Local SEO Keyword Research: Is it possible? SEMrush Audit Inside

Hello BHW!

I am planning to rank my first site for rank and rent local SEO.

I found a good potential winner: locksmith + city receives ~400 monthly searches

SERP is competitor 1, yelp, yelp, competitor 2, angieslist, mapquest, yellowpages, thumbtack, businessfinder, businessfinder.

None of the 3 in map pack are run by an SEO.

Please take a look at the #1 SERP result (competitor 1) SEMrush audit.

I am very much a novice, and I am hoping someone can shed some light on how this is ranking #1.








The 732 back links are sent from 11 domains, which all look spammy and most don't even load, so I don't know how google is even counting them as backlinks.

The 11 referral root domains are:

sato-shika.info (doesn't load)
http://www.netmerchants.co.uk/ (doesn't load)
http://jadehammer.pro/ (doesn't load) (520 error)
http://state-businessdirerctory.com (loads, business aggregator)
islamicissues.info (doesn't load)
youtubedownload.co/ (doesn't load)
keyosa.com -> redirects -> keywordsuggestion.com
directory.keysmiths.com (seems legit aggregator)
businessfinder.state.com (seems legit aggregator)
yellowbook.com

So out of 732 backlinks, under 10 are legit.
They are all structured like root.com/locksmith-city-state OR root.com/locksmith-city-differentstate

Zero On-Page SEO for target site
Domain age was registered in 2004

I am not entirely sure, but this seems like an easy KW to rank for as the competition seems light. #1 spot seems like it blasted links on domains that are not active anymore, and the rest of SERP is all generic listings because Google doesn't have anything better to put there.

Again, I am a complete noob, I have been reading a lot of BHW and read Herc Magnus Rank and Rent SEO free guide a few times over now.

Hoping an SEO pro can shed some light here!

I could somewhat relate. What I did when I ordered backlinks when they had a negative effect on my blog, I disavow them on Google. #1 Spot sure sounds easy, but you have to have quality content. Don't take my advice 100% fully, since I'm still on a blogging journey and learning. Not a recommendation, but I'm currently using https://app.neilpatel.com/en/ubersuggest/ and I hope that will help you too.
Make sure your content is great quality and you will be in Google's favor.

Try using long tail keywords to slowly build up the rankings to the main keyword.

Not as easy as it sounds, especially for locksmith services. I'd recommend searching for "locksmith" or "locksmith near me" geo located to that city and see how much the serps change.

Not sure how you'd get a GMB since no provider I know does them for locksmiths.

It sounds good as a beginning ps im not an expert
I even didnt choose the niche to work on but from my modeste knowledge i guess the first competitor is ranking because lf his domaine name maybe it is an emd iwth a good rank
Since u are in the industry how did u choose your niche what guide did u follow
Thanks