Is it black hat to include your city name in a blog title to hopefully help local search resultts

[wianno168]

I frequently blog and want to increase my ranking in local search in my area-Boston-blogging about Plastic Surgery.

If I write a post about tummy tuck will I be penalized by Google search if I use a title like
Tummy Tuck After Weight Loss Boston or Boston Tummy Tuck After Weight Loss

[wianno168]

Thank you

[wianno168]

Thank you. Good advice

[Andy-Halliday]

i don't know if it would be classed as Black Hat SEO, but its definitely not great SEO. Why not focus more on writing great articles about weight loss etc, but within the article itself mention the place. But if all your titles suddenly have Boston in them you are opening yourself up to being penalised by Google.

Just be natural, when talking in the pub would you say "Boston Tummy Tuck After Weight Loss", no more likely "tummy tuck after weight loss" - think of your titles in how you would speak.

Hope that helps

[csfarnsworth]

Set targeted Geo location meta tags in place to tell crawlers about the most preferred location of your website content. Using the name of the city in title will not help. Its not Black hat until you extremely over do it.