SEO GUYS! - Geo targeting landing pages, quick question - GoFuckYourself.com

tical · 06-19-2007, 04:46 AM

somewhat new to this so looking for a little feedback... i'm playing with a plumbing website and am interested in geo targeting specific landing pages

for instance, i want to use:

"san jose" water heater installation
"oakland" water heater installation

as opposed to a broader term like:

"bay area" water heater installation

if i was to create multiple pages where the city / geo area is different where appropriate for SEO, but all of the rest of the text is the same... could this cause problems because of the redundant body / filler text?

like plumbingsite.com/%city%_water_heater_installation.html

tical · 06-19-2007, 04:51 AM

oh yeah and of course occurances of %city% within the actual html doc itself

Vick! · 06-19-2007, 05:58 AM

First of all, If the list of areas, you want to target, is not in hundreds I'd suggest you to create separate static landing pages. Do not use script for auto-creation or on the fly creation of pages.

Secondly and most important thing is, content on all of the landing pages should not be too similar, otherwise they will be marked as Supplement Results in Google. So, best thing is to try keeping content on all pages as unique as possible, do not only change the city (area) name but also other text should be different.

Third, change your URL format to:

plumbingsite.com/san-jose-water-heater-installation/

plumbingsite.com/oakland-water-heater-installation/

I suggest you to use hyphens (-) instead of underscores ( _ ); even though search engines, today, are smart enough to parse different words in URLs even without these separators, but I personally have seen better results with hyphens. You might need to read Dashes vs. Underscore by Matt Cutts, a Google engineer.

Also, always try to keep the different files in separate folders, and use keyword in folder name instead of file name. I mean instead of domain.com/keyword-here.html .. you should use domain.com/keyword-here/

Advantage? The biggest advantage comes when you want to change the technology used to develop site. For example, later, if you want to switch to .asp or .php instead of .html ... you will need to change the files names and you will loose the PR and ranking (if any lol) .. you may be able to use 301 redirect at that time but its not a perfect solution, you will still experience the fall in hard earned ranking.

But in case you are using folders, you can put index file with any extension in the folder and you will never need to worry about fall of PR or ranking.

And to me, folder names looks tidier than the file names, because of the damn extension in them.

Hope it helps.

The Walrus · 06-19-2007, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vick!

First of all, If the list of areas, you want to target, is not in hundreds I'd suggest you to create separate static landing pages. Do not use script for auto-creation or on the fly creation of pages.

Secondly and most important thing is, content on all of the landing pages should not be too similar, otherwise they will be marked as Supplement Results in Google. So, best thing is to try keeping content on all pages as unique as possible, do not only change the city (area) name but also other text should be different.

Third, change your URL format to:

plumbingsite.com/san-jose-water-heater-installation/

plumbingsite.com/oakland-water-heater-installation/

I suggest you to use hyphens (-) instead of underscores ( _ ); even though search engines, today, are smart enough to parse different words in URLs even without these separators, but I personally have seen better results with hyphens. You might need to read Dashes vs. Underscore by Matt Cutts, a Google engineer.

Also, always try to keep the different files in separate folders, and use keyword in folder name instead of file name. I mean instead of domain.com/keyword-here.html .. you should use domain.com/keyword-here/

Advantage? The biggest advantage comes when you want to change the technology used to develop site. For example, later, if you want to switch to .asp or .php instead of .html ... you will need to change the files names and you will loose the PR and ranking (if any lol) .. you may be able to use 301 redirect at that time but its not a perfect solution, you will still experience the fall in hard earned ranking.

But in case you are using folders, you can put index file with any extension in the folder and you will never need to worry about fall of PR or ranking.

And to me, folder names looks tidier than the file names, because of the damn extension in them.

Hope it helps.

One Hell of a response

rockbear · 06-19-2007, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vick!

First of all, If the list of areas, you want to target, is not in hundreds I'd suggest you to create separate static landing pages. Do not use script for auto-creation or on the fly creation of pages.

Secondly and most important thing is, content on all of the landing pages should not be too similar, otherwise they will be marked as Supplement Results in Google. So, best thing is to try keeping content on all pages as unique as possible, do not only change the city (area) name but also other text should be different.

Third, change your URL format to:

plumbingsite.com/san-jose-water-heater-installation/

plumbingsite.com/oakland-water-heater-installation/

I suggest you to use hyphens (-) instead of underscores ( _ ); even though search engines, today, are smart enough to parse different words in URLs even without these separators, but I personally have seen better results with hyphens. You might need to read Dashes vs. Underscore by Matt Cutts, a Google engineer.

