How to Conduct Local Keyword Research in 2024

What is Local Keyword Research?

Local keyword research is a process that you use to identify the specific terms that the prospective clients in your area use to search for the services you offer—for instance, legal assistance, plumbing services, roofing installation, dental care, etc.

Why Local Keyword Research is Important?

Local keyword research can help you develop targeted landing pages and website content optimized for searchable keywords, gain insights into search behavior, and enhance your understanding of the local market.

You can also identify related markets for potential expansion–for instance, the nearby rural areas or outskirts where the services you provide aren’t available. 

Plus, you may also find new ways to engage and attract your target audience with this research—for instance, you might find that in addition to your regular services, many people are searching for specific treatments or solutions–like for dentists, it can be teeth whitening and veneers along with the regular dental care.

Related: Local SEO Checklist

How to Conduct Local Keyword Research

Here’s how to conduct your local keyword research.

Begin With Seed Ideas Around Your Services

The seed keyword is basically the fundamental term or the starting point from where you figure out the new keywords that your audience uses to search for you. For instance, for a plumber, the seed keywords would be “plumbing services, “pipe repair” or “drain cleaning.”

Now, you need to expand upon them and generate similar terms relevant to this niche and industry.

You can either do it using Google to come up with more related keywords or a keyword research tool.

For instance, typing your keyword in Google can give you more related keywords.

But if you use a keyword research tool, it can also help you know the other data as well like keyword difficulty and local search volume related to it, and analyze which keywords your competitors are targeting depending on what SEO tool you’re using.

You can also get some keywords from the first Google search results along with insights about them.

Add Relevant Modifiers

Modifiers are words that you add to your main keywords to make them more specific and easier to rank for such as “emergency plumbing services in [city]” or “affordable plumber near [neighborhood].”

These keyword modifiers can give you a better idea of how many people are searching for a particular term and how hard it might be to rank for it.

The different types of modifiers can be location specific (like “near me”), ones that show intent (like “installation” or “repair”), ones that show time (like “available now” or “open on (Day)”), ones that show price (like “cheap” or “budget-friendly”), or those that show reviews or ratings (like “highly rated” or “trusted”).

For example, if you’re a personal injury lawyer, your keywords with modifiers can be “budget-friendly personal injury lawyer” or “5-star personal injury law firm” to attract specific types of clients.

Make Your Keywords Location-Specific

To localize your keywords and make sure that people in your area can easily find your services online, add specific details about your location to your keywords.

For example, if we take the previous PI attorney examples, the previously modified keywords will now become “5-star personal injury law firm [in City or Neighborhood]” or “budget-friendly family lawyer [near me]”

You can use keyword research tools like Google Analytics to check from which locations you’re getting the most clicks to your website–for instance, by city name, neighborhood, or near me, and focus on those areas.

Understand The Search Intent

Search intent means figuring out what exactly people are looking for when they type something into the search box of search engines.

For instance, when it comes to local businesses, people usually want to find services nearby. Google pays a lot of attention to it–user intent, and tries to show results that match what people are looking for; they have even mentioned it in Search Quality Evaluator’s Guidelines.

Now, local intent can be of two types: explicit and implicit.

Explicit intent includes specific location words, like “family lawyer near me” or “plumbing services in Chicago.” While the implicit intent happens when people search for something without specifying a location, Google still figures out that they want something local.

For example, implicit local keywords would be “roofing installation” or “family lawyer.” Now, if someone searches for them without specifying the location, Google will still show them the nearby business options.

To make sure that your local SEO efforts work out and your website ranks well in local searches, use keywords that match what people are searching for, whether they specify their location or not. 

For instance, if you search for “roof installation” instead of “roofing installation,” these will be your top results:

That’s because the search intent changed.

Once you have the required keywords, optimize your website content around them to establish your presence in your region.

Take Language into Consideration

In places where people speak many languages, being flexible with your search strategies can do wonders for you. Google supports over 40 languages, and you can use SEO tools to find multilingual keyword data.

It can help you know how often certain keywords are searched for in your local language and how hard they are to rank for.

By knowing which keywords are popular and competitive in different languages, you can adjust your strategy to fit—for instance, if a keyword is more popular in the local language than in English, it’s smart to target that.

Bonus: Optimize Content With Local Keywords

It can help you attract the right visitors and build a strong local presence.

So, use keywords that are relevant to your area such as mentioning local events, sharing local news, or providing location-specific helpful information. It can help you connect better with your local audience and address their specific interests and questions.

For instance, a roofing business owner might want to target keywords like “Common roofing issues in Salt Lake City, Utah,” or “Homeowner challenges in Denver, Colorado.”

Such content can make a big difference in your local online visibility.

Make sure to strategically include these local keywords throughout your website, including in titles, text, descriptions, and images.

Best Keyword Research Tools

You can definitely conduct your keyword research using Google, but SEO tools can give you added data and more options to filter that data to cater your specific needs.

Here are some top local SEO tools for keyword research that you can consider.

Trackright

TrackRight is mainly designed for local search engine optimizations. It enables you to easily track and manage all your local SEO data and get detailed insights from website traffic to Google My Business stats and local keyword rankings.

It also has an automated reporting feature, which you can use to quickly generate reports based on your preferred metrics. Its lead tracking feature is also quite handy—they combine call, form, and live chat tracking into one platform

Its subscription starts from $25/mo.

Related: Google My Business Optimization Tips

BrightLocal

BrightLocal is also a local SEO tool designed mainly for small businesses.

It offers features to track your online listings, discover new citation opportunities, optimize your Google Business Profile, and more to help you increase your local ranking.

You can also manage the local rankings of multiple office locations.

Its subscription plans start at just $39 per month.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is enterprise software that covers everything for search engine optimization, including local SEO.

You can use it to find valuable keywords, analyze your competitors, audit your website, come up with content ideas, optimize that content for those keywords, and track how well you’re ranking—all in one place.

Its subscription plans starts at $99 per month.

Localo

Localo is a comprehensive local SEO tool designed for Google Business Profiles.

You can use it to conduct local SEO keyword research, track your local search rankings, carry out detailed local SEO audits, manage citations, handle reviews, and monitor your visibility.

They offer a free plan, and their subscriptions start from just $28 per month.

Take Stock of Your Local SEO

You can begin evaluating your current performance today. You can audit the current health of your local business DIY with TrackRight. It will give you insights into crucial aspects such as website visibility, local search rankings, online reviews, leads, and the like.

Or if you want a specialized local search marketing agency to power your organic growth, contact us. We offer local SEO audits to businesses we’ve a mutual fit with.