Searches with and without geographic location
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 9:23 am
As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, Google can use more information than just the words the user uses in their query.
For example, your geographic location, either from your mobile phone's GPS or your IP address.
We have also seen some examples of searches where, even though the query did not include any geographic reference, local results were displayed.
Therefore, we should not obsess over always including our location in the keyword analysis: in many cases, the user will not use it expressly.
This does not mean that we should set aside this analysis; it is important to do so in order to know the potential volume of these searches.
What I'm really saying is that we shouldn't limit our local SEO strategy to an exact match for our location.
Later we will see that we have other methods for Google to know where we are, beyond highlighting it as part of the keywords within the content or headers.
Voice searches
Many local searches are done via mobile, either by typing or using voice recognition.
Just as we don't write like we speak, the words we use when writing a search are often different than if we say them out loud.
While when we write we save words by using only nouns, verbs and adjectives, when we speak we tend to use complete sentences.
We saw it in the example at the beginning of the post.
In it, a voice search was made on a mobile phone, with the phrase: “where can I eat the best beef steak”.
However, if I had to write it, I would have cut back a lot on the words used (even more so if I did it on a mobile phone) and would have used: “eat beef steak” or “eat better beef steak”.
It seems like a tiny difference, but the impact may be greater than we can imagine at first.
Look, for example, at the difference in organic results between searching for “eat beef in Seville” (left) and “eat beef in Seville” (right):
Local SEO Action Plan - Local Search Results C philippine area code omparison
When we analyze keywords, we must consider the variations and alternatives introduced by voice searches.
In this sense, the Autocomplete function and related searches on Google can give us very relevant clues:
Local SEO Action Plan - Autocomplete
Local SEO Action Plan - Related Searches
Semantic searches
When we write or speak, we rarely repeat the same sequences of words several times, but rather we introduce changes into them, either by using synonyms, equivalent expressions or variations of the same word (such as plurals, adjectives or verb forms), in addition to other terms with meanings related to that of the "main" keyword.
This aspect can become even more critical in Local SEO, given that voice searches, being more spontaneous, tend to present more variations and related terms than when we express ourselves in writing.
In addition, Google likes content that is natural, in which the same word or sequence of words is not repeated over and over again, but rather semantically equivalent or related expressions are used.
Now, how do we analyze keywords to do semantic searches?
We must go a step beyond traditional analysis, for which I recommend this article on semantic search .
2.- Company listing on Goo
For example, your geographic location, either from your mobile phone's GPS or your IP address.
We have also seen some examples of searches where, even though the query did not include any geographic reference, local results were displayed.
Therefore, we should not obsess over always including our location in the keyword analysis: in many cases, the user will not use it expressly.
This does not mean that we should set aside this analysis; it is important to do so in order to know the potential volume of these searches.
What I'm really saying is that we shouldn't limit our local SEO strategy to an exact match for our location.
Later we will see that we have other methods for Google to know where we are, beyond highlighting it as part of the keywords within the content or headers.
Voice searches
Many local searches are done via mobile, either by typing or using voice recognition.
Just as we don't write like we speak, the words we use when writing a search are often different than if we say them out loud.
While when we write we save words by using only nouns, verbs and adjectives, when we speak we tend to use complete sentences.
We saw it in the example at the beginning of the post.
In it, a voice search was made on a mobile phone, with the phrase: “where can I eat the best beef steak”.
However, if I had to write it, I would have cut back a lot on the words used (even more so if I did it on a mobile phone) and would have used: “eat beef steak” or “eat better beef steak”.
It seems like a tiny difference, but the impact may be greater than we can imagine at first.
Look, for example, at the difference in organic results between searching for “eat beef in Seville” (left) and “eat beef in Seville” (right):
Local SEO Action Plan - Local Search Results C philippine area code omparison
When we analyze keywords, we must consider the variations and alternatives introduced by voice searches.
In this sense, the Autocomplete function and related searches on Google can give us very relevant clues:
Local SEO Action Plan - Autocomplete
Local SEO Action Plan - Related Searches
Semantic searches
When we write or speak, we rarely repeat the same sequences of words several times, but rather we introduce changes into them, either by using synonyms, equivalent expressions or variations of the same word (such as plurals, adjectives or verb forms), in addition to other terms with meanings related to that of the "main" keyword.
This aspect can become even more critical in Local SEO, given that voice searches, being more spontaneous, tend to present more variations and related terms than when we express ourselves in writing.
In addition, Google likes content that is natural, in which the same word or sequence of words is not repeated over and over again, but rather semantically equivalent or related expressions are used.
Now, how do we analyze keywords to do semantic searches?
We must go a step beyond traditional analysis, for which I recommend this article on semantic search .
2.- Company listing on Goo