If you are currently exploring the benefits of working on local SEO for your small business, you may have stumbled upon the term ‘geo-targeted’ content. But, what is it, why is it so important, and how can you go about successfully writing your own? Let’s get stuck in…
What is geo-targeted content?
Geo-targeted content, as the name suggests, refers to the process of creating content that is relevant to a specific geographical location.
So for example, if you are a small pest control business in Houston, Texas, and you wish to improve your local SEO listings for that specific service area, you would need to develop content that relates to the region – and the local residents (e.g., state-wide health & safety standards for commercial restaurants in relation to pest control).
But it can go much deeper than that. For example, if you own and run an airport pickup service, you could create SOPs (service area pages) with geo-centric information that details the route and approximate travel time from each neighbourhood in Houston to the three main airports. Of course, this example is quite extreme as it would be an awful lot of work (and much of the information could be found using Google maps), however, it’s a great example of how geo-targeted content works.
Another example could be for a cultural tours company in Houston; you could create geo-targeted content talking about the various cultural landmarks in Houston, which ones you offer tours to, and which are not included in the tours but are well worth a visit.
Why is geo-targeted content important?
Geo-targeted content is important for a number of reasons:
- To let Google know who you are, which areas you service, and how authoritative you are.
- To demonstrate your authority in the eyes of your target audience by providing helpful information in relation to the areas in which they live.
If you wish to rank locally for certain products / services in your area, you not only need to do the proper keyword research, but you also need to create useful, ‘people-first’ content surrounding those keywords as well (and as naturally as possible). This will send the relevant signals to Google, while also driving more traffic to your website as people find your content engaging.
How to write excellent geo-targeted content
Writing excellent geo-targeted content is actually rather straight forward:
- Use keyword research tools to explore the various ‘frequently asked questions’ that relate to your business and your service areas (e.g., “fastest route to George Bush Intercontinental Airport from River Oaks”).
- Conduct extensive audience research and build a profile of your ideal customer. What makes them tick? What kind of content do they like to consume? How can you resonate with them on a personal level?
- Leverage your expert knowledge of the area in which you work and build awesome content around that.
The key is to write with intention. Don’t stuff your target local keywords onto a page with some generic ‘fluff’ about the services that you offer. Think carefully about how you can talk about each specific location – and indeed their unique pain points. Are crime levels higher in Montrose than in Greenway? If so, a home security company could reference real life statistics when offering home security solutions.
If you do your keyword research, understand your target audience, and write with the intention of providing your customers with genuine value, it will have a massively positive impact on your local SEO (provided you tick all of the other boxes of course, such as technical / onsite SEO, link building, claiming your GMB profile, etc.).
Conclusion
And that about sums it up:
- Geo-targeted content refers to the process of creating useful content that is relevant to a specific area whose residents you would like to market to.
- Creating such highly targeted content can help improve your local SEO rankings significantly (especially if you invest a lot of time into creating genuinely valuable content).
If you feel a little out of your depth, there’s no shame in hiring a local SEO expert in Texas to help lighten the load. On paper, local SEO all sounds relatively straightforward, however, it’s finding the time to do it right that presents the biggest challenge for small businesses.
We hope that you’ve found this article insightful and wish you well on your quest to dominate the local rankings in your industry.