Location pages for Landing pages

[tonyr7]

So i have a client for carpet cleaning in Seattle, but he doesn't just want to rank up for "Carpet Cleaning Seattle" he wants to rank up for sub locations such as

Lynnwood Carpet Cleaning
Kirkland Carpet Cleaning
Kenmore Carpet Cleaning
Issaquah Carpet Cleaning
Everett Carpet Cleaning
Edmonds Carpet Cleaning
Bothell Carpet Cleaning
Bellevue Carpet Cleaning
Auburn Carpet Cleaning
Orting Carpet Cleaning
Monroe Carpet Cleaning
Milton Carpet Cleaning
Marysville Carpet Cleaning
Lacey Carpet Cleaning

Right now the designer he hired to develop the website has created a separate web page for each of these location pages. the reason being he services all these areas and wants to rank up for all of these areas with basically the same keyword... SEO is fairly simple to me when it comes to straight forward small sized projects or targeting specific services in one set location. But with all these algorithmic changes I worry that this is not something Google may want to see.. What is my best bet with this project, and what SEO methods would you recommend for a site that has 40 total landing pages all with similar keywords just different locations?

[DaveBrown333]

Content Marketing Approach
I would approach this from a content marketing view rather than adding pages with links. Use your blog to discuss case studies as they occur in different cities. Example, in Milton, a homeowner needed a general carpet cleaning but requested green non toxic cleaners because of small children. We went in with our top rated brand of xyz cleaner because it did this and that and solved the clients needs. Maybe there is a story in every cleaning that can be developed to educate a reader about carpet cleaning - at least one paragraph - enough for a short blog post.

Announce Your Story on Social Media
Then post a short notice about this on Google +, Facebook, and Twitter with a link to the blog - Milton homeowner benefits from green carpet cleaning alternative, etc. If the client wants to offer a review, send them links to where they can do that (Google + is my first choice, but Yelp is also good for carpet cleaning). Over time, your client may have numerous case studies within the specific cities as these would build a "content hub" for that city. Google may start to recognize your client as an authority for carpet cleaning in that area and then page ranking may start to happen.

What Does Google Want?
Google wants authentic, real content rather than an obvious attempt to try and fool their search engine algorithm. You could also set up separate blogs with separate domain names for each city such as miltoncarpetcleaning.com but I'm not sure that that will have as much page ranking juice as it used to. Following the trends in Google we need to be careful about how we are using links and trying to take shortcuts for page ranking when shortcuts are being shut down. Authentic content and the social response to it is what will be driving page ranking as we move forward in this second guessing of what Google will do next.

Google Places and Landing Pages Revisited - Case Study - A Place for Mom
Then again, there is also the Google Places issue. It's hard to compete when you do not have a physical location in the same city. However I have seen a national company get placed above local listings. A Place for Mom uses landing pages to compete with local assisted living businesses, and in my area they do it very well. If you do want to go with the landing page approach, use them as a model, if they are ranking above the Google Places in those cities, and see how much content they create that is relevant for the local area. A lot of it is educational information. They have huge domain and page authority. Check out their links to the local pages with Open Site Explorer for ideas.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Tony,

Essentially, your keywords will be similar, yes, though hopefully you will make room for many variants as you're creating the different pages. My hope here, though, is that your main focus here will be to create really excellent pages that tell a great story and convert customers. Yes, you've got to think about keywords, but that is just step one.

I would also be careful of approaching this with a 'rank it fast' mindset. How quickly and highly these pages rank will largely be dependent on the strengths of your various competitors. In a scenario of low-competition, you can expect to achieve visibility more easily than you can in a really tough one. The tougher the competition, the more work you may need to put into promoting these pages so that they build authority via the earning of links, social mentions, etc.

Good luck with the work ahead!

[tonyr7]

and what off page SEO methods would you recommend to do to achieve top rankings the fastest?

[tonyr7]

but by doing this method we can achieve results for all these pages with the same keyword with just different locations? page titles and and keywords will still need to be implemented for the search engine to understand what we are primarily targeting correct?

[MiriamEllis]

Patrick - very nice extra tip about blogging about the specials. That's an excellent idea. I'm giving you a thumbs up for that one. Blogging can also be a very important part of the ongoing content development process!

[WhiteboardCreations]

Tony,

Miriam NAILED it! Take her advice and run with it and tackle this large project by chipping away little by little as she mentions. We're in the midst of starting this process with a client who wants/needs to rank in several very small towns in NC, but also 2 bigger cities nearby and the one they are headquartered. It's a daunting task, but planning it out, setting those expectations with the owner(s) and executing items from the plan in a way that doesn't overwhelm you or the business owner or their staff/customers will get you some great results in the end, while playing nicely with Google.

You won't rank locally as NAP (Name Address Phone) won't be apart of each page since there is no physical office location within each of the cities/towns you mentioned. So, don't count on your local listings with Google Maps, however, get some great content in the pages, design them a little differently too and another item I'd like to add to Miriam's task list, would be to create some blog articles around the coupons or specials you are running, which you can link back and forth from the company blog. Google will see you aren't just trying to slap up 40 pages and leave them, rather, they will see you are building the pages and content for your searchers/potential customers, then developing some ongoing content around a specific landing page. You would be creating value and more relevance for you searcher and Google is now seeing this.

All the best in your project! - Patrick

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Tony,

The creation of city landing pages for SABs (service area businesses) is still a common best practice. The key here, though, is not to simply put up 40 near-identical pages with different geo terms on them. You've got to create awesome pages. I would consider creating 40 awesome city landing pages all at once to be an awfully tall order. Any business owner is going to feel overwhelmed by this, and even a talented copywriter is going to feel bogged down by such an order. If this were my client, I'd say, "Let's take this 5 cities at a time. For each of our first five pages, we're going to:

• Write up 3 project descriptions

• Take super before-and-after photos to illustrate the completed projects

• Shoot a video and transcribe it

• Interview our best customers in that city and get testimonials

• Create a unique special/coupon for each city

• Create one unique feature for each city that no other city landing page has. For example the page for City A might feature an interview with the business owner. The page for City B might feature 5 emergency stain removal tips. The page for City C might feature recommendations for choosing carpet types for the home that stand up to most wear. City D's page might showcase how the company supports the Little League in that town. Etc."

This somewhat strenuous method intentionally avoids taking shortcuts and results in pages that are created with a lot of thought and care. The point here is to take the necessary time to assemble very persuasive, helpful content that will come across as exceptional to website visitors coming from a specific town. Once the first 5 pages are done, move onto the next 5. Eventually, you will have created the 40 desired pages, but each will be a little masterpiece of creativity and care.

Do remember, of course, that it's vital to set the business owner's expectations correctly on this: the goal of these pages will be to achieve organic rankings for his service cities, not local rankings, because he doesn't stand much chance of ranking in the local pack of results for cities where he isn't physically located, due to Google's bias in this matter. But, high organic rankings can make phones ring for SABs, and pursuing this visibility with real care instead of a slapdash approach remains the best way I know of to achieve a goal like that of your client.

[SoleGraphics]

The "local seven pack" has kind of killed of what you're about to do. Basically Google has localized the business categories and would rather give the searcher results that a relevant than just the same company over and over. If you have 40 pages of thin content Google won't rank those pages unless they're better than the ones that rank already, and since this is a new site that may take a while for it to happen. Plus having a address based in Seattle (or whatever the location may be) will hinder your ability to rank for other cities.

In the mean time you can do fun stuff like this. Here are ways to combat the seven pack http://searchengineland.com/how-to-get-around-google-locals-7-pack-without-breaking-a-sweat-52154.

Hope this helps.