Optimizing for Local Search with Local SEO Targeting

Managing local visibility across cities and regions can feel like chasing shadows. Whether you're building landing pages for specific markets or trying to rank in AI-generated summaries, Clearscope’s Local SEO Targeting helps you create content that shows up where it matters most.

Today we’ll walk through how Local SEO Targeting helps you tailor your strategy to real-world search behavior without adding complexity to your workflow.

What Is Local SEO Targeting?

Local SEO Targeting is a Draft-level setting that lets you optimize content for specific cities or regions. In addition to our terms, questions, and heading recommendations you'll also gain location-specific insights that reflect how people actually search in your target area.

This includes:

• Keywords used by local audiences

• Competitor content from the selected region

• SERP results based on location-specific queries

Put simply, Local SEO Targeting helps you write content that ranks locally—whether you're targeting “coffee shop in Chicago” or building pages for regional services.

Why Local SEO Needs a Different Approach

Traditional SEO tools often treat search behavior as one-size-fits-all. But local search is nuanced. For example, a query like “coffee shops” in Portland, OR returns different results than the same query in Austin, TX even if the city isn’t mentioned.

That’s because Google infers location and serves localized results. Without location-specific data, it’s hard to know:

• Which keywords your audience actually uses

• How competitors position themselves locally

• What content formats perform best in your region

Local SEO Targeting solves this by bringing city-level intelligence into your Clearscope Drafts.

How to Use Local Targeting

When creating a new Draft, simply input a city or region into the optional Local Targeting field. Clearscope will generate a report using data from that location, that also includes:

• Locally relevant keywords

• Competitor content from the area

• SERP results tailored to your target market

For example, selecting Portland, OR surfaces terms like “cafe,” “coffee roasters,” and “Portland vibe” which are keywords that wouldn’t appear in a national-level report.

This helps you align your content with local search intent and stand out against both regional and national competitors.

Why Local SEO Targeting Matters

Whether you're optimizing for brick-and-mortar visibility or scaling content across multiple regions, local search behavior is never one-size-fits-all. Local SEO Targeting helps you meet your audience where they are, literally.

Local SEO Targeting is ideal for businesses with physical locations, agencies running multi-city campaigns, and teams building city-specific landing pages. But it doesn’t stop there. With this feature, you can create content that mirrors how people search in your target region, improve visibility in local packs and AI-generated answers, and build pages that not only rank but also convert.

Each Draft gives you clarity on what matters locally, so you can stop guessing and start optimizing with confidence