Local search optimization for national product?
-
Hi all,
My company sells a direct-to-consumer product nationwide. We have competitors that sell through local distributors. Therefore, many customers think that this is a product that must be bought locally.
Because so many people search for this product locally, we want to be able to rank for local searches. But, because we sell nationwide, we don't have localized content.
We have a competitor that created a page for each state which lists every zip code and city name in the state, but that seems pretty labor intensive (and not all that effective). Any ideas on how to address this problem would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
-
Hi! I'm going through older questions in the Q&A system, and wondering if you could give us an update on how you tackled this problem, and any lessons you can share with us. Thanks so much!
-
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I'm definitely going to investigate local domains for our largest geographic areas.
-
Thanks, Pashmina, this is really great feedback! I'm definitely going to do the first two ASAP, and investigate the others. Thanks again!
-
Creating separate websites is time consuming but as per our experience it was worth it. We had the client who wanted to open two new locations in two other cities.
1. We tried to add other city location to the contact page and for every location listing in google maps added same URL for our main website. Result was the website instantly lost the ranking for first and main city it went from 6 to 20. It took a lot of time to recover.
2. The we decided to buy separate domain for each of the locations and from main page just linked to other city pages. The link was from same industry (which is great) and it didn't hurt main website because we don't have there any information with addresses in other cities. Of course had to put new urls to google maps. Both new websites did grow quite quickly. Yes it was time consuming.
Of course it is up-to you to decide, just thought that it would be good to share our story.
-
I've faced a similar issue before. His company served clients nationally, but many people searched for his services locally, typing "xxxxx california" or wherever they were located. We did several things, and depending on your budget you may consider some or all of these:
- PPC campaigns targeted to local/regional keyword searches. Ad copy that gave highest conversions used words like "nationwide" or "largest provider"
- Consistently wrote and published blog posts and articles on the difference between local and national provider and why the national provider had advantages
- Wrote and published articles targeting regional or state keywords with the highest searches, and explained how the national company knew that area better than any local provider.
- Leased and employed some exact match keyword domain for 302 redirects. And also bought and developed some exact match keyword domains as lead generation sites.
Of all of the above, PPC will give you instant results. And depending on your product and the CPL you want to target, it can be very successful.
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
-
How can we boost our rankings in a London-based Google search?
Hi all, I work for enterprise app development & mobile consultancy, Mubaloo. We tend to rank fairly well on Google for our targeted keywords in the Bristol area but not as well in London. Obviously there is more competition in London but that aside, we still don't rank brilliantly. We use our London address as our main address on our website, same for our London telephone number. Both of our offices are submitted to Google Maps and we include blog content with London and Bristol in the headers. Our main HQ is in Bristol but the London office is growing. What are the ways we can improve our rankings from a London-based Google search? Thank you in advance!
Image & Video Optimization | | donaldsze0 -
Schema for a local business with multiple locations
Hello I am trying to add schema to a website that has several locations. Is the best way to do this is by tagging the home page of the website as the business main location and then create a page for each location and then mark them up accordingly? Thank you for your help.
Image & Video Optimization | | edwardfrebow0 -
Google + local Multiple Locations
My client has three offices and I have created three separate Google + local listings for them - I have listed the specific locations page as the website address for each - Google specifies to add the coding to the homepage to link Google + however what do we do with the three different codes - does each one go on the home page or at the bottom of the specific landing page for that particular office?
Image & Video Optimization | | AllieMc0 -
Phone Numbers in Local Campaigns
Hi Mozzers, I have a both an 800 number and a local number for a local business client, with both featured on the site. Which number should I feature on the Google places, Google+ and local citations — the local number, the 800 number, or both? Any help appreciated.
Image & Video Optimization | | waynekolenchuk0 -
Yahoo! Local
Is anyone else experiencing issues with Yahoo! Local listings when trying to make edits? It seems SUPER buggy right now. Just curious is anyone else is having the same setbacks. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | AmberRobinson0 -
Local business ideas?
Hello, if you are good at SEO and want to launch businesses thanks to your ability to rank high on local searches, what are some good ideas? I'm more interested in the market sizes than the difficulties to rank. Another important factor is the ease to do the actual business. Because of that, I'm looking for ideas like "appartment renting San Diego" because you can create a classifieds ads website where people pay for their listings. Another good idea is "marriage photographer New York" because if you have the orders you just need to hire a few free lance photgrapher. "car dealearship London" wouldn't work on the other hand because opening a car dealerhip is too costly. Thanks a lot!
Image & Video Optimization | | EndeR-0 -
For Local SEO on a business with many locations, should the city be included in the business name?
For a franchised business with ~50 locations spread across the US, should the city be included in the business name when building citations? Fictional example: We have a staffing franchise called 'Hamilton Staffing'. They have 50 locations in the US. They are all called 'Hamilton Staffing'. We need to finalize the correct NAP information so we are consistent in building citations. For the name, should we just use 'Hamilton Staffing' for all of them? Or should we use 'Hamilton Staffing - Chicago' and the like for other locations? It looks like InfoUSA and Axciom are just using 'Hamilton Staffing', whereas Google is using 'Hamilton Staffing Chicago' and the like. Thoughts on this?
Image & Video Optimization | | brianspatterson0