Location Vs. Typing
-
Hi all,
I wonder
I am NOT located in Dallas and i type in Google : buy groceries online dallas
Is it the same like someone in Dallas that will type: buy groceries online
Lets say the two persons open a new incognito window and their history no effects the resoults
Thank you
ivgi
-
Hi Miriam,
Thank you very much for this detailed answer.
You made some very interesting points here, made me think
What i am looking for are businesses that provides online Local grocery services ( shopping and delivery) for DFW area (Dallas Forth Worth)
Can you suggest the best way to type it?
And after that - what i should find is, if this is the way most if the people will search in Google
For their local online grocery shopping & delivery company
Thank you again
ivgi
-
Hi Ivgi,
Good question. In Local SEO, what you're describing is typically similar but not always exactly the same. There are 2 ways to typically get local results delivered to you by Google.
-
Typing in a keyword Google judges to have local intent and then matches to the location of your device. So, if you're in Dallas and search for 'grocery store', then Google will show you local grocery stores near you.
-
Typing in a keyword+geo term (Dallas) so that you are signalling to Google that you want results specific to that location. It doesn't have to be the location you're in. After all, someone located in Dallas may be looking for a hotel room in San Diego and by including 'San Dieogo' in their search term, they are signalling to Google that they want local results for a different city - not for the city in which their currently located.
You can do some testing of this and you will see that Google will show similar results for both types of queries, though there are typically some minor ranking differences. For example the searcher in Dallas who doesn't include 'Dallas' in his search term may see slight variations in which businesses are ranking where in the local pack of results than the searcher does who is including 'Dallas' in his search term, but isn't actually located in Dallas. The differences are typically slight.
You can also test this out by using Google's search refinement tools to set your location to different cities and perform searches. Again, you may see some slight differences than when you aren't setting your location, but they are slight.
I've explained the above because I'm not sure whether the sample search term you've included in your post is your actual search term. I've explained how Local works, but, all this being said, your sample search is not typically going to bring up Local results, because of the inclusion of 'online' in your query. That is telling Google that you don't care if a business is in Dallas or not. You want to buy something online.
In that case, then, no, you are unlikely to get the same kinds of results for the two different queries. 'Buy Groceries Online Dallas' is likely telling Google you want results from Dallas-based virtual businesses that sell groceries on the Internet, whereas 'Buy Groceries Online" is almost certain to return you generic, national results, regardless of where you are located. There may be some Dallas results included, but I would predict that there would be national ones as well.
The best way for you to research this is to perform your own varied searches for whatever your real search term is. Hope this helps!
-
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
On page vs Off page vs Technical SEO: Priority, easy to handle, easy to measure.
Hi community, I am just trying to figure out which can be priority in on page, off page and technical SEO. Which one you prefer to go first? Which one is easy to handle? Which one is easy to measure? Your opinions and suggestions please. Expecting more realistic answers rather than usual check list. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Google ranking impact: Returning visitor vs New visitor
Hi all, If a website's traffic increase in "New visitors"; will this impact rankings? Do the website overall traffic affect rankings? How much this is related with ranking improvement for main keywords? Just because thousands of visits increased for website, will it count as a strong ranking improvement signal? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Branded vs non-branded query
So there's an obvious difference between a branded and non-branded search term, but I'm interested in the SERPs that are shown as a result. Branded search only results in 7 listings on the first page - obviously because branded search is generally more navigational in nature and the lower results get minimal CT. Are their any technical differences beyond this? Also, how does google define a branded search term? Because a search for Vodafone or Dell show reduced results, but Coca Cola does not. Thanks guys 🙂
Algorithm Updates | | underscorelive0 -
Www vs nonwww domain
Since about 5 years out site was launched as "www.example.com" but last June 2012, we relaunched new design but somehow went without www subdmain - "http://example.com". We didn't check that time but now find duplicate pages and very confused what next. Please answer: Do search engines penalize for the change of domain name? www.example.com vs example.com? How can go back (or, should we really?) to www.example.com? I did redirect .htaccess rewrite from nonwww to www - but now our site is launched as without www. Confused so Please advise ASAP. Thanks a Million
Algorithm Updates | | GreenBirdMedia0 -
Microsites for Local Search / Location Based sites?
