How to Target Multiple Cities without Hurting Your SEO

Can you imagine the difficulty of finding an electrician if every Google search turned up global SEO results?

How many pages of search results would you have to comb through to find beauties in your neighborhood?

On the other hand, think about how ineffective your digital marketing strategy would be if your local business had to compete with every competitor worldwide for leads.

Fortunately, Google has provided a solution to this issue through local SEO.

By allowing you to target only the customers in your area, it’s a quick and easy way to get information about your business to the people most likely to patronize it.

But what if you have multiple locations in different cities?

Is it possible to rank for keywords targeting multiple cities without hurting your local SEO?

But before you run off to change your site for local searches, there’s one caveat: If you do it wrong, it can hurt you. So it’s important to make sure you do it right.

It’s a bit more complicated than normal search engine optimization, but fear not – we’re here to guide you through the process.

Follow the instructions below, and you’ll be searching all your places before you know it. Ready to get started?

Why Is Local SEO Important?

If local SEO can “hurt” you, why not? Here are two good reasons:

Local SEO Attracts Foot Traffic

Imagine you are away for a cousin’s wedding.

The night before the big day, you’re in your hotel room and you want a cheese pizza.

You pick up your phone and Google… what?

No, you’re probably going to Google a location-specific keyword, like [best pizza in Louisville].

When you get the results, you don’t say, “good to know,” and then go to sleep.

Instead, you take the action that prompted the search in the first place. In other words, you pick up your phone and order the pizza.

Or you get up, take a taxi, and dine out at that great pizzeria.

And you’re not the only one who does this.

In fact, every month, searchers visit 1.5 billion sites related to their search.

And you’re not just one of a million people doing a local search, either.

Almost 46% of Google searches have a local intent.

So the next time you’re thinking about skipping local SEO, think again.

It could be your ticket to getting that random guy outside on vacation to check out your pizza place. (Or a salon. Or a hardware store – you get the point.)

Local SEO Ranks You Higher On Google

We all know about the SEO KPIs you should track to rank on Google.

With local SEO, you hit these two birds with one stone. Note that it is based on site distance/search relevance to the business.

City Pages: Good Or Bad For SEO?

Long ago, in the dark ages of SEO, city pages were used to fill in local keywords to rank higher on Google.

For example, you would create a page and write content on flower delivery.

Then, you would copy your content on different pages, each with a different city in the keyword.

So a page for [flower delivery in Louisville], [flower delivery in Newark], and [flower delivery in Shelbyville], all with the same content.

As usual, it didn’t take long for Google to notice this spam tactic.

When it rolled out its Panda Update, it made sure to flag and penalize sites that are doing it.

Therefore, city pages can hurt your SEO and penalize your site.

How Do I Optimize My Business For Multiple Locations On Google?

1. Use Google Business Profile

Remember, Google’s mission is to organize and deliver the most relevant and reliable information available to online searchers.

His goal is to give people exactly what they are looking for.

This means that if they can verify your business, you will have a higher chance of ranking on the SERPs.

When you register for a Google Business Profile, you are confirming to Google exactly what you offer and where you are located.

After that, Google will be confident in sharing your content with searchers.

The good news is that Google Business Profile is free and easy to use.

Simply create an account, claim your business, and fill in as much information as possible about it.

Photos and customer reviews (along with responding to reviews) can also help you optimize your Google Business Profile account.

2. Get Into Google’s Local Map Pack

Have you ever done a local search and received three traffic recommendations from Google?

Screenshot from search for [plumbing near Florida], Google, November 2022

Yes, these businesses are lucky.

Chances are that searchers will choose one of them and look no further for their plumbing needs. Good luck, everyone else.

Of course, this makes it extremely valuable to be one of the three listed in the Local Map Pack. And with the right techniques, you can be.

Here are three things you can do to increase your chances of landing one of the three popular slots:

As discussed in the previous point, Google prioritizes sites it has verified.

Give Google all your information, including your company’s name, address, phone number and hours of operation.

Photos and other media work great too. And remember, everyone loves images.

The better your reviews, the higher your chances of being featured on the Google Local Maps Pack.

3. Build Your Internal Linking Structure

Did you know that tweaking your internal linking structure can help boost your SEO?

Sure, external links pointing to your site are great.

But you don’t control them. And it takes a bit of work to get them. If you still can’t find them, internal linking will help:

All of these will help you rank higher on Google and increase your chances of being found if someone does a local search.

4. Build Your NAP Citations

NAP stands for name, address and telephone number.

Generally, it represents your online business information.

The first place you want your NAP is on your website.