Also, always try to keep the different files in separate folders, and use keyword in folder name instead of file name. I mean instead of domain.com/keyword-here.html .. you should use domain.com/keyword-here/

Advantage? The biggest advantage comes when you want to change the technology used to develop site. For example, later, if you want to switch to .asp or .php instead of .html ... you will need to change the files names and you will loose the PR and ranking (if any lol) .. you may be able to use 301 redirect at that time but its not a perfect solution, you will still experience the fall in hard earned ranking.

But in case you are using folders, you can put index file with any extension in the folder and you will never need to worry about fall of PR or ranking.

And to me, folder names looks tidier than the file names, because of the damn extension in them.

Hope it helps.

Really good answer thanks a lot for your post.

Kevsh · 06-19-2007, 06:09 AM

Very important point by Vicki, it should have been bolded:

Quote:

If the list of areas, you want to target, is not in hundreds I'd suggest you to create separate static landing pages

If you are planning a lot of these pages (I'd say keep it less than 50 to be more safe), mix up the page/folder names so they don't all have the same keywords. This is a sure sign to Google you've been optimizing.

TheDoc · 06-19-2007, 06:14 AM

You can build landing pages and use temp 302 redirects, you do not have to hide it like this. It's allowed. The title and desc should change, the page text should change 30%. They shouldn't cross link each other but all link into the main page. Setup a sitemap, value the main page 1, value the landing pages .7

Get the landing pages listings, google will rank the tour for the landing page terms. It's not cheating Google - it's how you target google local.

tical · 06-19-2007, 04:03 PM

Wow man, thanks a ton for this awesome response.

This was probably the most informative answer to any question I've ever asked on GFY in the last 3-4 years

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vick!

First of all, If the list of areas, you want to target, is not in hundreds I'd suggest you to create separate static landing pages. Do not use script for auto-creation or on the fly creation of pages.

Secondly and most important thing is, content on all of the landing pages should not be too similar, otherwise they will be marked as Supplement Results in Google. So, best thing is to try keeping content on all pages as unique as possible, do not only change the city (area) name but also other text should be different.

Third, change your URL format to:

plumbingsite.com/san-jose-water-heater-installation/

plumbingsite.com/oakland-water-heater-installation/

I suggest you to use hyphens (-) instead of underscores ( _ ); even though search engines, today, are smart enough to parse different words in URLs even without these separators, but I personally have seen better results with hyphens. You might need to read Dashes vs. Underscore by Matt Cutts, a Google engineer.

Also, always try to keep the different files in separate folders, and use keyword in folder name instead of file name. I mean instead of domain.com/keyword-here.html .. you should use domain.com/keyword-here/

Advantage? The biggest advantage comes when you want to change the technology used to develop site. For example, later, if you want to switch to .asp or .php instead of .html ... you will need to change the files names and you will loose the PR and ranking (if any lol) .. you may be able to use 301 redirect at that time but its not a perfect solution, you will still experience the fall in hard earned ranking.

But in case you are using folders, you can put index file with any extension in the folder and you will never need to worry about fall of PR or ranking.

And to me, folder names looks tidier than the file names, because of the damn extension in them.

Hope it helps.

WhiplashDug · 06-19-2007, 04:29 PM

Great info on this topic!

Now, my

ON THE POSITIVE SIDE
REDUCE YOUR KEYWORDS per page! The more focused, and symantically similar the page is, the more likely it will receive favorable indexing from Google (and the others). For example, i would reduce my keywords to 10 per page and have them be as similar but different as possible. When optimizing for a city - and a specific service, its more tricky to do. You will find it difficult to rank well with one site offering plumbing services to 50 different cities.

Good example of meta keywords: "pets,dogs,cats,turtles,fish,leashes,food,grooming ,vet,shots".

The first keyword "pets" should be the most saturated keyword on the page, dogs the 2nd most and so on down the line. Be sure to use these words and know phrases (i.e. "dogs" and 'mans best friend") in the body of the page. You should strive to a minimum of 300 words in body text. You will also want to put your #1 keyword in an Hx tag, but be careful not to overuse. Also, boold, underline & italics are great ways to add emphasis to a particular keyword in the body text.

