Should I include location in title tag to rank higher in local search

[bvalentine]

I'm working on a site for a small guest house (http://www.tommysonthebeach.com).  I have created a Google Place page (Bing and Yahoo Local) as well and I have the address in the footer on every page.

I have the location (Indian Rocks Beach) at the beginning of most titles tags because that is how people tend to search, e.g. "Indian Rocks Beach vacation rental."

In theory I would think that I don't need location in the title tag because Google knows the location, and I could use the real estate for other keywords suchs as "pet friendly" or "beach hotel," etc. But when I look at the SERPS, those ranking highly all seem to have the location at the beginning of the title tag.

Thanks.

P.S. The site is currently not showing up in Google local search apparently because Google thinks it's a vacation rental agency, which are not allowed in local search. I'm trying to get that fixed.

[WhinClores]

About relevancy yes, you should include some variations of with Location Title Tags.

[andresgmontero]

I also agree on using it, and yes will sure do it more for relevacy because that is how people search, also I would suggest not to add keywords that might be targeted on other pages, if you have a page about how your hotel is pet friendly, that is where you should put it.

[gfiorelli1]

Exactly. It sounds more natural and its "Guest House" closer to the beginning, that is important in Title optimization.

[bvalentine]

Thank you for your response.

Could you explain the reasoning behind the title tag change. Is it to make it more like a complete a real sentence?

Your other suggestions are valuable, too.

[gfiorelli1]

I use it, indenpendently of local search, in order to rank for organic search too. What i do not suggest is to use the location in Google Places profile Title, as it is considered somehow a "spam" tactic.

More over, I would try to better optimize your Title tag (now "Indian Rocks Beach | Clearwater Beach | "Old Florida" Guest House") and make it more like: "Indian Rocks Beach Guest House. Live your holidays in Clearwater Beach".

About the address on the footer, if it is possible show also the local contact number. And in your "direction" page I would change the actual map with a Google Map based one.

[Dan-Petrovic]

I include location in my local listings as a matter of habit. Have not dropped it to test and see if it has any effect. Keep in mind that there are other signals Google uses to work out the relevance of a local listing: Location (proximity, completness of the profile / information, outside references in directories, mentions of numbers...etc). I read a really interesting article about this recently here: http://ontolo.com/blog/phone-number-co-citation-analysis-local-link-builders

[CraigAddyman]

If its relevant yes get it in there and try moving the address from the footer this is something I'm playing with due to it being a less important area