Best way to target multiple geographic locations

[McTaggart]

Hello Mozzers!

If you are a service provider wanting to target geographic locations outside of the region where you're physically located, what's the best approach?

For example, I have a service provider whose main market is not where they're located - they're based in Devon UK, yet main markets are London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh. They have clients in all these cities, so I could definitely provide content relevant to each city - perhaps a page for each city detailing work and services (and possibly listing clients).

However, does the lack of a physical presence (and local phone number) in these cities make such city pages virtually impossible to rank these days? Does Google require a physical presence/phone number?

Thanks in advance, Luke

[McTaggart]

It sure was right on target too Miriam - a superb piece - can't think of any further questions

[MiriamEllis]

So glad it was timely, Luke!

[McTaggart]

Thanks Miriam - that's fantastic timing

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Luke,

We've just published a Moz blog post on precisely this topic. Please check it out:

http://moz.com/blog/local-landing-pages-guide

Please, give it a read-through, and then if any of your questions haven't been answered by it, please let me know what they are. Hope you'll find it right on-target!