Once you have a comprehensive list of local keyword phrases, it’s time to validate whether they have local intent.
You can tell if a local keyword has local intent if when you do a local search in Google, you see:
A “Map Pack”
Local Businesses Ranking in the Organic Results
Another way to find the best local keywords to go for is by discovering local businesses in the SERPs that rank for the keywords you are looking for and then using an SEO keyword gap tool to compare all of the top 5 or 10 competitors to spot keyword gaps.
These keyword gaps show what keywords most competitors are not ranking for, allowing your business to rank for those keywords after creating pages and content around them.
Once you have your list of keywords, it’s time to prioritize them. As with any keywords, the most valuable ones have low difficulty scores and high search volume.
They should also have local intent and be relevant to your business, products, services, and local areas.
This should give you a shortlist of keywords that are the highest priority to start with regarding your content strategy.