Developing location pages

[clearmotive]

I need to expand our service offering to another city and focus our SEO efforts to that new location. Would it be best to purchase a new domain name and make a new website very similar to the existing website so we can better target the search engines?  Same look and feel as the existing website.

Or would it be better to create a landing page for the new location on the existing website to help stengthen the current domain name?  If so, how do i focus the SERPs to the new location when the existing website is so focused around my current location?

[AndyMacLean]

I agree mostly with those above stating dont build a new web site.

Just to be different though - another option is a local sub domain. e.g. chicago.yourwebsite.com. This has advantages such as keyword in the domain name, it receives some link juice from the root domain and depending on your keywords you could get your root domain and sub domain in the same search results.

That said I have actually advised against this in the past as a sub folder on the root domain still has more chance of ranking well than the sub domain for lots of reasons I wont go into now.

[VentaMarketing]

I recommend not building new website.

Your time would be better spent building more quality links to the current website and to a subpage optimized for your new city. Expanding your service area will create many new opportunities to generate links including press & news releases announcing your recent expansion, local niche directories, new client websites, local news sources, local organizations & groups, etc. Increasing your current website's domain authority and building your subpage's page authority with these new links is where I would spend the majority of my time.

Also, when you create the subpage for your new service area be sure to include the "city name" and your service's target search term(s) in your title tag, meta description, headers, image atl tags, URL, internal links, and unique content. Also, if you have a phone number and address specific to that location, I would include those (search engines recognize area codes and addresses). If you have a physical location in your new city, create a new Google+ page with your new address, phone number, and use the city specific subpage as your website.

Good luck.

PS- PPC might be a good temporary option to increase awareness in your new location, while your subpage moves up the ranks.

[believe]

"A dedicated landing page on the same domain is the best soultion. Make sure to target variations of the keyword and location."

So long as you don't have your current city within the domain itself...

If you do, then a new domain may be necessary.

Otherwise, make sure the new city is in the URL, title tag (etc., you know the score ) and ensure you mark up the address with microformats.

ALSO : some sites have their business location in the footer across all pages - make sure this isn't the case on the page targeting the new city...

[kpeacy]

Agreed. A dedicated landing page on the same domain is the best soultion. Make sure to target variations of the keyword and location. Keep in mind that most of organic search traffic will be generated from the local results. Here is a little secret in ranking in neighboring cities for local results even if you do not have a physical address there.

• Find a local office building that rents out suite numbers. Ask to purchase the mailbox associated with an empty suite. Most office buildings rent their vacant suite mailboxes for $20 a month, Fill out a google places profile reflecting this new location in a neighboring town and BAM! You will now rank in local results in you neighboring town.

Make sure not to spam you local listing and build quality citations from local business around your area.

Press Releases really help as well! Hope this helps.

[SEODinosaur]

Build a dedicated page with unique content for that city, and build local links FROM the city you are targeting.

If you are targeting "new york rocks" then build a page in your site www.domain.com/newyorkrocks and then build links from within New York to the NYR page on your site.

[KeriMorgret]

Hi! We're going through some of the older unanswered questions and seeing if people still have questions or if they've gone ahead and implemented something and have any lessons to share with us. Can you give an update, or mark your question as answered?

Thanks!

[clearmotive]

Thank you for your reply and i think my question may have been a bit confusing.  I meant to say City, not location as in a physical location.

Currently, we focus our services to the city we live in, however, we want to also start focusing our services to another city.

From my understanding, you are suggesting to expand the existing website and eventually create a new website down the road?

If so, how do i modify my existing website to focus on the additional city without duplicating the same information already on the website?

Basically, all our services are the same, we just want to focus on another city at the same time.  But in our industry, when people are looking for information on our services, it's an advantage to see the website is focussed on their city.

[RuthBurrReedy]

I always say, don't build a brand new baby website for your existing brand unless you're absolutely sure it's necessary - you're going to have to work hard to get it even just to the same level as your existing website, let alone beyond it.  Plus, why cut your link profile in half?  I'd definitely say build a page or section on the new location.  Some things you can do to help SEs figure out you're in 2 locations:

• Make sure both locations are in Google Places or other local services.  I highly recommend Universal Business Listing for this - one submission to UBL will put your business info everywhere it should be to send strong local signals.  Well worth the low price.
• Mark up the addresses of each location on your site with hcard microformat - this says to search engines "here is an address."  here's a wiki with everything you could possibly need on hcard microformat: http://microformats.org/wiki/hcard
• Upload a KML sitemap with your locations to Google Webmaster Tools.  Here's a good guide on how to do that: http://www.martijnbeijk.com/tutorial/using-kml-for-local-seo/
• Use your city name in the title tags of pages that are about that specific location.

Best part about those last 3 suggestions - you can do them all for free.

Good luck!