In the realm of local SEO, specifically, there is a debate. There are those who say that to be effective, the best local SEO experts must target “near me” keywords, and there are those who say this isn’t necessary.

This short post will break down the arguments.

The “Near Me” Quandary

Those in favor of “near me” keywords argue that when local potential customers look for a business in their area, they often append “near me” to the search query, whether they’re looking in Google Maps or just in the regular search results.

The idea is that a higher density of instances of “near me” on a website or in a listing will help improve the visibility of that website.

However, the breakdown here is that “near me” means nothing without additional qualifiers. If you’re in New York and search for a barber “near me,” a shop in California with those keywords in the listing might (keyword, might) populate the results, but that wouldn’t be much use, either to you or the barber shop.

So as you can see, adding those qualifiers to your campaign is not necessary, and not necessarily helpful either.

What Actually Happens

As the illustration in the last section shows, based on the keyword alone, there is no way for a search engine to know where “near you” is when you type in “near me.” Therefore, keywords that explicitly have these subjective qualifiers in them are not effective for SEO, or for any search intent, for that matter.

What Google, and presumably other search engines, do when you type in “something” “near me” is look at your IP address or your location. It then compares that to venues in the area that should meet what you’re looking for, and their locations.

Then it serves up results based on where you are, and businesses that are in that location.

That’s one way local SEO works. Another approach that some marketers take is to optimize websites and listings with location-specific keywords.

Location-Specific Keywords

While the keyword “near me” effectively does nothing when you search it, or embed it within another query, actual location based keywords have the potential to be effective.

So for example, “near New York,” “Los Angeles” or “in North Jersey,” or better yet, specific to a single municipality or even neighborhood, these sorts of keywords work.

Not only can location-specific keywords have a big impact on a local SEO campaign when simply targeted the way any other keywords are, they can prove even more effective when a location-specific services page is drafted and optimized.

That is one technique often employed by the best local SEO services providers and it can be highly effective, all things considered.

Optimizing Local Listings and Profiles

Another thing that local SEO services providers do is optimize local business listings and profiles, like Google My Business listings. Doing so increases the likelihood that those listings will populate the search results when local searches are executed.

It’s also important to note here that even though it’s called “local SEO,” as a marketing channel, not all local searches occur strictly in search engines. Sometimes people look for businesses or services through Google Maps and other interfaces.

Because of this, it’s even more important to ensure that local listings and business profiles are optimized, so as to maximize overall local visibility.

Notes for Businesses in Search of the Best Local SEO Services

It should be clear now that it is not necessary to target any keyword with “near me” in it as part of a local SEO strategy.

That said, the best local SEO services providers often leverage the other considerations listed in this article in their strategies, and can produce results for their clients.

Search for one the same way you’d look for any other SEO services provider: in the search results or through Maps. Any agency that populates organically likely has a solid presence and knows how to optimize for local searches.

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