I would not bother with ALT tags.. as they are not used by google.. but if you ALT tagged every image with the same tag - it could hurt you.

Make sure that your keywords to non-keywords ratio is at least 5 or 6 to 1. But never less than 20 to 1. Make sure your top keyword(s) are in the title tag, and the URL route (see posts above). Be sure to include KEYWORDS in the text linking that goes to other pages.

ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE...
STAY AWAY FROM LINK FARMS. While back-linking is still very important, do not share links with link farms or FFA's in any way.
DO NOT use immediate re-directs.
DO NOT use ANY duplicate copy. DO NOT COPY from any other sites.
DO NOT use SINGLE PIXEL links

Thats all for now, dont want to entirely give away the farm...

bonkerz2007 · 06-19-2007, 04:52 PM

damn i got here too late...you guys are right on the money with your answers.

tical · 06-19-2007, 04:55 PM

Great info as well, wow! Gfy on fire today

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiplashDug

Great info on this topic!

Now, my

ON THE POSITIVE SIDE
REDUCE YOUR KEYWORDS per page! The more focused, and symantically similar the page is, the more likely it will receive favorable indexing from Google (and the others). For example, i would reduce my keywords to 10 per page and have them be as similar but different as possible. When optimizing for a city - and a specific service, its more tricky to do. You will find it difficult to rank well with one site offering plumbing services to 50 different cities.

Good example of meta keywords: "pets,dogs,cats,turtles,fish,leashes,food,grooming ,vet,shots".

The first keyword "pets" should be the most saturated keyword on the page, dogs the 2nd most and so on down the line. Be sure to use these words and know phrases (i.e. "dogs" and 'mans best friend") in the body of the page. You should strive to a minimum of 300 words in body text. You will also want to put your #1 keyword in an Hx tag, but be careful not to overuse. Also, boold, underline & italics are great ways to add emphasis to a particular keyword in the body text.

I would not bother with ALT tags.. as they are not used by google.. but if you ALT tagged every image with the same tag - it could hurt you.

Make sure that your keywords to non-keywords ratio is at least 5 or 6 to 1. But never less than 20 to 1. Make sure your top keyword(s) are in the title tag, and the URL route (see posts above). Be sure to include KEYWORDS in the text linking that goes to other pages.

ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE...
STAY AWAY FROM LINK FARMS. While back-linking is still very important, do not share links with link farms or FFA's in any way.
DO NOT use immediate re-directs.
DO NOT use ANY duplicate copy. DO NOT COPY from any other sites.
DO NOT use SINGLE PIXEL links

Thats all for now, dont want to entirely give away the farm...

Kre8t0r · 06-19-2007, 07:18 PM

Can't let the best thread of the year fall off yet...

Great info!

TeenSluts · 06-19-2007, 07:21 PM

ticalsux

beta-tester · 06-19-2007, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vick!

First of all, If the list of areas, you want to target, is not in hundreds I'd suggest you to create separate static landing pages. Do not use script for auto-creation or on the fly creation of pages.

Secondly and most important thing is, content on all of the landing pages should not be too similar, otherwise they will be marked as Supplement Results in Google. So, best thing is to try keeping content on all pages as unique as possible, do not only change the city (area) name but also other text should be different.

Third, change your URL format to:

plumbingsite.com/san-jose-water-heater-installation/

plumbingsite.com/oakland-water-heater-installation/

I suggest you to use hyphens (-) instead of underscores ( _ ); even though search engines, today, are smart enough to parse different words in URLs even without these separators, but I personally have seen better results with hyphens. You might need to read Dashes vs. Underscore by Matt Cutts, a Google engineer.

Also, always try to keep the different files in separate folders, and use keyword in folder name instead of file name. I mean instead of domain.com/keyword-here.html .. you should use domain.com/keyword-here/

Advantage? The biggest advantage comes when you want to change the technology used to develop site. For example, later, if you want to switch to .asp or .php instead of .html ... you will need to change the files names and you will loose the PR and ranking (if any lol) .. you may be able to use 301 redirect at that time but its not a perfect solution, you will still experience the fall in hard earned ranking.

But in case you are using folders, you can put index file with any extension in the folder and you will never need to worry about fall of PR or ranking.

And to me, folder names looks tidier than the file names, because of the damn extension in them.

Hope it helps.

Couldn't agree more with everything written above! As for file names I somehow experienced better rankings with "static" pages(filenames), redirected via mod_rewrite to .html not folders.

