{"id":2693,"date":"2012-08-31T05:20:54","date_gmt":"2012-08-31T05:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.adviceinteractivegroup.com\/?p=2693"},"modified":"2012-08-31T05:20:54","modified_gmt":"2012-08-31T05:20:54","slug":"how-your-keyword-rankings-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-12797\" title=\"Keyword Rankings\" src=\"\/images\/Keyword-Rankings.png\" alt=\"Keyword Rankings\" width=\"277\" height=\"228\" \/>As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? Let\u2019s find out as you take on the role of Bob, owner of ww.bobswidgetworld.com.<\/p>\n<p>After a lot of hard work you\u2019ve done it! Your site finally ranks for \u2018blue widgets\u2019. Traffic has increased. You\u2019re getting a lot of qualified leads.<\/p>\n<p>When the smoke clears, you decide to check your data. What you see surprises you. You find that few inbound queries are an exact match for blue widgets.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, you find that queries like \u2018widgets blue valley\u2019, \u2018where can I find widgets\u2019, \u2018cheapest widgets\u2019 and to a lesser extent \u2018widgets that won\u2019t break all the dang time\u2019 are the actual traffic drivers. The only thing these queries have in common with your keyword targeting is \u2018widgets\u2019. How can this be?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"\/images\/bobs-widget-world-suggested-search.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2694\" style=\"margin-top: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px;\" title=\"Google Wants You to Swear\" src=\"\/images\/bobs-widget-world-suggested-search.png\" alt=\"bob's widget world keyword rankings - suggested search\" width=\"300\" height=\"90\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Search Engines Determine Contextual Relevance<\/h2>\n<p>Search engines, Google in particular, will attempt to determine the intent of the query. A query for \u2018widgets blue valley\u2019 will likely prompt the search engine to return widget suppliers in the context of Blue Valley. Since you\u2019re headquartered in Blue Valley, your site may be considered relevant to the query and one of your pages may appear higher in the SERPs. But that\u2019s not the end of the story&#8230;<\/p>\n<h3>How Context is Established<\/h3>\n<p>Well, Bob, unfortunately there are many unknown factors in play. For example, Google changes their search algorithm hundreds of times per year and rarely mentions what has changed. But the good news is we can help you gain a basic understanding of why your site ranks for the query \u2018widgets blue valley&#8217;.<\/p>\n<h3>On-Site Factors<\/h3>\n<p>First, your website has been online for over 10 years and has never been delisted or engaged in search engine manipulation. You\u2019ve made sure that your NAP (name, address and phone number) is somewhere on your site and is crawlable by search engine spiders. After that you have \u2018widget\u2019 in your domain name, which can be a big help. \u00a0Finally, you have a technically healthy site with content and Meta data that is both valuable and informative to users searching for \u2018widgets\u2019.<\/p>\n<h3>Off-Site Factors<\/h3>\n<p>You control all of your directory listings, especially the most trusted ones, and your address is an exact match across all listings. Your site also has some great local links pointing to it, such as the Blue Valley Chamber of Commerce, Blue Valley News and the Blue Valley City Hall. All of these strong, independent, editorial sources send almost unmistakable signals that you sell widgets in this city and your site should rank higher for \u2018widgets blue valley\u2019 queries.<\/p>\n<p>You also have a great <a title=\"Previous Post on Google+ Local Pages\" href=\"\/blog\/google-plus-local-page\/\">Google+ Local profile<\/a> with a lot of positive reviews. It&#8217;s also pulling in review data from Insider Pages, Kudzu and more. The trust and authority of your site also plays a part in how well your profile ranks for queries with local intent. So you have that angle covered as well.<\/p>\n<h3>More to Come Soon<\/h3>\n<p>While there are many other factors involved, a lot of them unknown, you should now have a basic understanding of contextual search and why www.bobswidgetworld.com ranks for \u2018widgets blue valley&#8217;. Join us next time when we discuss using <a title=\"Increase Sales with Informational Keywords\" href=\"\/blog\/informational-and-transactional-keywords\/\">informational and transactional \u00a0keywords to increase sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to learn more about improving your visibility in the mean time, read this <a title=\"The Power of Guest Posting for Brand Building\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zazzlemedia.co.uk\/blog\/9-reasons-guest-posting-fo-link-building-tactic\/\">article about guest posting to build your brand<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-search-marketing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Your Keyword Rankings Happen | Advice Local<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? For more information about keywords, call (214) 310-1356.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen | Advice Local\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? For more information about keywords, call (214) 310-1356.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advice Local\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/advicelocallistings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-31T05:20:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Advice-Local-Partners-FB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Advice Local\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen | Advice Local\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? For more information about keywords, call (214) 310-1356.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@advice_local\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@advice_local\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Advice Local\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Advice Local\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/24c2a8bbb06a68d8e0642a3283d7f1f4\"},\"headline\":\"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-31T05:20:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":582,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Search\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\\\/\",\"name\":\"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen | Advice Local\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-31T05:20:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? For more information about keywords, call (214) 310-1356.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Advice Local\",\"description\":\"Local Digital Marketing Software Solutions and Services\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advice Local\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/logo.png\",\"width\":265,\"height\":55,\"caption\":\"Advice Local\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/advicelocallistings\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/advice_local\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/advice_local\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/24c2a8bbb06a68d8e0642a3283d7f1f4\",\"name\":\"Advice Local\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Advice Local\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.advicelocal.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/advice-local\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen | Advice Local","description":"As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? For more information about keywords, call (214) 310-1356.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen | Advice Local","og_description":"As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? For more information about keywords, call (214) 310-1356.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/","og_site_name":"Advice Local","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/advicelocallistings\/","article_published_time":"2012-08-31T05:20:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Advice-Local-Partners-FB.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Advice Local","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen | Advice Local","twitter_description":"As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? For more information about keywords, call (214) 310-1356.","twitter_creator":"@advice_local","twitter_site":"@advice_local","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Advice Local","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/"},"author":{"name":"Advice Local","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/24c2a8bbb06a68d8e0642a3283d7f1f4"},"headline":"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen","datePublished":"2012-08-31T05:20:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/"},"wordCount":582,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Search"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/","url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/","name":"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen | Advice Local","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-08-31T05:20:54+00:00","description":"As a site owner, do you know how your keyword rankings occur? Do you know how your clients find you? For more information about keywords, call (214) 310-1356.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/how-your-keyword-rankings-happen\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Your Keyword Rankings Happen"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/","name":"Advice Local","description":"Local Digital Marketing Software Solutions and Services","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advice Local","url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/logo.png","width":265,"height":55,"caption":"Advice Local"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/advicelocallistings\/","https:\/\/x.com\/advice_local","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/advice_local"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/24c2a8bbb06a68d8e0642a3283d7f1f4","name":"Advice Local","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Advice Local"},"url":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/author\/advice-local\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}