Local Area SEO - Directions Page and Multiple Use of Direction pages
-
Hello,
We are looking to focus on multiple local areas and it has been suggested one way to mention lots of different locations on pages without doing lists or using grey SEO practices is to create directions pages.
We are trying this with a client who has 2 business at the same address.
The layout is:-
Introduction - 2-3 sentences
Directions by Car Park
Parking info
Directions by Public Transports
Closing - 3-4 sentences - using clients keywords
The hope is the having locations/areas and the clients keywords on the same page will capture some of the local areas with the clients keywords.
I have some questions:-
1. If we use the same directions text and just change the opening and closing paragraphs on the different website will this be enough to not have a duplicate content issue.
2. Are the directions pages the best way to capture keywords and local area/locations on the same page.
3. Is there anything I am missing or could do instead?
Looking forward to everyone's input....
-
I would:
1. Create separate Google+ (business) pages for both entities. You can have one personal account be a manger of both. Get authorship established and linking to the sites.
2. Create separate Google+ business places for each. Even if they are in the same building, see if they have different suite numbers, etc so that you can get both verified.
3. Schema can be added to all pages. Most likely wont make a difference. Also if one of your subpages has the local info on it, it may help them to rank for that specific service.
4. Yes, make the pages distinctive. Don't copy, paste then swap out a few words to make them different.
5. Set up Yelp, Google Places, Merchant Circle, Mojopages, YP, Thumbtack, Foursquare (requires phone and address confirmation. If you do not have a separate phone for each business, set up a cheap tracking line through Tossible Digits) Yellowbook, CityGrid, Axiom (database - will require tax id letter), Localeze, Manta, Kudzu, Facebook, etc citation profiles for each business separately.
6. Make sure all citation profiles have the listing as complete as possible, and treat them with respect. When you write the description for the businesses, treat it like you were writing the opening paragraph for the homepage. Make sure to include who, what and WHERE.That should help quite a bit with your local rankings. Local is pretty easy, as long as you know what to do
Again:
Yelp
Angies List
Google Places
Yellowbook
Superpages
Axiom
YP
Mojopages
Localeze
Kudzu
Manta
CityGrid
Foursquare
Facebook -
I have not setup Google Plus pages for the separate websites.
Nor have I for Yelp, YP, Superpages etc...
So the plan:-
1. Setup local directory pages for each site.
2. Ensure the keywords for the directions pages is different.
3. Add local business schema markup to the directions pages or site wide? - Just looked I was thinking of just marking up the address and place tags - what do you think?
-
Quick question: since they are located at the same address, do you have separate Google places listings set up for each?
"1. If we use the same directions text and just change the opening and closing paragraphs on the different website will this be enough to not have a duplicate content issue."
Possibly, but I would not recommend it. It's harder to fix an issue in place then to prevent one. Make each one unique to the keywords, location and mission statement for each business.
"2. Are the directions pages the best way to capture keywords and local area/locations on the same page."
Having content that states repeatedly (without being spammy) throughout the whole site who you are, where you are, and what you do will accomplish this. Also, add in local business schema.org markup to help specify your business' location. Its free to use. Here is an example: http://www.schema.org/LocalBusiness
"The layout is:-
Introduction - 2-3 sentences
Directions by Car Park
Parking info
Directions by Public Transports
Closing - 3-4 sentences - using clients keywords"Most of the citation sites out there (Yelp, YP, Superpages, Merchantcircle) offer ways for you to state the information above. You can add it on the site, but I would also add the information to at least 10 trusted citation sites. Google likes seeing validation on trusted platforms for local.
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
-
Ranking for keywords locally with multiple locations
If we have a company with multiple physical locations across multiple states, but selling the same products, what would be an optimal strategy? All local locations have been claimed, but the site is not coming up for searches with local intent. If the corporate site focuses on the "products", what is the best way to get that associated with the individual locations as well? When implementing json+ld, would we put the specific location on the specific location pages and nothing on the rest? Any other tips would be great! Thanks in advance,
Local Website Optimization | | IDMI.Net0 -
Are core pages considered "cornerstones"?
To check that I understand the terminology, "cornerstone articles" are posts (or pages) that have some extensive, detailed, important information about a subject that other blog posts and articles can link to in reference, right? For example, a website for an auto repair shop might have a blog post about what cold weather does to a car's transmission and that post could link to a cornerstone "explainer" article that goes into more detail explaining to car-dummies like me what a transmission even DOES. But are core pages also in this category of cornerstone content? Or are they something entirely different and should be constructed accordingly? By "core pages", I mean the base-level pages about what your business is and does. For the repair shop example, I mean things like an "About Us" page or a "Services" page*. *or broken up into individual pages listing the services related to brakes, engine, wheels, etc. Thanks!