Vick! · 06-21-2007, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beta-tester

As for file names I somehow experienced better rankings with "static" pages(filenames), redirected via mod_rewrite to .html not folders.

Search engines do not care what extension is being used, all they care about the html output generated by our server.

May be the better ranking you experienced, while using filenames, was due to something else.

tical · 06-21-2007, 06:43 PM

okay, how about this one guys...

which would be better (if any) and why?

plumbingsite.com/plumbing-services/oakland/water-heater-installation

or

plumbingsite.com/plumbing-services-oakland/water-heater-installation

(notice the different "directories")

would either of these have a more positive effect?

Sunny · 06-21-2007, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vick!

First of all, If the list of areas, you want to target, is not in hundreds I'd suggest you to create separate static landing pages. Do not use script for auto-creation or on the fly creation of pages.

Secondly and most important thing is, content on all of the landing pages should not be too similar, otherwise they will be marked as Supplement Results in Google. So, best thing is to try keeping content on all pages as unique as possible, do not only change the city (area) name but also other text should be different.

Third, change your URL format to:

plumbingsite.com/san-jose-water-heater-installation/

plumbingsite.com/oakland-water-heater-installation/

I suggest you to use hyphens (-) instead of underscores ( _ ); even though search engines, today, are smart enough to parse different words in URLs even without these separators, but I personally have seen better results with hyphens. You might need to read Dashes vs. Underscore by Matt Cutts, a Google engineer.

Also, always try to keep the different files in separate folders, and use keyword in folder name instead of file name. I mean instead of domain.com/keyword-here.html .. you should use domain.com/keyword-here/

Advantage? The biggest advantage comes when you want to change the technology used to develop site. For example, later, if you want to switch to .asp or .php instead of .html ... you will need to change the files names and you will loose the PR and ranking (if any lol) .. you may be able to use 301 redirect at that time but its not a perfect solution, you will still experience the fall in hard earned ranking.

But in case you are using folders, you can put index file with any extension in the folder and you will never need to worry about fall of PR or ranking.

And to me, folder names looks tidier than the file names, because of the damn extension in them.

Hope it helps.

Good Job

Man!

Vick! · 06-21-2007, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tical

okay, how about this one guys...

which would be better (if any) and why?

plumbingsite.com/plumbing-services/oakland/water-heater-installation

or

plumbingsite.com/plumbing-services-oakland/water-heater-installation

(notice the different "directories")

would either of these have a more positive effect?

When it comes to SEO both are quite similar, you can use any.

But second one is generally better because it will help you to make /plumbing-services/ more organized into different areas where you provide those services.

PS: Make habit of using trailing slash. Don't it make URL tidier? lol

Sunny · 06-23-2007, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vick!

PS: Make habit of using trailing slash. Don't it make URL tidier? lol

RawAlex · 06-23-2007, 08:01 AM

OMFG! A bookmarkable thread on GFY! Thanks everyone

06-19-2007, 04:51 AM	#2
tical Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 6,504	oh yeah and of course occurances of %city% within the actual html doc itself __________________ 112.020.756

06-19-2007, 06:14 AM	#7
TheDoc Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Currently Incognito Posts: 13,827	You can build landing pages and use temp 302 redirects, you do not have to hide it like this. It's allowed. The title and desc should change, the page text should change 30%. They shouldn't cross link each other but all link into the main page. Setup a sitemap, value the main page 1, value the landing pages .7 Get the landing pages listings, google will rank the tour for the landing page terms. It's not cheating Google - it's how you target google local. __________________ ~TheDoc - ICQ7765825 It's all disambiguation