A good rule of thumb is to put this information at the bottom of your home page, which is where visitors expect to find it.

Screenshot from allweekplumbing.com, November 2022

It is also great to list your business information on online data aggregators.

These aggregators provide data to top sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Microsoft Bing.

Here are some of the big ones you shouldn’t miss.

Getting your website listed on the top aggregators is great, but it’s worth it if you want a feature like this.

Screenshot from Trip Advisor, November 2022

Important note: Make sure your NAPs are consistent across the web.

One mistake can seriously hurt your chances of appearing on Google’s Local Maps Pack or on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor.

5. Use Schema Markup

Sometimes called structured data or simply schema, schema markup on your website can significantly affect your local SEO results.

But if you’re not a developer, it can seem intimidating.

Don’t worry – it’s not as difficult to use as you might think.

A collaboration between Google, Yahoo, Yandex, and Microsoft, Schema.org was established in 2011 to establish a common dictionary between search engines.

Although it can be used to improve the appearance of your search result, help you appear for relevant queries, and increase the time spent on the page by your visitors, Google is clear that it does not affect search rankings .

So why are we talking about it here? Because it improves the chances of your content being used for rich results, which makes you more engaging and improves click-through rates.

In addition, the schema provides several different property options related to local SEO, allowing you to select relevant schema categories.

By choosing Schema.org/bakery for your cupcake shop, you are helping search engines better understand your website content.

After selecting the correct category, you must select the subproperties to ensure validation. This includes the name of the business, hours, area served, etc.

The Schema.org/areaServed on the local landing page should always match the service areas established in the Google Business Profile, AND your local landing page should mention those same towns in its page content.

For a complete list of required and recommended schema properties and information on validating your structured data, read this article. Using a plugin, you can get more information about schema markup for WordPress.

6. Optimize Your Site For Mobile

If you wake up in the middle of the night to find your bathroom flooded with water from an exploding faucet, will you:

If it’s 3 a.m. is there, you might choose Number 2.

People don’t just choose their smartphones over their computers at 3 a.m.

Almost 59% of all website traffic comes from a mobile device.

Screenshot from Statista, November 2022

As usual, Google noticed and moved to mobile indexing first.

All of this means that your site must be optimized for mobile if you want to rank well on Google, especially for local SEO.

Here are six tips to make your website mobile friendly:

Bonus Tip: Make Your Most Important City Pages Unique

If you want to name all the cities in a region you serve, just list them on the page – you don’t need to have a separate page for each city to rank in most cases.

To make the pages different, write original content for each area or city.

You can list all the cities you serve on one page.

Or you can go ahead and create individual pages for each city.

When you do this step, make sure that the content of each page is unique.

And no, I don’t just mean changing the word “hand-to-hand combat” to “hand-to-hand combat”.

You need to do additional research on your targeted niche, then go ahead and write specific and helpful information for readers in the area.

Here is a great example from 7th State Builders.

Submitting information about a city or town is a great way to increase your client’s trust.

A OnePoll survey carried out on behalf of CG Roxane found that 67% of people trust local businesses – by recognizing your understanding of the situations and issues in a locale, you are telling that you are local – even if you have multiple locations spread across the area. country

They will see how much you know about their area and trust you to solve their area-specific problems.

Important note: Make sure this information goes with all changes to your website.

With Google’s mobile-first index in place, you don’t want to fall in the rankings because you’ve failed to optimize your mobile.

5 Tools To Scale Your Local SEO

What if you have 100 locations? How do you manage listings for them?

Here are some tools to help you scale your local SEO efforts.

Ready To Target Local SEO?

I hope I’ve made it very clear by this point – local SEO is important. And just because you’re running multiple sites in different cities doesn’t mean you can’t make it work for you.

How you walk is up to you. Do you want to create one landing page for each site? Or do you want to list all your sites on the same page?

Whatever you choose, be aware of the power of local SEO to attract customers to your neighborhood.

Just make sure you are doing it right. If, after reading this piece, you’re still not sure what steps to take, imagine yourself as a customer.

What kind of information would you be looking for?

What would convince you that your business is perfect for their needs?

Chances are good that location will be one of the driving factors, and the best way to take advantage of that is with local SEO.

Featured Image: New Africa/Shutterstock

Who is the World No 1 SEO expert?

Joost de Valk is the best SEO expert, Joost de Valk is an entrepreneur and application software developer from Wijchen, Netherlands known for Yoast SEO. De Valk started as a consultant and blogger in 2004 before developing Yoast, one of the most successful plugins for WordPress.

