Google places keyword variations
-
Hi all,
I have a site that is ranking #1 in Google Places for its main <city><keyword>search... but it does not rank for any of its basic keyword variations, which I find very confusing.</keyword></city>
ie (just an example)
Chicago Caterer (ranked #1 in google places)
Chicago Caterers (not ranked in google places)
Chicago Catering (not ranked in google places)
Chicago Catering Company (not ranked in google places)
Chicago Catering Companies (etc..)How can I secure a google places ranking for these simple keyword variations? Do I build links to the google plus page using that anchor text? Do I get citations that contain that keyword somewhere on the page? Do I optimize for these keyword variations on the actual website itself? (not the places listing).
Obviously I don't stuff these keywords into the google places listing.
Any help would be much appreciated!
-
It is my pleasure!
-
Thank you Miriam,
That really helps. I think we are probably wasting our time even worrying about this then. We have the #1 organic for all the keyword variations, above the places listing. So, based on the info you have provided, better to just leave it and not mess with it.
Thank you so much Miriam for the very helpful replies!!
T.
-
Hi Again and Happy Monday,
Since the Venice update about a year ago, yes, it has become much less common for any business to have both an organic and a local listing on the same page. If one manages to get into the local results, their organic ranking is typically subsumed into the blended local listing.
There are some exceptions to this, usually in areas of low competition for which Google has less data, and there have also been experiments done in which Local SEOs have managed to optimize an interior page of the website in such a way that they've picked up double page one rankings (see this: http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/local-seo-ranking/5180-double-ranking-organic-maps.html), but this is not what I'd call a run-of-the-mill scenario.
So what is the answer to the phenomenon you are experiencing? Why does Google consider you more organic than local for those particular keyword variants? I don't believe this can be resolved with the general advice we can give here without investigating the actual business in question. I think you have 2 options:
-
Run the site through the 51 blocks tool, as I've suggested and see if you can discover some areas in which the competitors included in the local pack are outdistancing you.
-
Hire a really good Local SEO and give him/her the keys to the website so that they can try to uncover the nuances specific to your business.
*One thing I will point out, however, is that if you are managing to rank organically above the local packs for these variants, you may want to consider carefully whether you've really got a problem at all. Over the past couple of years, I have read so many comments (like this one: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/business/Tq4DsCCth7s/2Z-MyLEc2mMJ) in different places from business owners who have stated that their transfer from an organic to a local format resulted in a drop in traffic. This is an issue you might want to read up on further while making up your mind about whether something actually needs to be 'fixed'.
Hope this helps!
-
-
Hi Kyle & Miriam
I appreciate your answers, but part of the confusion lies in the fact that we have absolutely everything else nailed down, and yet we can't get the site to rank for the keyword variations in google places.
The site has the most positive (legit) reviews in its niche, ranks #1 in google places for its main term, has 400+ pages of content on the site and incredible organic rankings... and the website even ranks above the google places 7-pack for its keyword variations...
And yet... for its keywod variations (plural, ing, companies) it does not show up in google places. And yet the organic listing is actually above the 7-pack places listing for these variations.
Does having an organic ranking above the google places listing make it less likely that they will list your places listing? I wouldn't think so, as I've seen it before where a site ranks both #1 organically above the places listing then also ranks within the places listing on the same SERP.
Thanks for your responses guys...
-
Hi Tyler,
Kyle has provided some good advice here. I will add, it's hard to know the nuances of your client's exact situation without 1) seeing the Google Places Listing, 2) seeing the website, and 3) understanding the actual keywords/categories the client is going after. There could be nuances specific to your client and his market that I can't speak to without knowing the above.
Generally speaking, though, these things contribute to high rankings:
-
A really great website that contains all the right local hooks, awesome content and, yes, definitely excellent optimization for all target terms.
-
A violation-free Google Places/Google+ page. Correct choice of categories is very important here.
-
A variety of citations with consistent NAP (name, address, phone), well written descriptions and proper categorization.
-
Traditional SEO factors like linkbuilding and ongoing content development.
-
Social factors like active review profiles and other activities.
Sorry not to be able to give more specific advice. This is a general picture of what goes into high rankings.
Something you might want to consider doing is to figure out which of your client's competitors are managing to succeed in multiple local rankings for the targeted keyword variants and then do a competitive analysis to see if you can discover where and how they are surpassing your client. I like the free Local Competitive Analysis Tool from 51 Blocks:
http://www.51blocks.com/online-marketing-tools/free-local-analysis/
Check it out!
-
-
Hi Tyler,
You're right to dismiss stuffing keyword variants into your Google Places listing. The best way to go about this is to encourage more reviews on your Google+ Local page and beyond.
Set up your business location(s) on local review sites which Google uses as citations such as Thomson Local or Yell. Include call to actions for feedback on your website and any communications you have with your customers. Authentic reviews should naturally contain these keyword variations and (even better) should increase your overall propensity to rank in the space due to the (hopefully) positivity of the reviews.
