Will we no longer need Location + Keyword? Do we even need it at all?

[EEE3]

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?

[SanketPatel]

Hi, Apart from Schema, Google + local, Google map.... I do below things to generate local Signals: Local Business Listing, Press Release Distribution with Address, Clients Testimonial... Listing in social sites with same address twiiter, facebook, pinterest, Linkedin etc... Let me share blogpost which I like on local on seomoz: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/40-important-local-search-questions-answered http://www.seomoz.org/blog/you-asked-i-answered-qa-from-you-probably-think-this-citation-source-is-about-you-dont-you

[EEE3]

Thanks SankelPatel! I'll check them out. So do you not use any location + keyword on the clients' websites?

[SanketPatel]

I user keyword + location but other way. Lets take your keyword: "Atlanta Hyundai dealers". If I have to optimize this keyword I prefer content "atlanta" in title or content. And Anchor text linking on hyundai dealers or directly on domain. ( Anchor text based upon current backlink profile using ahrefs.com ).

[EEE3]

Thanks SanketPatel. Do you have a pay-for account with ahrefs.com or are you using the free version? Do you like it better than opensiteexplorer?

[SanketPatel]

Currently I am using free version of ahrefs.com, will convert account into paid if required. I also use opensiteexplorer but I like anchor text distribution functionality of ahefs.com.