and combine as well, assuming that you're right. We're talking about "local" and "non-localized", but there is also national level keywords to consider. For example, searches within the healthcare/medical industry will bring up different results between the US and Canada in most situations because the healthcare systems are so different. Finance too. Various investments, banking practices etc. are different between these two countries, so most finance related terms will bring up nationally-relevant results unless there is absolutely none available, at which point it seems to revert back to a "non-localized" authority site etc.

Concentrate on 3 things at first, on page SEO, Citations, and Social Media properties in the company name. Make all the citations the same, and be sure to get google maps and google local +. List with Yahoo and bing as well.

Use (XXX) XXX XXXX pattern for the phne number if you are in the US, and make each citation exactly the same, from the same exact name, address, phone, and description, down to the pictures you use and the names of these pictures.

Make sure no one else is using the name, address, and phone (we refer to this as NAP).

On the citations, be sure to give everything there is room for wherever you are getting the citation from. If it has room for 20 pictures, 5 videos, 3 pod casts, three PDFs, 16 word documents, 91 thumbnails and a jgsaw puzzle, start building the puzzle. Seriously don't leave a blank anything, give it all to them. The more fully you fill out the citation, the higher it will rank within the citation webpage, and the more traffic it will generate on it's own.

Create an account on Houzz, and start show casing your work there if it fits their site. This is great for service providers who can do before and after pictures of projects.

The on page SEO is absolutely critical, nore important than anything. The search engines must understand what your page is about, so that the customer finds what they are looking for when they arrive on your page. This is where you will beat your competition. Targeting wise, there is not much difference in "static free testers" and "free static testers", but the intent of the user who searches for these terms are MILES apart. If you get a lot of traffic and few customers, your on page is off, or you have a poor quality website.

Thank you for your in-depth reply, I will take some time to study some of the things which I do not yet know that you described and definitely incorporate them into the strategy. Much Much Appreciated!

pitbully said:

There are also lots of situations where the "two algorithms" cross-over and combine as well, assuming that you're right. We're talking about "local" and "non-localized", but there is also national level keywords to consider. For example, searches within the healthcare/medical industry will bring up different results between the US and Canada in most situations because the healthcare systems are so different. Finance too. Various investments, banking practices etc. are different between these two countries, so most finance related terms will bring up nationally-relevant results unless there is absolutely none available, at which point it seems to revert back to a "non-localized" authority site etc.

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I think you've got the wrong definition for "localized". Local results are local. Not state, region, etc... Things may be different outside the US. I only know about US local results. Google has a very clear, black & white definition for what local results are. For the most part it's <city name> <service>, but zip codes, and area codes can also deliver and influence local results.

Compare "Dallas Plumber" with "Dallas Plumber 972". One you get this more "intermediate level" concept, you will understand why onpage SEO is so critical for local search. Compare two businesses. One has their address in plain, google-readable text, and one has a image file showing their address to humans only.

Which one gets placed more frequently in the search result?
Compare, one business has it's address only, and another has it's address, along with a list of area codes, zip codes, neighborhoods and city names of the areas it serves.

Which one gets placed more frequently, and higher, in the search results?

Ok but im lost now at this point lets exclude local search as 7 pack and local bases on organic search. Lets pretend there is no bussiness location lets say the keyword we want to target is butterfly and we have set up our Google parameter for queens and i Type butterfly what factores would be key for looking up in that location for the keyword in search woukd it be a bunch of links with queens butterfly as the anchor text or woukd it be more me getting local links. What is needed i can not figure this out and i think.this is what the op is wondering.

Hoodbot said:

Ok but im lost now at this point lets exclude local search as 7 pack and local bases on organic search. Lets pretend there is no bussiness location lets say the keyword we want to target is butterfly and we have set up our Google parameter for queens and i Type butterfly what factores would be key for looking up in that location for the keyword in search woukd it be a bunch of links with queens butterfly as the anchor text or woukd it be more me getting local links. What is needed i can not figure this out and i think.this is what the op is wondering.

Click to expand...

Uh. I think you need to take 3 giant steps backwards.

1) Ok but im lost now at this point lets exclude local search as 7 pack and local bases on organic search. I've read this sentence 3 times and still have no idea what it means.

2) There is no reason anyone would want local results for "queen butterflies".

3) *I'm, *business, *factors, *would, *I, *OP, etc...

If English is not your 1st language it's a good idea to mention that, otherwise you look lazy, stupid or both.

Texting from a phone so thats why. My point being was how to target oragnically geo keywords so that if i was setting search prefrenceses to local area my website would be found. Thanks for your time.

No doubt!! Google will localize the keywords easily...

jononaquest said:

Has anyone ever done a study on where peoples eyes go on Mobile Search Results when searching for a local service, I would actually think people tend to go first to the MAPS/LOCAL BUSINESS listing section than the sponsored ads or organic SEO results.

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Here you go, hope this helps!

http://www.lawyerseomarketing.org/local-seo/loca-results-steal-traffic-from-organic-results

http://www.lawyerseomarketing.org/local-seo/seeing-review-stars-do-they-attract-clicks