If your construction business is local-based, you rely on local traffic. Local keyword research can ultimately help you attract and drive local traffic to your business, making sure that your business appears in all the right places.
To get the most out of local and mobile searches, learn to conduct keyword research properly. In this blog post, understand keyword research in the most detailed way and discover why it is important. We also prepare a 4-step process you can follow that will help you how to perform local keyword research properly.
So, what is Local Keyword Research?
Finding keywords or search terms that people enter into the search engines (let us all be honest, it is usually Google) while looking for an answer to a particular question is called keyword research.
Now if you think that keyword research and local keyword research are the same, you are entirely wrong. The main difference is that the latter is more specific to a location.
Localized keyword research puts a real spin on keyword research because adding a specific area or location to the search is the main focus.
So, it is important that you know how to do keyword research the local way to determine what location-specific keywords the customers are typing into the search engine. One great example is your Google My Business. Knowing how to do keyword research in your GMB profile is more important than ever, as it will improve your search ranking and overall business visibility online.
But Why Does It Matters?
There are two legitimate reasons why local keyword research becomes a vital part of Local SEO plans:
- The first reason is that many people performing local searches are searching with intent. That said, most of them were looking to take action and decided to purchase at the moment.
- The second reason is that most users are given personalized results when they perform a Google search. And one of the primary factors determining the results is their current physical location. When people search “Construction firm” on Google, they will not be shown the top results for the keyword. Instead, they will be shown with the highest-ranking pages within their place. This is because Google wants to serve them the most relevant search results.
How to Perform Local Keyword Research?
Ready to discover what locals are searching for? The following comprehensive four-step process is the key to conducting local keyword research.
Step 1. Understand your target audience
Before going deeper into the process, it is crucial to understand first who your target audience is and their goals. You can know the answers by simply asking yourself a couple of questions., and we compiled a list of questions you can start with:
- What types of construction businesses and services are people searching for within your area?
- Who is searching for the questions? Business reviews? Queries? Are they locals? Tourists? or both?
- How are people searching for construction companies? What questions and keywords do they enter in the query? Do they search on mobile devices?
- What do people find in the search results for construction businesses?
You may wish to add more questions if you like. Also, you can tweak and change these questions to align with your services and products. Once these questions have the best answers, you can finally move on to the next step of the keyword research process.
Step 2. Find what keywords your audience is searching for
You will have ideas on beginning your local keyword research right after answering the questions above. If you have some keywords in mind, they may serve as your core keywords. Some of the top local keywords in 2023 are construction companies, building construction, construction logo, remodeling, and others.
If your business is located in Florida, your keywords may look like this – Florida building construction, construction companies near Florida, or remodeling services in Florida.
From here, you can plug your core keywords into the search bar of Google to determine what type of SERP features appear. So, how does Google show a local pack for your core keywords? What about the local organic search results?
If Google shows local search results for the keywords you just entered, your construction website has a greater chance of ranking. In addition, it will influence how your Google Map listing ranks, especially if these keywords are incorporated well into your website main pages (homepage, about us page, contact us page, products/service page, and even blog post page).
Step 3. Determine the search volume and keyword difficulty
Here, you can plug all keywords into a keyword research tool. Speaking of tools, there are many of them you can access today. , and will talk about them in the next section.
One of the best and most accurate SEO keyword research tools is SEMrush. This is way more practical and a lot more affordable than Ahrefs. You can opt for this tool for easy, seamless results.
Using the tool, you can determine the keyword difficulty and search volume. Usually, the higher the keyword search volume, the harder it is to rank in the search results. This will correlate to the keyword difficulty level and SERP features. NKnow that a keyword with many SERP features may limit the number of organic search results and your capacity to rank on the first page.
4. Analyze the SERPs of your Target Keywords
The Search Engine Results Page, short for SERPs, will give you a lot of valuable information that you can use to rank for the best keywords. If you want to get serious about establishing an effective SERP analysis method, here are some pro tips you can carry out:
- Get a list of all the relevant keywords
- Make use of the SERPs to assess the search intent
- Perform competitive analysis to check the content performance of your competitors.
- Optimize your content correctly to maximize your opportunities to grow your construction business.
Leveraging the SERP can help you approach SEO most effectively and profitably and position your brand as the authority in the industry.
Local Keyword Research Tools and How to Use Them
Since we have already introduced to you what keyword research is, its importance, and the four step-by-step processes of conducting it. We wanted to show the tools we used in our SEO campaigns.
Here is a compilation of the best local keyword research tools to jumpstart your Local SEO.
- Ahrefs Keyword Explorer: One of the most popular and oldest SEO tools, Ahrefs is a great start for starters. Search suggestions, phrase matches, question-based keywords, and newly discovered keywords can be found. It will also provide an overview to show you the intent behind those specific keywords.
- SEMRush: It is one of the top keyword research tools you can find online. However, it is quite expensive. The tool includes keyword suggestions, topic research features, a content idea generator, and long-tail keywords. It is simply more in-depth and comprehensive than any other tools out there.
- Moz Keyword Explorer: It is quite similar to Ahrefs. It is an exhaustive tool covering all the necessities and basics you will need for your keyword research initiatives and overall SEO plan.
- Google Search Console: It is a free-to-use tool that has proven very effective when analyzing your website. Once connected to your domain, you can use it to see what keywords your web pages are being shown for. Google search console includes click rate, average position, total clicks, and impressions for every web page.
- Keyword Keg: Keyword Keg is comprised of up to five keyword tools, all mostly pitched towards keyword research. You can use this tool to enter your core keywords. In a few seconds, you can get thousands of new suggestions, all sorted by multiple standard SEO metrics.
When it comes to Local SEO, you can filter them by country or add localized keywords to your core set used in the searches, and it is that simple.
- Keyword Finder: It is a more specialized and focused tool for keyword research. It is great for searching long-tail keywords that are way easier to rank than higher volume and more competitive ones. Currently, Keyword Finder is unarguably the best free local keyword tool accessible today for keyword research.
There are so many SEO tools you can find online. Depending on the scope and nature of your local Search engine optimization campaign, you can look and pick any tool that suits your exact needs the most.
Experience the Benefits of Partnering with ConstructionMarketing.io
In summary, Keyword research is a critical process for local Search Engine Optimization. So, taking advantage of this strategy will drive your business success and growth over time. But as a construction business owner with tons of tasks on your plate, you are extremely busy. So, if you want to kick start with Keyword research, you can step aside and trust it with the pros like us.
At ConstructionMarketing.io, we are with you every step of the way. As a full-service digital marketing agency, one of our specializations is SEO. We offer local SEO marketing services to our clients and provide them with a customized SEO package tailored to their business needs and marketing goals.
In fact, our SEO packages help your construction business drive the following:
- Traffic
- Leads
- Brand Awareness
- Revenue
- Marketing ROI
Get in touch with us today and start your SEO campaign right.