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Best way to structure a service area page with many locations to maximize internal links to them?
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Currently our service area page (http://www.njlimocarservice.com/services.html) very sloppily lists many of the towns we serve in multiple counties - over 50 approx (scroll down). They have been placed that way so there is links to them from one of the subpages directly linked from the root domain. I am now attempting to make it pretty and organized with my designer. I intend to maintain a link to each individual town/landing page for SEO purposes to keep it close to root domain.
My questions is how to best structure this. I don't want to list by county because some people don't know what county the town is in. However an alphabetical list may be overkill as there is so many. The other option is to get a search form or dropdown list on there but how will my landing pages be recognized by crawlers if there is no internal links from my root domain? Eventually we plan to expand further so what happens when we add 100+ landing pages? What will then happen to my internal link juice?
Thanks!
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No. What matters is that the page for each area that you service gets Indexed. Unique content is necessary for this to happen.
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Okay that sounds like a great way to provide my internal link juice and provide the best user experience in terms of them finding my page. Does it matter much that the site map won't have a prominent link from the above the fold navigation section?
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For the purpose of feeding the crawlers, I recommend an HTML sitemap that is technically organized by County. Make sitemap.html with links to pages for Airports, Rail, and Counties. Then make a an HTML page for each of these with the individual links to pages.
Your user experience should be driven by what is simple. I'd want to punch in my zip code to determine if you service my area. There are likely many other good ideas for the end user experience. Why not ask some current customers?
Thanks,
Eric K. Cone
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