regionless SEO

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joescrivens

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My SEO has been going really well since I refreshed my website. Does anyone target non region keywords for SEO?

What I mean is, we generally target keywords like "portraight photographer [insert town here]"

but do you look at where you are in ranking when just using the category i.e. "portrait photographer"

Does where you are in the UK already affect the pages served up to you by region?

I noticed on my google analytics that I had some hits just from the keyword "portrait photography" with no region specified. When I looked i was on page 1 of google for that keyword which was quite a surprise. Looking at the list it does seem that all the hits are geered around the midlands.

How is your seo for a regionless keywords?
 
I have noticed the same thing too, I have had hits for just things like 'event photographer' and appeared on 1st page on one occasion.

So I wonder if google shows search results taking into account relevent location?
 
I think Google adds local weightings. But remember that if you're targeting 'Portrait Photographer Mytown' You also have 'Portrait Photographer' and 'Photographer Mytown' for free. There's nothing to stop you adding further instances, but be aware that having put one, the other would appear to be a duplicate just from searching the phrase (so might look like keyword stuffing).

There might be something in targeting 'County Portrait Photographer Mytown' which would yield
'County Portrait Photographer'
'Portrait Photographer Mytown'
'Portrait Photographer'

There'd be an addition to that if your county was South Yorkshire too;) as you get two county phrases South Yorkshire and Yorkshire.

I still believe the toughest nut to crack is scoring for the lesser used phrases which are all too easy to ignore - being top for keywords that some people type, rather than just aiming for the ones we think everyone uses.
 
Have a read of the last bit here http://www.dorsetphotoevent.co.uk/seo-for-photographers-part-4-keywords/ - remember the saying "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves" - aim for the longer keyphrases and you will benefit with the shorter ones.

Make sure you are logged out from google before searching and even then it will skew results based on your location as it knows where you are.

Mike
 
mike weeks said:
Make sure you are logged out from google before searching and even then it will skew results based on your location as it knows where you are.
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Alternatively, if you're a Google Chrome user, you can open an incognito page, which hides your details and effectively can give you a true feeling for your SEO rankings.
 
mike weeks said:
Have a read of the last bit here http://www.dorsetphotoevent.co.uk/seo-for-photographers-part-4-keywords/ - remember the saying "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves" - aim for the longer keyphrases and you will benefit with the shorter ones.

Make sure you are logged out from google before searching and even then it will skew results based on your location as it knows where you are.

Mike
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But why would I want to do that? Surely it's more relevant for me to see how I'm doing for people who are searching for "portrait photographer" that are in the same region? But that aren't adding the longer keyword.
 
joescrivens said:
But why would I want to do that? Surely it's more relevant for me to see how I'm doing for people who are searching for "portrait photographer" that are in the same region? But that aren't adding the longer keyword.
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If you're asking about being logged out, or using incognito, I believe Google can still pick up where you are, but there's no chance that your browsing history will affect your search results. It's amazing how many people believe they're on P1 of Google because it's what Google tells them, despite the fact that they're their only website visitor.
 
Phil V said:
If you're asking about being logged out, or using incognito, I believe Google can still pick up where you are, but there's no chance that your browsing history will affect your search results. It's amazing how many people believe they're on P1 of Google because it's what Google tells them, despite the fact that they're their only website visitor.
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ok, I want google to still know where I am, otherwise its irrelevant to me, people finding me if they happen to be 300 miles away its no use to me.

Private browsing makes no difference to my SEO though. none of my results change when i use private browsing/incognito etc
 
Ok if it doesn't change, but for some there's a dramatic difference, which people need to be aware of.
 
Incognito will give you a more impersonal result, and it's one of the best ways available at present to track your progress, but it's not infallible. It will build a history over time.

One other thing you could try is to log into your browser settings, clear your settings that can be cleared, ie cookies, history, etc. Then change location to more local influences.
 
wibbly said:
Incognito will give you a more impersonal result, and it's one of the best ways available at present to track your progress, but it's not infallible. It will build a history over time.

One other thing you could try is to log into your browser settings, clear your settings that can be cleared, ie cookies, history, etc. Then change location to more local influences.
Click to expand...

Even after doing this there is no difference in the results im served up.

But when checking seo I do want local influences. I want to see how people in my area see me.
 
joescrivens said:
Even after doing this there is no difference in the results im served up.

But when checking seo I do want local influences. I want to see how people in my area see me.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing there is some kind of geo-location factor in there which as you are interested in local results is not an issue.

As a point of interest if I search for 'portrait photography' your site ranks on page 8 for the keywords photography.
 
mike weeks said:
Because you are local and if is giving results in part based on location it should give similar results to what people local to you are seeing.

Mike
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Exactly!

And that is what is ideal.

Someone in Worcestershire searching for portrait photographer shouldn't see me on page 1. That would be useless to me.
 
mike weeks said:
Joe,

I do get the feeling you do not understand this fully though. More and more searches have the location added so it is important to optimise for your location. A side effect is that you should improve your rankings for a similar search without location.

