A new feature on The Verge highlights companies trying to dominate local search rankings with big names like Thai Food Near Me.
So I wanted to see if this strategy could impact local rankings, and more importantly, if it could be replicated by other local businesses.
Before we get started, I have to tell you some good news and some bad news.
The bad news: distance is an important ranking factor
Most restaurants won't rank among the top restaurants in my area unless they're physically located near the search user's location.
reason? Distance is one of the three most important ranking factors in Google local search results.
Let's say a restaurant owner wants people in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York to find out about a restaurant with the phrase "Best Restaurants Near Me."
For this, they need to optimize the best restaurants and acquire physical locations in those cities. And not only in these cities, but also in the exact location of the search engine.
The real question: If the only physical location closest to someone in Philadelphia is in San Diego, should a restaurant be at the top of search results?
It may be something the restaurant can offer beyond the sit-down dining experience, such as physical products for delivery.
Or if the restaurant is the best in the area, diners will be willing to travel over half an hour or organize a vacation to try it.
Best restaurants , best breakfast , best food and more. It's hard not to optimize these phrases because there are hundreds of thousands of searches near me for terms like
But as indicated by the orange to red Keyword Difficulty (KD%) indicators next to each term, it can be difficult to rank many of the top ____ places for my terms .
The good news: Importance and heroism matter, too
The good news is that many local businesses cannot locate outside of the designated area.
Most restaurant owners only need the attention of nearby customers to make a profit.
The even better news is that there are ways to help local businesses increase their relevance and visibility by using trending keywords.
Focus on browsing sites that are optimized for your keyword list
Encourage customers to rate your restaurant on TripAdvisor, Yelp, or similar networks, with pages like Top 10 Restaurants in Your City and Top Restaurants Nearby , ranked by terms.
Promote keyword optimized reviews
Find the keywords you want to optimize for and share them in customer reviews, on your restaurant's website, and on your social media pages.
For example, if the restaurant reviewed above has a blog, they could create a post with the phrase "India's best restaurants" in the title and that review would appear.
Contact local media
Contact local journalists, reporters and reviewers to submit articles or features about the best restaurants in your city.
In particular, find people who have created similar content and their editors and start connecting with them on the social networks they use the most. It's not the social network they post to most, but the social network they use most to connect with others or achieve the most reach.
Connect with social media influencers
Remember that Google is not the only name in search. 40% of Gen Z turn to TikTok and Instagram as alternative search engines. Therefore, some of the same search terms are also very popular on social media platforms.
Use the search bar on each network to find influencers creating content that matches keywords like best restaurants near me or best restaurants in Phoenix .
Start by reaching out to these influencers and look for content partnership opportunities.
Create a new brand to target more keywords
What if you want to target more keywords than restaurants?
Denny's, often voted the best breakfast restaurant near me , isn't even ranked among the best burger restaurants near me .
Despite ranking for one keyword, the company created two new virtual brands.
One - The Burger Den - I came to search for the best burger places in my area via Yelp's list of the top 10 burger places in my area.
This allows a brand traditionally known for one product to become known for other products.
It takes more than a clever brand name
In short, the local search ranking landscape is more dynamic and diverse than ever before.
While distance remains a constant factor, local businesses can use other creative strategies to optimize for nearby search terms and other local search terms.
Featured Image: Entertainment Images / Shutterstock
