Add Content to Page or Create New Page?

[SEO1805]

We are doing some local SEO for our business which is in 10 cities.  We have built a city page with unique content for each city and linked to a unique contact page with contact information unique for each city.  The content on our existing page is fairly thin.  2/3 of it is the same amongst all pages as our services are the exact same from city to city so the description ad menu of our services.  Then 1/3 of the content is unique to the city which is a stock photo and 1-2 paragraphs of text containing about 175 words.

We have another chunk of content for each city which is probably 2-3 paragraphs but each paragraph will be short so probably in total 200 words in 1-3 paragraphs.  The subject of the content is related to one of the most popular search queries that are location specific.  For example, if we were a company that provided say, environmental remodeling services in city X, this second chunk of content might be about required building permits when doing remodeling in City X and how to get them, how much they cost.  If the original content on the pre-existing landing page is already pretty thin, is the SEO effect going to most likely be better to add the content to the existing page or, even though it's less than 200 words, add the content to a separate page and cross link between the main city page and the city contact page.

[MiriamEllis]

Good morning!

Thanks so much for bringing your question to the community. This is what I'd recommend:

1. Instead of having a landing page for each city + a contact page for each city, I suggest you combine them. The landing page should contain the contact information, as well as the content. No need to make visitors go to two different pages. So, simplify here, and 301 redirect the 10 contact pages to the 10 city landing pages.

2. Definitely don't recommend building out yet another set of pages for this additional content you've described. Make the single landing page for each city as comprehensive and unique as possible. Put all of the relevant content about your services in a given city on that city's landing page.

3. It is important to avoid weak, duplicate pages, for sure. Hopefully, you can tell different stories on the different pages, even if the services you offer are the same. Some good ways to diversify the narrative on a landing page include showcasing your projects in the city and including reviews from customers in the city (both text and video w/transcript). You might find this post helpful in building very strong and substantially unique city landing pages for your business: https://moz.com/blog/overcoming-your-fear-of-local-landing-pages

Hope this helps, and please feel free to ask any further questions.