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Increase Local Search Traffic With Long Tail Keyword Phrases

Increase Local Search Traffic with Long Tail Keyword Phrases March 19 2024

Local Long Tail Keyword Phrases

We saw an interesting thing happen with one of our long standing local SEO clients.

Since building a strong foundation of location authority with local pages for this client, they’ve been ranking well for their targeted keyword phrases in both organic and local / Google Maps, so we weren’t so quick to disrupt that momentum by launching an aggressive citation distribution campaign.

But after launching their citation distribution campaign to grow location authority, their total number of keyword phrases driving local search traffic grew exponentially.

Another way we look at it, by building location authority, we tapped into the long tail keyword phrase market for this client, opening them up to hundreds of new relevant keyword phrases bringing visitors to their local business website.

To be exact, as you can see in the image above, in less than 2 months we increased traffic in organic search by +175 local keyword phrases.

See also:  4 Local SEO Mistakes That Will Sink Your Google Maps Rankings

Long tail keyword phrases:  Total number of local keyword phrases driving search traffic

Previously, the local keyword phrases driving traffic were limited to the core keyword phrases.

However, we found that after engaging in an aggressive citation distribution campaign, the total number of keyword phrases driving traffic expanded dramatically… again, see the graph above for a visual of this growth.

So what happened?

In summary, engaging in a high quality citation distribution campaign by leveraging authoritative publishing partners, will drive increased location authority to both your website and your Google My Business listing (i.e. Google Maps rankings and presence).

This process opens your business up to be found by a wider range of topically related keyword phrases.

Here’s an example…

For this client, the core keyword phrase is dentists in Athens, Ga.  

This is what we call the core keyword phrase and represents the most search traffic at the single keyword phrase level.

For someone located in Athens, Ga., the equivalent local near me search would be just as relevant.

However, this is NOT where the greatest volume of relevant search traffic resides in total dental market.

The most local search volume is actually found in what’s called the long tail keyword phrases.

Long Tail Keyword Phrase Search Volume March 19 2024

Here’s a great image showing the volume of search traffic found in long tail keyword phrases from HitTail.

As you can see, the greatest volume of search traffic (70%) is found in the long tail keyword phrases.

In order to tap into the long tail search traffic in the local search market, you need to have a competitive advantage in location authority vs. your competitors in the same market.

In the example above, this would be the dental practice market in Athens, Ga.

Build Location Authority with Citation Distribution

With this local SEO client, we saw a couple of keyword phrases slip recently.  Even though the drop in rankings was slight, we decided to move forward with our standard citation distribution campaign.  This is where we take a client’s NAP (business name, address, phone #, and website URL), otherwise known as their local business citation, and publish it across all of our partner publishers.

Our partner publishers consist of data aggregators such as Acxiom, Neustar / Localeze, InfoGroup, and Factual, and then we have single point partners such as Yelp, Yahoo Business Directory, Waze, Apple Maps, FourSquare, and many others.  This network of citation distribution partners combines to create a powerful platform for both citation distribution for location authority, and also backlink distribution for domain authority.

Data Consistency using Google My Business as the base

The relevance factor is met when you distribute you local business data as an exact match to your Google My Business listing.

For example, here’s our (Bipper Media’s) NAP citation from Google My Business, the business name and address part:

Local Business Data Consistency March 19 2024

And then here’s the business hours, phone number, and website URL part:

Local Business Data Consistency March 19 2024

To summarize the complete business citation as referenced by our Google My Business listing:

Bipper Media – Website Design & SEO in Athens
855 Gaines School Road, Suite A
Athens, GA 30605-3215
(706) 363-0335
https://bippermedia.com

Business Hours:
Sunday / Open 24 hours
Monday / Open 24 hours
Tuesday / Open 24 hours
Wednesday / Open 24 hours
Thursday / Open 24 hours
Friday / Open 24 hours
Saturday / Open 24 hours

When we initiate citation distribution across our partner publishers, the most critical step is to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the citation distribution matches our Google My Business data exactly.

One slight variation of the citation can cause your location authority to be degraded as you’ll then be distributing inconsistent or inaccurate data as compared to your verified Google My Business listing.

Niche Directories for local business

Once you begin distributing the exact match citation for your local business, you can amplify expedite the growth of your location authority by distributing to niche business directories and resources.  A niche directory or resource would look like this, for example:

You can also find a great collection of niche citation directories at Moz.

But here’s a few to give you an idea of what we are talking about:

Attorneys:

Dentists:

Read more:  Directories for Dentists:  The Complete List (2017)

Again, you can find a more complete list of niche directories at Moz.

The more citations you get published on authoritative niche directories, those directly related to your business category, the more location authority you’ll build within your category.

You can follow the same strategy to focus on the geographic market where your business is located.

One way you can find niche directories relevant to your metro area, you can simply type a search query into Google like this:

Niche Metro Area Directories March 19 2024

Just replace “athens” with your city name.

Or try some variations of this by replacing “business listings” with the word “directory”.

After just a few minutes you’ll have a list of the most authoritative business directories for you specific city.

For help with local SEO for your business, DIAGNOSE YOUR BUSINESS for free now.

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Bobby Holland
Bobby Hollandhttp://bippermedia.com
Founder and contributor at Bipper Media.

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"Bobby and his team are very easy to work with. They communicate flawlessly and I love working with them. Almost ten plus years later they continue to keep me number 1 in my market online and strive for excellence!!"