Mike
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Not sure what I've said to make you think I don't get what you just wrote. That's exactly what I have done.

Optimised for my location. My seo is top 5 spot for all keywords I have targetted so far with location.

thats kind of my point, the side effect has been improved ranking without location added to the keyword.
 
mike weeks said:
Just that Joe
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Ah you misunderstood.

What I mean by that is it people who only search for "portrait photographer" without specifying a region I'm only interested in being served up to those who are local.

So someone in London who types it and finds me is of little interest to me compared to someone in stoke.
 
joescrivens said:
Ah you misunderstood.

What I mean by that is it people who only search for "portrait photographer" without specifying a region I'm only interested in being served up to those who are local.

So someone in London who types it and finds me is of little interest to me compared to someone in stoke.
Click to expand...

But whilst Google will try to serve up localised results, there's nothing you can do to prevent your site coming up on searches from further afield.

If you want to score high for a search term you have to accept that some people will find you that aren't your target market.
 
I think we're all discussing different things here.

The reason I am talking about wanting local people is about why I don't want to do private windows etc.

I'm not actually trying not to be shown to people not in the area. Just that the amount of exposure to those types of people is of no interest to me

If that makes sense?
 
If you do not use the private / incognito etc. the results will be skewed by you and of little value. Google can still work out your area with private browsing and that is the results you want to see. If your SEO is good you will rank nationally as well as locally but not as high.

And no your comments do not make sense.
 
You keep getting the wrong impression mike. Lets just leave it there, clearly I am not doing a good job of explaining it.

Cheers
 
I don't understand Joe.

It makes perfect sense. If you search from
Your own account with your history, the results are a complete fabrication.

If you google using incognito etc. then google gives you local results exactly the same as your neighbours would get.
 
Phil V said:
I don't understand Joe.

It makes perfect sense. If you search from
Your own account with your history, the results are a complete fabrication.

If you google using incognito etc. then google gives you local results exactly the same as your neighbours would get.
Click to expand...

And yet the results are identical for me :shrug:
 
As I said, they can be similar or completely different. Based on that knowledge I'd rather play safe. Btw that's knowledge from when I had a flash based site that showed up in my searches but from a clean search came nowhere. It's not just a reiteration of Internet 'knowledge'.
 
That's a strange post mike.

Your talking like I was disagreeing with you when I wasn't.

Anyway, take care.
 
And since I've obviously done a poor job explaining what I mean, some clarification:

  • I am interested in how I rank for people in my area who do not type the area in as part of their keyword
  • I have no interest in how I rank for people in a different area who don't type an area in as part of their keyword
  • Signing out of google and using private browsing has zero effect for me on my page ranking - therefore I have no need to do it
  • I understand that for other people this isn't the case and so doing it gives them a more accurate result

One other point, I don't think it is wise to just take what someone says as gospel. Take it on board but do your own research too. I realise you have written a guide for SEO mike, but I have to say some of the advice you were giving me at the start when I had questions about SEO was wrong and actually harmed my page rank, when I looked more into it I did some of the exact opposite things you told me to do and now my rank is number 1 or within the top 5 for the keywords I was targetting.

All advice is appreciated and taken onboard, but I will always get a borader picture - as is the wise thing to do :thumbs:
 
mike weeks said:
The advice was not wrong, the application of it would be the issue. The problem is that you have to fully understand the situation both from the advice giver and the advice recipient.

Mike
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sorry mike but some of what you told me to do just didn't work. When I did the exact opposite of some things you (and others) suggested I had better SEO :shrug:

Others things that were suggested by you and others were great, and I appreciate all advice. But it just goes to show, that you should always use more than one source when making a decision to do something where advice is concerned.
 
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joescrivens said:
And since I've obviously done a poor job explaining what I mean, some clarification:


  • ...
  • Signing out of google and using private browsing has zero effect for me on my page ranking - therefore I have no need to do it
  • I understand that for other people this isn't the case and so doing it gives them a more accurate result
...
Click to expand...
Joe.
I appreciate a healthy dose of skepticism, but why would you risk getting inaccurate results in future based on it behaving the same now?

It's just 'good practice' and whilst I like a fresh look at a situation as much as the next bloke, for the little inconvenience it's got to be worth knowing that you're getting accurate results, rather than believing they're about right.
 
Phil V said:
Joe.
I appreciate a healthy dose of skepticism, but why would you risk getting inaccurate results in future based on it behaving the same now?

It's just 'good practice' and whilst I like a fresh look at a situation as much as the next bloke, for the little inconvenience it's got to be worth knowing that you're getting accurate results, rather than believing they're about right.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean I would do it in the future - who knows what will happen in the future. I meant right now - today
 
mike weeks said:
:wave: What things?
Click to expand...

Mike, I'm not going to trawl back through the threads. It wont help, and no doubt you'll just say that it was the way I did things etc. Lets not go down that route, it wont solve anything.

and just to sum up, you and others have in the main been very helpful to me regarding SEO which I have appreicated :thumbs:
 
I'll just leave it be if its the same to you mike. No drama.

Cheers.
 
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