Link Building: Location-specific pages
-
Hi! I've technically been a member for a few years, but just recently decided to go Pro (and I gotta say, I'm glad I did!).
Anyway, as I've been researching and analyzing, one thing I noticed a competitor is doing is creating location-specific pages. For example, they've created a page that has a URL similar to this: www.theirdomain.com/seattle-keyword-phrase
They have a few of these for specific cities. They rank well for the city-keyword combo in most cases. Each city-specific page looks the same and the content is close to being the same except that they drop in the "seattle keyword phrase" bit here and there.
I noticed that they link to these pages from their site map page, which, if I were to guess, is how SEs are getting to those pages. I've seen this done before on other sites outside my industry too. So my question is, is this good practice or is it something that should be avoided?
-
As stated, having a sub directory works, but I don't think it gives that much of a benefit over the example you gave. But yes location and geo targeting with specific pages can be a great strategy. It works well for me, but I'm a local business so everything I do is defined by location. What you want to avoid is creating pages with duplicate content just to appear local. Simply changing out keyword locations in the content is not going to give you a sustainable advantage. If you are going to create GEO specific pages then make content unique to that location. This is just good for SEO but it's good for selling and converting as well.
-
Sub domains can also turn into a real mess!
-
That's the right bias to have!
-
Ah, I do see what you mean. Thanks for the input. I tend to stay away from subdomains as general practice anyway. My own personal bias as a web designer/dev I think.
-
I agree!
-
Yikes! Who would want to start over with link building to a subdomain!?
-
Angie,
I would have to say this is not a "bad practice" Matt does not say it is bad or spammy nor does Google. It also would really depend on your site structure as what the best way to do this. My site it structured just like this as well as all of my major competitors except for one.
They do use sub domains for example: Seattle.mydomain.com
And I have to tell you in my opinion it is not as effective as the way I and many others do it. A good example of what I am saying is in the real estate industry. Go to Google and search "seattle homes for rent" or "seattle homes for sale" And you will see what I am talking about. You also will see one company uses a sub domain plus a directory to target the location for the users search. the result looks like this:
washington.theirdomain.com/Seattle.In this instance it does work well but if you do some searches in other major markets or just some different terms for this industry you will see all the big sites have the structure of www.theirdomain.com/target-city
And it works well and always have for years. But who knows if Google wakes up tomorrow in a bad mood or not?Good Luck!
-
Glad I could help
-
That. Is. Awesome. Thank you. Somehow I missed that video this summer (I subscribe to those Google Webmaster videos).
-
From the Matt Cutts video I saw earlier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9vD9KGK7G8&feature=player_embedded
It seems like it would be better to put the Geo specific pages on a subdirectory of your website, and geo target it with Webmaster tools. Then, you can start building local, and relevant, links to that page or directory.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Targeted keywords in top half of the page or through out the page?
i have created a content, want to include target keywords but where do i place them for maxim seo benefit, i am asking this because i have heard looks doesn’t give much credit if the kws are at the end?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Sam09schulz0 -
Hacked Websites (Doorways) Ranking First Page of Google
Hello Moz community! I could really use your help with some suggestions here with some recent changes I've noticed in the Google serps for terms I've been currently working on. Currently one of the projects I am working on is for an online pharmacy and noticed that the SERPs are being now taken up by hacked websites which look like doorways to 301 redirect to an online pharmacy the hacker wants the traffic to go to. Seems like they may be wordpress sites that are hacked and have unrelated content on their websites compared to online pharmacies. We've submitted these issues as spam to Google and within chrome as well but haven't heard back. When searching terms like "Canadian Pharmacy Viagra" and other similar terms we see this issue. Any other recommendations on how we can fix this issue? Thanks for your time and attached is a screenshot of the results we are seeing for one of our searches. 1Orus
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | monarkg0 -
1 business targetting multiple local locations
When researching a new client - I just came across a site in the same field which is ranking really well for all the local towns/cities/villages in the area. Each page for each town is a duplicate only changing out the town name (which appears 13 times on the page) - all pics and videos are the same. His url structure is along the lines of: budget-business-domain.com/budget-business-area/budget-business-town/ The domain was registered in 2012 - all backlinks are internal - anchor text is the same. I think it shouldn't be working.... but it is 😞 Why is this working?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | agua0 -
Black Hat Link Building Ethics Question
I have taken on the SEO/Inbound duties for my company and have been monitoring some of our competitors in the market space. In June one of them began a black hat link building campaign that took them from 154 linking root domains to about 7500 today. All of the links target either /header or /permalink/index and all have anchor text along the lines of "Windows 7 activation code." They are using forgotten forums and odd pages, but seem to be finding high DA sources to place the links. This has skyrocketed their DA (40 to 73), and raised their mozRank, mozTrust, and SERP positions. Originally I thought to report it to Google, but I wanted to wait a few weeks and see what the campaign did for them and if Google would catch on. I figured adding 81K links in 2 months would trigger something (honestly, if I was able to find out they were doing it then it's got to be obvious). But they have grown every week and no drop in rankings. So my question is would you report it? Or continue to wait and see? Technically they are not a "competitor" in the strictest sense of the word (we actually do sell some of their products as OEM), but I find the tactic despicable and it makes my efforts to raise our rankings and DA seem ineffective to people not in the know about SEO. Interested to see everyone's responses! Taylor
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | anneoaks0 -
Link "Building" or "Earning" Which one are you doing? Both?
I'm curious to see how SEO's interpret this section of the Google Webmaster Guidelines on Link Schemes: The best way to get other sites to create high-quality, relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can naturally gain popularity in the Internet community. Creating good content pays off: Links are usually editorial votes given by choice, and the more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it. (Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en) I'm not asking what you "should" do, but rather what do YOU do... Do you interpret this as: Create awesome content and the links will come? Create Awesome Content and Outreach a bit? Perhaps you don't follow it all and concentrate on building links over content? What do you do and why? Discuss!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | BrettDixon0 -
Infographic submission sites potentially offering paid links....
Good Morning/Afternoon fellow Mozzers, I recently created an infographic and am now looking to get it distributed via as many publications as possible. I discovered some great sites with collections of infographics.However I have discovered a multitude of sites offering to review and feature the infographic, or "express" submissions so the graphic features faster for a price..... links below. http://www.amazinginfographics.com/submit-infographics/ http://infographicjournal.com/submit-infographics/ 2 questions 1. Is this considered as buying links? My instincts say Yes. 2. Some sites offer mix of free and "express" paid submissions. If the answer to Q.1 is yes, should I avoid them all together even if my graphic gets picked up free? Thanks in advance for the feedback.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | RobertChapman0 -
Is Guest Blogging the Next Link Buying
I like the guest blogging idea for two reasons. One, it builds links, and two, it allows me to add content to a lot of blogs that are really interested in growing a lot of good content. But I often read articles that give credit to another article, that give credit to another article. I have been offered plenty of documents for client blogs, but I am worried that at some point in the future Google will decide all this guest blogging is similar to link trading and selling. What does everyone else think of guest blogging?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | HandsomeWeb1 -
Does anyone have any suggestions on removing spammy links?
I have some clients that recently got hit by "Penguin" they have several less than desireable backlinks that could be the issue? Does anyone have any suggestions on getting these removed? What are the odds that a webmaster on these spammy sites are going to remove them, and is it worth the time and effort?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | RonMedlin3