TL;DR: Keywords belong in a short list of specific places: your page content, your headings, your title tag and meta description, image alt text, URLs, the anchor text of your links, your Google Business Profile description, and your citations. Put the main phrase in the places search engines weight most heavily, use natural variations everywhere else, and stop well before it starts reading like a robot wrote it. For a local business, the phrase almost always needs a place name attached.
Google decides who small businesses compete against, and the answer is usually not the national chain you assumed. Search plus smartphones changed how people shop, and local intent is a real advantage if you claim it.
The other tailwind is that people want to buy local. Intuit has reported that 57 percent of Americans say their main reason for shopping small is to keep money local. That preference only helps if the customer can find you, which is where local SEO comes in, and keywords are how the whole thing starts.
First, find keywords worth placing
Before you place anything, get the list right. Keywords are the phrases customers actually type, which are frequently not the phrases you use internally.
Google Keyword Planner, inside a Google Ads account, is the free starting point. Look at what your competitors rank for, and read your own inbox and call notes: the words customers use when they describe their problem are often better keywords than anything a tool suggests.
For a local business, most of your target phrases will be a service plus a place. "Roof repair Amarillo." "Emergency electrician Lubbock." Those are the phrases with buying intent behind them.
Page content
The body copy of each page is the main event. Landing pages, service descriptions, product pages, blog posts.
Work the phrase in where it reads naturally, and use variations rather than repeating the identical string. One page should target one primary phrase and a handful of related ones. If a keyword needs its own page to be covered properly, give it one instead of cramming it somewhere it does not belong.
The test is whether a human reading it out loud would notice. If they would, you have gone too far.
Headings
Your H1 should reflect the page's main topic and usually contains the primary phrase. Subheadings, the H2s and H3s, break the content into sections and are a natural place for related terms and question phrasings.
Headings do two jobs at once: they tell search engines how the page is organized, and they let a reader scan. Write them for the reader and the search benefit follows.
Title tag and meta description
The title tag carries real weight and shows up as the clickable headline in results. Put the primary keyword near the front, keep it under about 60 characters, and make it worth clicking.
The meta description does not affect rankings directly, but it decides whether people click. Include the phrase where it fits, because Google bolds matching words in the snippet, and write the rest as a reason to choose your result.
Image alt text
Alt text describes an image for screen reader users and for search engines that cannot see it. Describe the image accurately and include a relevant keyword when it genuinely applies.
"Technician replacing a condenser unit at an Amarillo home" is useful alt text. "hvac hvac repair amarillo hvac company" is not, and it degrades the experience for the people alt text exists to serve.
URLs
Keep URLs short, readable, and descriptive, with words separated by hyphens. A URL like /services/roof-repair/ tells both a person and a crawler what the page holds.
Avoid stuffing here. Extra keywords in a URL add clutter and very little benefit, and changing URLs later means setting up redirects.
Anchor text
When you link between pages on your site, the words you link with tell search engines what the destination page is about.
Link with descriptive phrases rather than "click here" or "read more." Linking the phrase "commercial roof inspections" to your commercial roofing page is a small signal, and across a whole site those small signals add up.
Your Google Business Profile
For local businesses this is often the highest-leverage placement outside your website.
Make sure your name, address, phone number, and website URL are accurate and match what is on your site. Then use the business description to describe your services in the words customers search, and fill out your services list rather than leaving it empty.
Citations and directory listings
Citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number on other sites and directories. Consistency across all of them is the priority, since mismatched details undercut the whole exercise.
Where a listing gives you a description field, use the same service language you use everywhere else. Do the same with press releases and any syndicated content you publish.
Local content
A blog or news section gives you a place to target phrases that do not fit anywhere on your service pages.
Write about projects in specific neighborhoods, seasonal issues in your area, local regulations that affect your customers, or community involvement. This is the most natural way to work location terms into a site without forcing them, and it tends to attract exactly the audience you want.
Reviews, indirectly
You cannot put keywords in your customers' reviews, and you should not try. But reviews frequently mention the service and the city on their own, and that language sits on your profile working for you.
The practical move is to ask satisfied customers for reviews consistently and to make it easy. When you reply, describing the work in plain language does no harm.
Where not to put keywords
Some placements are leftovers from an older era or actively counterproductive.
The meta keywords tag has been ignored by Google for many years. Hidden text, white-on-white or off-screen, is a policy violation. Repeating a phrase in your footer on every page, stacking city names into a list, and stuffing alt text all fall into the same category: effort that either does nothing or gets you penalized.
The pattern behind every placement that works is the same. Put the phrase where it genuinely describes the content, and let the volume take care of itself.
FAQs
Where should SEO keywords go on a web page?
In the page content, the H1 and subheadings, the title tag and meta description, image alt text, the URL, and the anchor text of internal links. Each placement should read naturally to a person.
How many times should a keyword appear on a page?
There is no target number. Use the phrase where it fits and rely on natural variations elsewhere. If reading the page aloud makes the repetition obvious, there is too much.
Where do local businesses put keywords outside their website?
The Google Business Profile description and services list, citations and directory listings, and any press releases or syndicated content. Business name, address, and phone number should be identical everywhere.
Does the meta keywords tag still matter?
No. Google has ignored it for many years. Effort spent there is better applied to the title tag, headings, and page content.
Can I put keywords in customer reviews?
Not directly, and attempting to would be dishonest. Reviews often mention the service and city on their own, so the useful approach is asking satisfied customers for reviews consistently.
