Most Common Searched Communities

[Mark Z]

If you're in an area where there are 25-30 communities or cities that you could possibly service, how you find out which community is most commonly searched by people? I ask because I have just decided to make the decision to have REW make a new site for me and I want to pick the 5 highest searched areas and begin SEO on those communities to start. Any suggestions?

[REW Tyler]

http://www.google.com/trends

This should be able to help you out to compare communities between each other. All you need now, is the community names and you can compare them by seperating the names with a comma.

[metaylor9]

How did I not know about this tool before??? It looks like the KW's have to be pretty big to use this tool. I tried a couple of local communities and it said not enough search volume.

[Mark Z]

I tried that tool and I get the same thing, "not enough search volume." There must be another tool used. You are welcome to try for yourself, I was looking at communities like...
Northville, Michigan
West Bloomfield, Michigan
Novi, Michigan
Commerce Township, Michigan
Plymouth, Michigan

[TrimarkProperties]

My recommendation: if you have a decent blog, write a post on each community that is well optimized, and make sure your blog has google webmaster tools hooked up.

I've used my blog for testing on keywords. Seems like the freshness factor means that the blog posts come up in the top ten (if optimized well) for a few weeks. Then I can compare the stats in webmaster tools.

Then I can build a page on the site that is actually for selling within that neighborhood.

[drang3d]

Why dont you use Overtures keyword tool?

[darrenwoodard]

I usually use Overtures Tool, but I don't know how accurate it is. Google Trends looks interesting, but I am not sure how to use it. It found and compared many of my search phrases like Myrtle Beach Real Estate, Carolina Forest Real Estate, and Myrtle Beach MLS. I am not sure how to use those figures. Overture is a lot more straight forward.

[RonnieG]

Overture only knows about what searches pass through it's portal. It has absolutely no clue as to what the top Google searches are, and vice-versa. If you are concerned about optimizing for Google, use Google's tools, including the AdWords traffic estimator, and you don't have to spend money on AdWords to use it. You just need to set up an AdWords account and campaign, pause the campaign, then set up an ad and your proposed keywords, including community specific keywords, to get traffic estimates for those specific keyword phrases.

[drang3d]

Or you can use the new keyword tools at seobook without setting up a google account or pausing a campaign

[kid disco]

http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/thread14999.html#6