I am ranking for local broad terms, but I am not ranking when geo-modifier is included.

[Ideas-Money-Art]

I have noticed that my rankings for broad terms have dramatically improved in the area I service. But, when I put the broad term in my search query with a geo-modifier I notice I am still not ranking even though my domain authority and page authority is higher than the competitor who is ranking. Why might this be? I am not penalized, or have a manual action. I am also featured in more hyperlocal niche directories.

[MonicaOConnor]

What kind of local optimization are you doing on your site? Is you address posted on your site, maybe in the footer so it is on every page? Do you have any content on your site that optimizes your location?

[BradyDCallahan]

Without having any additional context, my best guess would be one (or likely more) of your competitors have targeted these keywords with standard local SEO tactics: hyper-localized, local address/business schema markup, address and other local neighborhood information, relevant on-site content, etc.

Maybe they've focused more on semantic aspects of on-page SEO factors (co-citation, location of targeted keywords in relationship to one another, other semantic relationships) than you have? While it sounds like you've done a good job including your website (a backlink) in high-quality local directories (more than your competitor[s] have at least), but what about links overall?

While local-relevant links are nice, high-quality links in general will still carry a website a long way as far as ranking and consistent organic traffic. It appears Pigeon - the most recent local update - is steering closer to generic web ranking signals, not just the local stuff.

Hope that helps! Would be happy to try and provide more information if you're able or willing to answer some of these questions.

[Ideas-Money-Art]

Thanks for the response!

The address is listed on my site, and on every page in the footer. Every page on my site has content that includes a mention of my brand name and the city it services. My domain name also has my keyword and city i service. My competitor who is ranking only has one page for his entire site which is the homepage. The page has a DA of 7 and a PA of 22 and he is ranked 1st with the geo modifier.

[Ideas-Money-Art]

Thanks for the detailed response!

My competitor oddly enough only has one page on his site which is his home page. He has one back link which is from the chamber of commerce, which I am already listed in. My competitor does not seem to be implementing any SEO strategies from what I can tell because his NAP information is not even on the homepage.

Thanks again for the help!

[DonnaDuncan]

Hi Taysir,

Hard to tell without more information or domains and keywords that we could try and observe ourselves. You might want to supply those to us. Are you observing organic or local search rankings? Assuming you're observing local search results:

1. What's the relative proximity to city center, you vs the competition?
2. Who has more or better citations?
3. Have you claimed and completely populated your local listings, most importantly, your Google local listing?
4. Is it properly categorized and is that categorization reflected in the terms you use throughout your site in keywords, headings, body text, geo and schema tags?
5. Have you created and submitted a geo sitemap?
6. Are you using a consistent name, address and phone number on every page of the site?
7. Do you have a Google map embedded onto your contact page?
8. Who has more reviews?

Don't feel a need to respond if any of my questions triggers the answer you're looking for. But if it doesn't, probably supplying us with your keywords and domain would be your next best bet.

Good luck!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Taysir,

This kind of scenario is not going to be easy for the community to troubleshoot without actually being able to look at the specific players and queries in question. It's completely understandable if you cannot share your client's info here on the forum, but that will limit the specificity of the advice you'll receive.

Donna has highlighted some good questions for you. I will add, In the absence of being able to look at the actual situation, I would recommend you do a run-through of this article to see if anything stands out to you:

http://moz.com/blog/troubleshooting-local-ranking-failures

[Ideas-Money-Art]

Thanks for the reply!

I appreciate the detailed article! I am going to review my campaign again and go through the article to see what needs to be fixed, I will report back.

Thanks again!

[MiriamEllis]

Sounds good, Taysir:)