Local Website Optimization | | BrianAlpert780 -
Local Search ( Automotive Vertical ) One Targeted Landing Page Listed Twice In Navigation
NOT talking about the same page being linked to twice Talking about One (1) (landing) page Being Listed Twice In Navigation. Looking for a definitive answer that there is NO negative SEO ( or negative anything ) to put the same page in your site's Navigation Bar ... twice (or more than once) Can't find anything written that there is anything to consider or be concerned with, but, thought I'd ask. I'm a newERbie, but not a NEWbie...have 2.5 years experience in local, on-page SEO...but only know what I know Maybe I should know this, but, I don't. E.g. Home New Cars Used Cars Special Offers Service Finance About Us PickUps PickUps This is JUST an example, but, we have multiple occurences, let's say, Trade-In-Value ... in two places. One page, two locations in navigation. I have SEEN it being done, 'all the time', but now, when I went to do it with a little bit of a different rationale, I was questioned about ' ... is this okay for SEO ' I THINK yes But, I want to KNOW yes ... it is ok.
Local Website Optimization | | GaryT_SEO0 -
What Is The Best Strategy For Writing Image Alt Text For SEO?
Curious on this topic, as websites that are image heavy, but have little written content can have depend on alt text for "readable content". I am aware the "best practice" is to write it as if you were describing the image to a blind person, but are there any SEO strategies that people have seen good results with? Some examples I've heard are: "unique keyword phrase" "unique keyword phrase + brand name" "Unique Keyword Phrase + LSI Keyword" Interested to hear feedback from the Moz Community! And thanks in advance for sharing your insight.
Local Website Optimization | | LureCreative0 -
Any idea how to solve sub domain tracking using GTMv2?
my traffic goes to referral if visitors visits in my subdomain page. i have tried adding my subdomain in referral exclusion list and other ways via GTM posted in some articles, nothing seems to be working for me. any suggestions how to solve this issue
Local Website Optimization | | Jenifer300 -
I can't get my page to rank. What am I doing wrong?
I'm new to this forum and this is my first question. So if I'm not supposed to ask this type of question, please forgive me. I'm trying my best to get http://www.westcoastflenterprises.com/#!roofing/bbb1e to rank on the first page in Google for "roofing contractors" in the following SW Florida cities: "Naples, Bonita Springs, and Fort Myers." Our company has a physical address in Fort Myers only so I understand it's going to be harder to get it to rank for Naples and Bonita Springs. But I can't even get this page to rank well for "roofing contractors in Fort Myers." The page authority is 25 and our domain authority is 27. Our home page authority is 39. Our primary category in Google is building restoration & preservation. But we have divisions in our company: Roofing Concrete Ornamental metals I would love it if our roofing page could rank higher than the third page, which is where it currently sits. I worked really hard to get each of our roofing-material manufacturers to link directly to our roofing page, not the home page. My hope is that you can help me because I'm really discouraged. Thanks in advance.
Local Website Optimization | | Jason_Taylor0 -
404 error from linking page that does not exist
We migrated our site from php to wordpress about a month ago. All of the old website files have been removed. I ran Moz analytics and get 17 critical 404 errors from linking pages that do not exist. 404 : Received 404 (Not Found) error response for page. http://www.preventivesupport.com/freeestimates.php404010http://preventivesupport.com/freeestimates.phpN/AThe www thing is interesting but freeestimates.php does not exist?
Local Website Optimization | | KrisIrr0 -
Local SEO In A Different Language
I am pretty new to web design and SEO, so I am sure I have completely done this wrong. I work for a U.S. based equipment dealer and before I started working here my company incorporated in Canada under "(our main product) of Canada". Even before we had any SEO work done on our website, we ranked in the top 3 across Canada for our main product. The one exception to this was Quebec where we rarely got any traffic due to the language barrier. We started working to fix this last summer using the Montreal Consulate, our SEO company at the time and a translator. They each gave me the same French translation of our Company name and I had them translate the 8 most visited pages on our existing site. I then created a replica of our existing site, hosted it on the French translation of our name and started running inbound links to this site from our U.S. and Canada sites. The first thing I am wondering is if there's any issue with this practice? We have had good results so far and traffic from Quebec is way up across our three sites. The second issue I have is we just hired our first employee in Quebec and found a partner there. They are both adamant that the translation we are using is incorrect. I own the domain for the correct translation they are suggesting but I have no idea how to go about it. Any suggestions?
Local Website Optimization | | DohenyDrones0