That is exactly the scenario. Thanks for your response and time.

I did 301 redirect and google webmaster tools site change tool.

I updated all the citations on yelp etc. to point to the now local page url (/locations/city_keyword)

I guess I figured I knew that this was the right answer and response but it's obviously difficult when you have a strong hold on many keywords and then you fall below the fold. Luckily most keywords do trigger at least 3 map results (after 3 organic listings) in which we are first.

However we did have the trifecta of 3 results above the fold (PPC, Organic, Maps) and now just showing for 2 of the 3 with the one missing being the biggest traffic driver.

I guess my follow up question is currently our organic listing is the serp page with just one mention (footer) of the original city. Should I expect that the local page prevail on serps eventually (ie /locations/city_keyword)?

I have a business with 6 locations (in the same state) but very different cities. We we expanded from one location with the city name in the URL we followed best practices to move to the new domain without the singular city name in the URL. We definitly took a hit on the organic side and I'm trying to figure out best practice for where to add geo info.

Currently I have geo info:

-In footer
-Contact Page

-On local page

It's a WP site and each location has it's own page (ie. locations/geolocation_keyword). I know all other locations will take sometime but my concern is the hit we took on the original location that had geo-target URL.

I guess really my question is simply can I include city names in homepage meta title and desc.?
and is there anything else I can do to bounce back organically on the original city faster?