Ranking top 3 with Geographical Keyword but not on 1st page without it.

[speakcreative]

Recently I have been working to solve an issue where we rank number 2 for "Web Design Memphis" yet we do not appear on the first few pages for the keyword "web design." Several of our local competitors appear on the first page without the geo keyword.

What can be done to solve this issue? I am not searching incognito and Google is recognizing my locality. Why is the competition able to rank on the first page without the geo keyword and we are not?

Thanks for your feedback!

[essdee]

Do you have a Google Places account? Is it their website or their Google Places listing that is ranking for the keyword? Do you have "Web Design Memphis" or a similar phrase on your homepage title tag? Do you use that phrase on your site?

I've found including all of the geo information in the footer generally works well. Creating a link between your Google Places account and your web page could help as well.

[speakcreative]

@essdee Thank you for your feedback. We do have a places page, the keywords are in the title tag and the geo info is all in the footer. I suspect the issue lies within the Google Places Page, something we are working on now.

Thanks again!

[speakcreative]

@essdee Thanks, I will let you know how it turns out.

[essdee]

Yes a well optimized Google Places page can have a huge impact on getting local query traffic.

Hope you get it worked out. Good luck!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi SpeakCreative,

As of January 2010, Google stopped showing truly local results for queries like yours: web design memphis. Designers, SEOs and other marketers were hit with this filter and it has never been rescinded. Because of this, when you're dealing with a query like yours, you are likely actually dealing with an organic SEO issue, rather than a Local SEO one. Because or this, the answer to your question lies in competitive analysis of the competitors who are outranking you, to discover where they are surpassing you. Then, the task will be to make a greater effort than they have.

In other words, there isn't going to be a simple answer to a question like yours. The answer will be discovered via a close analysis of who is ranking and why.