Which SEO course is best? Best SEO Certifications

SEO Basics Course with Semrush.
Google SEO Basics by UC Davis.
SEO Certification Course at Hubspot.
SEO Training at ClickMinded.
Search Engine Optimization Program by Simplilearn.
Google Analytics 4 Course at Google.
All-around SEO Training with Yoast.

Who is the best Google ranking expert in the world? Google Search Engine referred to Zammy Zaif as “the best google expert in the world” due to the impact of his ranking achievements, which reach over 2 million people every year. Entrepreneur | Business Strategies | SEO Expert – who can bring your website to the first ranking of Google search results.

Who is an SEO expert? An SEO expert performs on-page optimization across a website to ensure search results are relevant and create a positive user experience, increasing website traffic, lead volume and brand awareness.

Do location pages work for SEO?

Yes, where appropriate we will use site pages for SEO. When adding these to a website we consider how the page will work for your overall business marketing plan. We will use unique content and style the page so that it fits perfectly with all other pages on the website.

Is SEO based on location? Why site-based SEO is important. Almost all searches today are based on location, including your own. Think of it as “when you pull out your phone to find a nearby restaurant, you don’t just type “restaurant”, you type “restaurant in [your city]”, saving the hassle. comb through irrelevant lists.

Do landing pages hurt SEO? Your landing page’s meta description doesn’t directly affect your SERP rankings like your title or URL will. However, it helps search engine users decide whether to click on your site or not, so your landing pages are an important part of SEO.

Are location pages good for SEO?

For multi-site businesses, Site Landing Pages are an essential part of your SEO strategy. Incorporating the necessary components for a Sites Landing Page will ensure that your sites are found by Google and delivered to the searchers you are looking for.

What is the purpose of a site page? Location pages are pages on your website that show your customers where your business is located, how to contact you, your opening hours, and a map, so they can find you.

Are landing pages profitable?

Every 1% increase in your conversion rate correlates to a $50,000 increase in profits. Research shows that businesses that invest in landing page optimization can increase their conversions by up to 30%. Landing pages that directly address buyers’ fears can increase conversion rates by up to 80%.

How effective are the landing pages? The average landing page conversion rate varies by industry. Across industries, the average is 2.35%, but effective landing pages can increase that to 5.31% and beyond. And using more than 30 landing pages can generate seven times more leads than sites using less than 10.

How much should a landing page cost? If you want to hire a digital agency to create a landing page, you will pay for landing page development services from $600 to $3,000. A quality landing page costs $1,000-1,500 in many cases. Creating a strategic landing page will cost around $1,500-2000. A dynamic landing page costs from $2,000 to $5,000.

Do you need SEO for landing pages? Good SEO practices will make your landing pages rank higher in search engine results and ensure you reach your target audience. With the right SEO, you will attract people who are interested in your content, product or service.

Can you sell landing pages?

You can start offering landing pages to your customers, you can do that before building a website solution, or you can offer it as an add-on for certain promotions. Either way, landing pages can have a huge impact on a business. It is important that you know how to sell this service.

What are paid landing pages? A PPC landing page is a standalone web page that you plan to use in a paid campaign on AdWords, Bing Ads, or similar. It is a dedicated page where visitors land after clicking on a pay per click ad.

Is a landing page an asset?

Lead generation landing pages are a valuable asset to your business because they provide insight into who your potential customers are and how you can reach them. If lead nurturing is a priority or you need to better understand your audience” consider adding one to your site.

Is your website part of a landing page? Landing pages are separate from a business website â Home pages are the front page of a business website. Landing pages have one goal â Home pages promote website browsing.

How much are landing pages worth?

An in-depth look at PPC landing page pricing Designing a landing page costs anywhere from $75 to $3000 or more, with pricing depending on a number of factors, including who you hire to design the page. Freelance landing page design can cost $100 – $2000 per project, while agency prices can range from $1400 to $3200.

How is a landing page calculated? How to Measure Landing Page Conversion Rate. To measure your landing page conversion rate, divide the number of conversions you get within a specific time frame by the total number of people who visited your landing page, then multiply it by 100%.

Which SEO should be avoided?

While ‘White hat SEO’ is the term used for ‘good’ SEO practices, aimed at real users, ‘Black hat’ or ‘Grey hat SEO’ are practices aimed at search engines to try to make the algorithm to attract to a higher degree. These techniques are ineffective, come with risk, or both!

Which SEO is unethical? Black Hat SEO, however, is the complete opposite of ethical practices. Considered unethical and sometimes illegal, he uses SEO strategies designed to ‘trick’ search engines into ranking his website higher – resulting in more traffic to his site.