Local SEO - our company is in 2 very different locations

[BobGW]

Hi,

Our company

nlpca.com

is in 2 locations. It's doing really well in San Francisco, California

But we've opened a 2nd location in Salt Lake City, Utah

The problem is that our site is all about San Francisco, California. Utah is just as important as San Francisco to us and we need to start tailoring to both.

People from Utah say they are confused because our site is so tailored to California. Even our domain name is the keyword "NLP" combined with the state initial "CA" for California. A new domain is not an option.

One thing we are thinking of doing is changing our header to say "The NLP and Coaching Institute and the NLP Institute of California". It would say both of our company names and hopefully the first would catch the Utah people.

But I don't think it's just our banner.

Can you take a look at our site and tell us how to tailor to both locations and keep our current working optimization for San Francisco, California?

Thanks!

[BobGW]

Ryan,

Great progress on this. Thanks.

Will taking "California" out of the title tag change the local traffic at all? Some of our strongest terms we're ranking for on the home page include the word "California". You already said it should be fine, but could you tell me a little more about how it works so that I can be more knowledgable here.

Just so that you know, we have sitelinks for "NLP California". I attached a photo.

sitelinks.jpg

[RyanKent]

Your reasoning sounds valid. The only suggestion I would offer concerns the title. How about simply "NLP" or "NLP Institute". Your localization will happen via content and links. There is no need to specify the location in the title.

You could also use "Neuro-Linguistic Programming" or "Neuro-Linguistic Programming Institute". It is up to you to determine which searches receive the most traffic, how your visitors will perceive the title and how the business desires to be presented.

[BobGW]

Ryan,

Since we won't be holding all of the trainings in the SLC location for at least a year, it's best if the California SEO is not weakened.

Currently the California bias is in

1. The header graphic - we can change it to say the NLP and Coaching Institute

2. meta description of the home page - We can add "Utah" to the meta description.

3. title tag - I think we'll change the first keyword to be "NLP California Utah" in the title tag. We can't leave it as just "California" because the tabs in some browsers say what the title tags are. I know that weakens the title a bit, but may have to do. Your thoughts?

4. left and right banners have events mostly in California - this will even out as we have more SLC trainings. The SLC location is brand new.

5. The training pages all have right banners discussing California Dates. This will change as we add in more SLC trainings.

6. The "ca" in nlpca.com. I don't know what to do about that one. The owners aren't going to want to change the name unless it was very good, and I can't think of anything that fits them. Hopefully we'll be OK without changing this one.

I think that's it.

Thanks Ryan, I look forward to your reply.

[RyanKent]

Hi Bob.

After reading the reply to question #2 above I am still unclear on the result. I am assuming, perhaps wrongly so, the SLC office is a provider of your service. In other words, new clients can choose to interact with the SLC or SF office. If that is the case, my question is whether new clients are primarily funneled to the SF office, or if they are evenly distributed between the SLC and SF office.

The reason for the question relates to the idea you shared about the SLC and SF offices being equally important. You shared the concern about how the SLC visitors felt you were biased towards the California office. I see those concerns as valid based on the information shared thusfar.

It seems you have recognized those concerns have merit. You can create a SLC landing page, and that would be an improvement, but it does not make the two locations equal. If the home page of your site is for California, that is a clear, strong bias towards that office. When a new visitor can open your site and be unable to tell which location is your "main" city, you will have achieved the result of presenting your offices equally.

[BobGW]

Ryan,

I've spoke to the owners. Maybe we should do a SLC landing page for now and take "California" out of the header

Then, as the location moves farther along, we can look at a second website using the same design to target Utah alone. I bought the domain you suggested in case we need it.

Does that sound like a good plan?

Also, to answer this:

2. If a client from Florida visited your site, how likely is it that client would be handled by the SLC office? I would ask the same question for someone from England or another country.

When people call about the trainings, it's probably answered by someone in SLC but they don't say anything about their location. There's just one office and it's always been in Salt Lake City although there are some people answering phones in virtual offices in California. About 70% of most of our NLP trainings are local people, with 30% out of state and international

[RyanKent]

I have more questions then ideas actually. The ideas can take better shape once I have a clearer understanding of the owner's direction.

1. How strong is the desire to view the Utah and California offices equally?

2. If a client from Florida visited your site, how likely is it that client would be handled by the SLC office? I would ask the same question for someone from England or another country.

