Google Keyword Planner
Google’s Keyword planner lets you search large amounts of data for niche locations, so you can see which keywords will help you appear higher in local search. Google Keyword Planner is most helpful if you’ve already picked a selection of keywords and want to discover which will perform better, based on data insights. If you’re stuck for keywords, Google has another handy tool you can use, the Start with a Website feature. To access it, you first need a Google Account, then you’ll need to sign in to Google Ads. Once you’re there, open the Google Keywords Planner, and select Discover New Keywords. You’ll then see two choices, Start with Keywords, or the Start with a Website. Click on the Start with a Website tab, then enter the homepage address of a local competitor, and you’ll immediately see numerous Google keyword suggestions. These will all be based on the keywords your competitor is using on their page. This is an easy and fast way to get high performing, relevant keywords that will help your business stand out and get discovered in local search.
Yelp Suggest
Yelp has a handy suggest tool that works similarly to Google Suggest and you can use it to find appropriate keywords that will get your business found when someone performs a local search. To get started, just need to type in a keyword a local customer might enter to try and find a business like yours. You’ll then be shown a whole bunch of keywords, including keywords that won’t necessarily contain the word you entered. For example, if you typed in “London wedding planner”, Yelp might suggest “London events organiser”, “South London receptions”, or “London parties”. This gives you great food for thought and allows you to expand your keyword choice in ways you might not of thought of
Google Suggest
You can also use Google Suggest tool, which is available directly via the Google search box to find relevant keywords for your business. With Google Suggest it’s important to ensure you use terms local customers will search for, as otherwise you’ll get much more general results. Type “plumbing” into the google search box for example, and you’ll see a huge list of results come up underneath, ranging from near me searches, to Wikipedia, and global information sites.
Voice Search
Don’t forget to choose keywords for Google Local Voice searches, as these are important too. 20% of ALL Google mobile searches are now voice searches, and typically, these tend to be longer than keyed in terms. Think “vegetarian restaurants in Peterborough open now” as opposed to “vegetarian restaurant Peterborough”, when you are picking keyword terms to include in your content, profiles, and pages for local voice search.
To find voice search keyword suggestions, first search your keywords using the Google Search box. Collect the results into a list, then pair these results with question modifiers, like “who is” or “how do”. You can then Google Search with these question modifiers to get an idea of more potential related questions people have already searched for.
For example, say your main keyword is “dog grooming” and you entered it into Google and have collected a list of search suggestions that Google threw up. One of Google’s suggestions was “dog grooming kit” so you asked Google “where can I find dog grooming kit” and got a bunch of related suggestions that included “where is the closest dog groomer”, “where can I find dog grooming” and “where can I go to get my dog groomed”.
As most voice searches are largely made using questions, doing this will help you find what people are likely to search for when they conduct a search using questions. You can use this to find different question phrases people are searching for, that you can use for voice search keywords.