06-19-2007, 04:29 PM	#9
WhiplashDug ICS Graphics Dude Industry Role: Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: SACTO Posts: 3,438	Great info on this topic! Now, my ON THE POSITIVE SIDE REDUCE YOUR KEYWORDS per page! The more focused, and symantically similar the page is, the more likely it will receive favorable indexing from Google (and the others). For example, i would reduce my keywords to 10 per page and have them be as similar but different as possible. When optimizing for a city - and a specific service, its more tricky to do. You will find it difficult to rank well with one site offering plumbing services to 50 different cities. Good example of meta keywords: "pets,dogs,cats,turtles,fish,leashes,food,grooming ,vet,shots". The first keyword "pets" should be the most saturated keyword on the page, dogs the 2nd most and so on down the line. Be sure to use these words and know phrases (i.e. "dogs" and 'mans best friend") in the body of the page. You should strive to a minimum of 300 words in body text. You will also want to put your #1 keyword in an Hx tag, but be careful not to overuse. Also, boold, underline & italics are great ways to add emphasis to a particular keyword in the body text. I would not bother with ALT tags.. as they are not used by google.. but if you ALT tagged every image with the same tag - it could hurt you. Make sure that your keywords to non-keywords ratio is at least 5 or 6 to 1. But never less than 20 to 1. Make sure your top keyword(s) are in the title tag, and the URL route (see posts above). Be sure to include KEYWORDS in the text linking that goes to other pages. ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE... STAY AWAY FROM LINK FARMS. While back-linking is still very important, do not share links with link farms or FFA's in any way. DO NOT use immediate re-directs. DO NOT use ANY duplicate copy. DO NOT COPY from any other sites. DO NOT use SINGLE PIXEL links Thats all for now, dont want to entirely give away the farm... __________________ Was a graphics master for Lensman @ Adult.com but now... I can't tell ya cause it aint top secret. ........... *DOUGRIDLEYDESIGNS* [email protected] ICQ: 303-498-056 skype: whiplashdug

06-21-2007, 06:43 PM	#16
tical Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 6,504	okay, how about this one guys... which would be better (if any) and why? plumbingsite.com/plumbing-services/oakland/water-heater-installation or plumbingsite.com/plumbing-services-oakland/water-heater-installation (notice the different "directories") would either of these have a more positive effect? __________________ 112.020.756

06-19-2007, 04:46 AM	#1
tical Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 6,504	SEO GUYS! - Geo targeting landing pages, quick question somewhat new to this so looking for a little feedback... i'm playing with a plumbing website and am interested in geo targeting specific landing pages for instance, i want to use: "san jose" water heater installation "oakland" water heater installation as opposed to a broader term like: "bay area" water heater installation if i was to create multiple pages where the city / geo area is different where appropriate for SEO, but all of the rest of the text is the same... could this cause problems because of the redundant body / filler text? like plumbingsite.com/%city%_water_heater_installation.html __________________ 112.020.756 Last edited by tical; 06-19-2007 at 04:49 AM..

06-19-2007, 05:58 AM	#3
Vick! Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: 20 00'24.00" N, 75 09'00.00 W Posts: 6,882	First of all, If the list of areas, you want to target, is not in hundreds I'd suggest you to create separate static landing pages. Do not use script for auto-creation or on the fly creation of pages. Secondly and most important thing is, content on all of the landing pages should not be too similar, otherwise they will be marked as Supplement Results in Google. So, best thing is to try keeping content on all pages as unique as possible, do not only change the city (area) name but also other text should be different. Third, change your URL format to: plumbingsite.com/san-jose-water-heater-installation/ plumbingsite.com/oakland-water-heater-installation/ I suggest you to use hyphens (-) instead of underscores ( _ ); even though search engines, today, are smart enough to parse different words in URLs even without these separators, but I personally have seen better results with hyphens. You might need to read Dashes vs. Underscore by Matt Cutts, a Google engineer. Also, always try to keep the different files in separate folders, and use keyword in folder name instead of file name. I mean instead of domain.com/keyword-here.html .. you should use domain.com/keyword-here/ Advantage? The biggest advantage comes when you want to change the technology used to develop site. For example, later, if you want to switch to .asp or .php instead of .html ... you will need to change the files names and you will loose the PR and ranking (if any lol) .. you may be able to use 301 redirect at that time but its not a perfect solution, you will still experience the fall in hard earned ranking. But in case you are using folders, you can put index file with any extension in the folder and you will never need to worry about fall of PR or ranking. And to me, folder names looks tidier than the file names, because of the damn extension in them. Hope it helps.

06-19-2007, 04:52 PM	#10
bonkerz2007 Confirmed User Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 794	damn i got here too late...you guys are right on the money with your answers.

06-19-2007, 07:18 PM	#12
Kre8t0r Confirmed User Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: From Hurricane Hell to Frozen Hell Posts: 1,304	Can't let the best thread of the year fall off yet... Great info!

06-19-2007, 07:21 PM	#13
TeenSluts Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,966	ticalsux

06-23-2007, 08:01 AM	#20
RawAlex So Fucking Banned Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: In a house. Posts: 9,465	OMFG! A bookmarkable thread on GFY! Thanks everyone