3. Would you consider removing the "of California" header from the site? Even if you set up a quality SLC landing page, as long as your home page title showed California, it is a strong and clear favoritism of California over Utah.

I did not really intend for you to acquire a new domain unless you stumbled upon an ideal name, or otherwise had a new idea for the business name which worked well. My intent was merely to point out how the current domain references California, so it is understandable your site's visitors would view you as a California company.

The long term interest of the main company would probably be best served with a single site. If the people in SLC are feeling uneasy, and especially if the "of California" portion of the home page is not altered, you can consider a second site for the SLC office. I checked and nlpslc.com is available. Not the best URL in the world but I would recommend you pay the $10 and acquire the name asap just in case.

[ResslerMotors]

I don't believe the layout is used within the SEO measurements, besides linking structure, so having the same looking website shouldn't matter.  Even though you have mentioned that you are going to do this, I figured it wouldn't hurt to repeat, just make sure you have unique content.

[BobGW]

Our main term "NLP" has stiff competition. I should note here that, although, most people are local, we are an international training company and the big term is "NLP".

If we made a second site, do you think google would penalize us for using almost the same graphical layout? Both sites would link to the other, this is done so users can find all of our sites.

[ResslerMotors]

A Second Alternative would be to create two different funnels.  One for customers in CA, and the other for the customers in UT.  You would then have to create landing pages specifically for each City, State in order to most efficiently utilize the system.  So, your current home page would be for brand searches, a CA landing page for those keywords and a UT landing page for those keywords.  This would cost you quite a chunk to build, unless you can do it in house, but you would have the benefit of your current domain authority.

Just as a reminder, there are many different pieces to the SEO puzzle, and my offered solution may hinder you in achieving the results an a very competitive market.  If you do have stiff competition, or anticipate any, than a new domain would be the best answer.

Either way, you are going to have to do some on-site SEO, like Ryan said.

[BobGW]

Hi Ryan,

Your suggestions are always excellent. Let me give you a little more information to see if we need a new domain or not.

We just started providing services in UT, we've been in California only for 13 years. We're planning on slowly shifting over so that we have full workshops in both places

The owners are hesitant to recommend a new website. They have registered the name "the NLP and Coaching Institute" and it would be great to stick with that.

It's kind of challenging, but how do we make a transition. We don't want to confuse people. Is a new site the only option? I guess we could use the same design to create another site, but I don't know what Google would think of the same design on 2 very related sites (that link to each other, the owners have always had an "Our other sites" link in their menu for user convenience).

We wouldn't use any duplicate content and thus wouldn't be able to use any of our extensive articles. I don't see how a new domain would work without a big expense. We're always going for that big keyword "NLP" and it would be a shame to split our strength up. We need an internationally strong site and the articles took years to put together. Perhaps we could put a blog in the new site for more unique content, that would help.

What ideas do you have, Ryan?

[RyanKent]

Utah is just as important as San Francisco to us

Even our domain name is the keyword "NLP" combined with the state initial "CA" for California.

A new domain is not an option.

I can respond to your inquiry, but I feel obliged to point out your premise is quite illogical (spoken in my best Mr Spock impression). Your domain name specifically references California, it does not reference Utah, and you are unwilling to discuss a domain name change. That is perfectly fine up to the point where you share "Utah is just as important as SF". Clearly it is not as important.

Your suggested header change furthers this position. Your SF office connects with visitors via "NLP Institute of California" where your suggestion for Utah is "The NLP and Coaching Institute".

Based on the limited information you have shared, I would conclude your site offers a very clear, strong favoritism towards California, and you are not willing to consider showing your Utah office an equal level of consideration. There are steps you can take, but first we need to remove the idea the Utah location has equal importance.

In reviewing your home page, I noticed 11 references to California or SF and only 3 mentions of SLC or Utah. If the two locations are "equally" important, they should be equally represented.

I don't see any way to use the name "of California" in your business name and not be looked down upon by readers from other states. Perhaps "The NLP Institute" on it's own would better represent your business in this regard. Concerning the domain name, you already suggested "NLP and Coaching Institute". If you could replace the term "institute" with one that began with an "a", then your domain name works. "NLP and Coaching Academy" for example. I am sure you can come up with a better term then academy, but it works as an example.

I can offer additional feedback, but first the idea of how to approach the California vs Utah bias needs to be addressed.