Keyword Research for Small, Local Businesses

The first step to Search Engine Optimization for a small business is going to be claiming your local listing on Google, Bing and Yahoo. Getlisted.org/ is a great place to start that process.

But after that, you'll want to optimize your site for local search. The first step in SEO is keyword research. Let's use a fictional hair salon, let's call it True Colors Salon, as an example of how you'd do keyword research for small local business.

True Colors Salon is located in Birmingham, Alabama. We'll use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to find out what people looking for a hair salon in Birmingham might search with.

First I enter in all of my ideas about what people might query:

birmingham hair salon
hair salon birmingham
birmingham salon
salon birmingham
beauty shop birmingham
haircut Birmingham

Then I fill out the CAPTCHA, and hit "Get keyword ideas."

Then I choose Phrase in the drop-down menu below Match Type. I choose Phrase because it will give me the difference between Birmingham hair salon and hair salon Birmingham, whereas Broad won't.

Now I have the average times per month each keyphrase is searched on Google.

birmingham hair salon 140
hair salon Birmingham 1,900
birmingham salon 260
birmingham salons 140
salon Birmingham 6,600
beauty shop Birmingham 36
haircut Birmingham 260

Google also gives me some ideas for new keyphrases.

hair salons Birmingham 880
beauty salon Birmingham 720
beauty salons Birmingham 590
haircuts Birmingham 110
salons in Birmingham 1,900
hair salon in Birmingham 390
salon in Birmingham 1,000
hair salons in Birmingham 720
Beauty salons in Birmingham 390

Now True Colors Salon has a great list of keywords.

Next they've got to do some competitor research to decide which keywords to target.

Keyword tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

More information on SEO for your small, local business
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