Content Page URL Question
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Our main website is geared toward the city where we are located and includes the city name in content page URLs. We also have separate websites for three surrounding cities; these websites have duplicate content except the city name:
MainWebsite.com
City2-MainWebsite.com
City3-MainWebsite.com
City4-MainWebsite.comWe're restructuring to eliminate the location websites and only use the main website. The new site will have city pages.
We have well established Google business locations for all four cities. We will keep all locations, replacing the location website with the main website.
Should we remove City-IL from all content page URLs in the new site? We don't want to lose traffic/ranking for City2 or City3 because the content pages have City1 in the URL. Page URLs are currently formatted as follows:
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-1-City1-IL.html
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-2-City1-IL.html
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-3-City1-IL.html
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-4-City1-IL.htmlThanks!
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Merge the material from the two websites (City2-MainWebsite.com and City3-MainWebsite.com) into the primary website (MainWebsite.com). Make certain that each city has its own dedicated page on the main website to show its location.
URL Restructuring: Change the page URLs on the main website to dynamically incorporate the city name. Instead of utilizing a static city name such as "City1" in the URLs, change them to reflect the city for each page. As an example:
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-1-City2.html
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-2-City2.html
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-3-City3.html
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-4-City3.html
The city name in the URLs will appropriately match the information on each page this way.301 Redirects: Create 301 redirects from the old URLs (for example, www.City2-MainWebsite.com/Service-1-City2-IL.html) to the new URLs on the main website. Any current traffic or search engine rankings for the old URLs will be moved to the relevant pages on the main website as a result. As an example:
www.City2-MainWebsite.com/Service-1-City2-IL.html should be redirected to www.MainWebsite.com/Service-1-City2.html.
www.City3-MainWebsite.com/Service-3-City3-IL.html should be redirected to www.MainWebsite.com/Service-3-City3.html.Change the URLs in your Google business listings for City2 and City3 to connect to the appropriate pages on the main website. This ensures that your Google business locations are linked to the proper website.
You may combine your websites, keep City2 and City3 traffic and rankings, and guarantee a smooth transition to the main website with city-specific content.
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