Secondly, optimising your website or a particular page that serves a local intent would contribute towards a better ranking.
Keep in mind that the local algorithm is a unique beast. There are plenty of reasons why you may not be ranking for these search terms. For example perhaps your locality, the quality of your competition or the intent behind the search has determined your ranking. David Mihm, the Director of Local Search Strategy at SEOMoz conducted a survey last year to determine the importance of several local search ranking factors. As you can see, there are more than "several" factors.
Hope that helps,
K
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Keywords and keyword traffic
Hi I am struggling to know what keywords i should be targeting and how the website should be best optimised for said keywords. The website offers bespoke service in the lake district UK a popular tourist destination, The business operates within say a 30 km riadus of the area. So target vistors to the website would specifically be looking for services in the lake district. The trouble is for many targeted keywords for the area are quite low or no data shown. For example: tipi camping lake district, tipi hire lake district, Glamping lake district However nationally keywords for the service have a lot higher traffic i.e. tipi hire or tipi camping, glamping what keywords should be my target? and should I targeting my website for? I don't want to target customers looking for these services outside of the lake district and also by targeting keywords without the term lake district means my competition is greater as i'm competing with the whole of the Uk for serivces It can't provide. please advise thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Bengo-990 -
Google related searches
Hello, Are the related searches, the words that I should use when writing my content. For ex : when I type online spreadsheet in google, in the related searches it list online spreadsheet open source and spreasheet download. Does it means that when writing content I should included those terms in order to be relevant on the keyword online spreadsheet ? because they are considered closely related by google ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Google is not indexing an updated website
We just relaunched a website that has 5 years old, we maintain all the old URLs and articles but for some reason google is not picking up the new website https://www.navisyachts.com. In Google Webmaster Tools we can see the sitemap with over 1000 pages submitted but shows nothing as indexed. The site is loosing traffic rapidly and positions, from the SEO side all looks fine for me. What can be wrong? I’ll appreciate any help. The new website is built over Joomla 3.4, we have it here at MOZ and other than some minor details it doesn't show that something can be wrong with the website. Thank you.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | FWC_SEO0 -
Google not taking Meta...
Hello all, So I understand that Google may sometimes take content from the page as a snippet to display on SERPs rather than the meta description, but my problem goes a little beyond that. I have a section on my site which updates everyday so a lot of the content is dynamics (products for a shop, every morning unique stock is added or removed), and despite having a meta description, title and receiving an 'A' grade in the MOZ on page grader, these pages never show up in Google. After a little research I did a 'site:www.mysite.com/productpage' in Google and this indeed listed all my products, but interestingly for every single one Google had taken the copyright notice at the bottom of the page as the snippet instead of the meta or any H1, H2 or P text on the page... Does anyone have any idea why Google is doing this? It would explain a lot to me in terms of overall traffic, I'm just out of ideas... Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | HB170 -
No Results for Google/Bing Keyword Search by Domain Name
My site is bestwebconsult [dot] com When I do a search for my exact domain name in Google and bing, it does not appear at all. I have submitted a sitemap to Webmaster Tools. It is a relatively new site completed with in the last month. Built with Joomla. This leads me to believe that something is misconfigured on the website. Please advise, thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | crave811 -
Google Places Drop
Hi everyone! I have a client that was ranking very nicely for a number of keywords. In the 5 pack for most of the keywords we were targeting. His account went under review for some unknown reason about 2 months ago. It disappeared from the listing... Then a few weeks ago it became approved again. He is now no longer ranking for any of those keywords. He is ranking for some obscure ones but the money words are gone. Do you think this was due to the review? Some sort of GP update over the last 60 days? All of my other clients are still ranking strong in Google Places. Any ideas?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SeattleJoe0 -
Google Generating its Own Page Titles
Hi There I have a question regarding Google generating its own page titles for some of the pages on my website. I know that Google sometimes takes your H1 tag and uses it as a page title, however, can anyone tell me how I can stop this from happening? Is there a meta tag I can use, for example like the NOODP tag? Or do I have to change my page title? Thanks Sadie
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | dancape0 -
Custom Attributes in Google Places
Hi Guys I'm looking for some clarity of what I can and can't add to the custom attribute fields in a Google Places listing. From my understanding, you can add additional information about your services, but not what those services are. The issue I'm trying to resolve is that a client of mine offers far more than the 5 services/ category options Places allow. They are a home services company, covering all sorts from plumbing, painting and decorating, through to extensions etc. They have about 25 different services. At the moment I'm restricted to just getting rankings for 5 services (correlated to the categories in Places), when I'd like to rank locally for them all. As Google is showing local results for most search queries related to their services whether those searches are geographically modified or not, I'm in a position where even if I am ranking top 5 organically for the terms, I'm still on bottom of page 1, or top of page 2. Would it be wise to add these additional services to the custom attributes section of the Places listing, or would this set off the potential for a listing suspension? Any ideas how to combat this problem would be very welcome.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PerchDigital0