Referring to the webinar on SEOMoz about Local Search that was presented by Nifty Marketing (http://www.seomoz.org/webinars/be-where-local-is-going). I have a question my client asked us regarding why we broke out their locations into microsites, and not just used subfolders. So here are the details: The client has one main website in real estate. They have 5 branches. Each branch covers about a 50 mile radius. Each branch also covers a specialized niche in their areas. When we created the main site we incorporated the full list of listings on the main site; We then created a microsite for each branch, who has a page of listings (same as the main site) but included the canonical link back to the main site. The reason we created a microsite for each branch is that the searches for each branch are very specific to their location and we felt that having only a subfolder would take away from the relevancy of the site and it's location. Now, the location sites rank on the first page for their very competitive, location based searches. The client, as we encourage, has had recommendations from others saying this is hurting them, not helping them. My question is this... How can this hurt them when the microsites include a home page specific to the location, a contact page that is optimized with location specific information (maps, text, directions, NAP, call to action, etc.), a page listing area information about communities/events/etc., a page of the location's agents, and of course real estate listings (with canonical back to the main site)? Am I misunderstanding? I understood that if the main site could support the separation of a section into a microsite, this would help local search. Local search is the bread and butter of this client's conversions. AND if you tell me we should go back to having subfolders for each location, won't that seriously hurt our already excellent rankings? The client sees significant visitors from their placement of the location URLs. THANKS!
Algorithm Updates | | gXeSEO
Darlene1 -
Will we no longer need Location + Keyword? Do we even need it at all?
Prepare yourselves. This is a long question. With the rise of schema and Google Local+, do you think Google will now have enough data about where a business is located, so that when someone searches for, a keyword such as "Atlanta Hyundai dealers" a business in Atlanta that's website: has been properly marked up with schema (or microdata for business location) has claimed its Google Local+ has done enough downstream work in Local Search listings for its NAP (name, address, phone number) will no longer have to incorporate variations of "Atlanta Hyundai dealers" in the text on the website? Could they just write enough great content about how they're a Hyundai dealership without the abuse of the Atlanta portion? Or if they're in Boston and they're a dentist or lawyer, could the content be just about the services they provided without so much emphasis tied to location? I'm talking about removing the location of the business from the text in all places other than the schema markup or the contact page on the website. Maybe still keep a main location in the title tags or meta description if it would benefit the customer. I work in an industry where location + keywords has reached such a point of saturation, that it makes the text on the website read very poorly, and I'd like to learn more about alternate methods to keep the text more pure, read better and still achieve the same success when it comes to local search. Also, I haven't seen other sites penalized for all the location stuffing on their websites, which is bizarre because it reads so spammy you can't recognize where the geotargeted keywords end and where the regular text begins. I've been working gradually in this general direction (more emphasis on NAP, researching schema, and vastly improving the content on clients' websites so it's not so heavy with geo-targeted keywords). I also ask because though the niche I work in is still pretty hell-bent on using geo-targeted keywords, whenever I check Analytics, the majority of traffic is branded and geo-targeted keywords make up only a small fraction of traffic. Any thoughts? What are other people doing in this regard?
Algorithm Updates | | EEE30 -
Choosing domain name - ccTLD vs Vanity URL
I have to choose between a country specific domain name that is long and difficult to remember, vs or a .me domain which is short and contains the exact keywords I'm optimising for. The challenge is that I'm only targeting local search traffic for the service I am advertising. Does a country specific domain name have any benefits in terms of weighting when I'm only interested in traffic from that country?
Algorithm Updates | | flashie0 -
With Google's Location Based Searches, Should I Include a City Name with My Keywords?
What I mean is when you search on Google it seems to pull information by your location so would it be helpful including the city name + keyword still for SEO or would it be just as helpful using just the keyword? For example, a client is in Alexandria, VA and has a computer repair shop so would "Alexandria computer repair" be as good or better than "computer repair"? Just a little curious. Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | CodyOelker-AMICreativeStudio2