Web structure for pest control site

Hi there, thanks for posting on the forum!

Considering you have only 1 location I would have the homepage target the main location, and then create service area pages for each of the cities/towns you service. Especially if it's a big, competitive area, targeting that on the homepage would likely be most beneficial. If your location is in a small town outside of a major city, consider targeting that major city instead - you may be limiting yourself if your homepage targets a city/town that is TOO small.

I would then have a page for each pest you treat (i.e /ant-control/ and /termite-treatment/ etc) and further you can create pages for the specific services you use for treatment, i.e if you offer gutter protection like Terminix you will likely want a page for it.

Additionally, I would 100% recommend investing in creating high quality blog pages that go into detail about topics like:

• DIY pest control (and why hiring a professional is probably a good idea in most cases)
• pest identification
• pest control products (green/eco friendly especially)
• indepth information on common questions customers ask

Oftentimes the SERPs for certain searches, ex: bed bug treatment, feature highly focused, informational content rather than standard pest/service pages, so it'm important to cater to those questions too either within a blog OR on the specific pest pages (you may want to play around with which type of content ranks better for specific queries).

Hello, @ElizabethRule ! First of all, thank you for all your help on this forum!

I hoped to use this thread to ask a few questions related to your answer...

According to your answer, we should consider targeting a larger city if the GBP "location" is in a very small town.

We started working with a client (an Addiction Treatment Center) located in Roundtop, TX, a town with 90 inhabitants, and their site is trying to rank for Austin, TX (80 miles away), the nearest big city.

I understand this is similar to what you recommended above, but I have some questions I'd love to hear your thoughts:

The general consensus for Local SEO optimization is to include the keywords and location from GBP on the website (title, headings, content), right?

With this in mind:

1. In which cases should we ignore this and use a larger city to optimize the site? Only when the GBP city is very small and has no search volume?

Example: We work with another client from the same niche in a similar situation, but located in Marietta, GA (which is not as small as Roundtop, TX), but still, the city for which the site is optimized is Atlanta, GA (20 miles away), which is a bigger city.
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2. In this Marietta scenario, would it be better to optimize the site for Marietta instead of Atlanta, considering that it is not TOO small and there is some search volume for our KWs?
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3. I understand that by doing this (optimizing the site for a city other than where the GBP is located), we can't expect the GBP to RANK for searches containing this main/larger city but only the website in the Organic Results section, correct?

Ps.: Not least because, in very small towns, the GBP usually ranks 1st naturally, as there are few competitors...
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Thanks in advance!

We started working with a client (an Addiction Treatment Center) located in Roundtop, TX, a town with 90 inhabitants, and their site is trying to rank for Austin, TX (80 miles away), the nearest big city.

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Hey stodzy,

from my limited experience that I have been able to collect, my suggestion would be to establish a new business profile and business address in Austin, TX closest to the centroid of the city.

This new business profile and business address could be functioning as a 'consultation office' for the addiction treatment center in Roundtop, TX.

This would essentially help you rank in Austin, TX while running your Treatment Center in Roundtop, TX.

Make sure to found a new LLC (to have supporting documentation for the Google Business Profiles reason of existence if you happen to be forced to video verify your business profile) and add a location specific service page to your website.

In your profile you would link to this location specific service page, i.e. 'Addiction Treatment Austin, TX - Consultation Office'.

The Business Profile for your clinic would stay in Roundtop, TX.

stodzy said:

1. In which cases should we ignore this and use a larger city to optimize the site? Only when the GBP city is very small and has no search volume?

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2. In this Marietta scenario, would it be better to optimize the site for Marietta instead of Atlanta, considering that it is not TOO small and there is some search volume for our KWs?

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I think it depends on a lot of variables, one of them being 'how many leads do you need a month?'.

If traffic for the keyword in the smaller city is enough to assume your lead inflow will be met, I don't see a reason to go into a bigger city where the competitiveness for a given keyword might be much higher.

3. I understand that by doing this (optimizing the site for a city other than where the GBP is located), we can't expect the GBP to RANK for searches containing this main/larger city but only the website in the Organic Results section, correct?

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Two of the heaviest ranking factors for your Google Business Profile are

1. Proximity of Address to the Point of Search (Searcher-Business Distance)
2. Physical Address in City of Search

and in the given case above, they would not play in your favor - meaning - other businesses that fulfill better on these 2 ranking factors will be ranking higher.

And yes, you are correct that your organic search result rankings will be the ones that your optimizations will have the biggest effect on.

Hope this helps.

Much love,
Thomas

Hey @thomaseberts , thank you so much for your very thorough answer and for taking the time to write it. I really appreciate it!

Your insights make perfect sense and are valuable. I think this is a good alternative (the additional location tactic), not only for this client but for others who are located in small or remote places.

Taking advantage of the thread, I'd like to ask your opinion on just one more thing:

thomaseberts said:

from my limited experience that I have been able to collect, my suggestion would be to establish a new business profile and business address in Austin, TX closest to the centroid of the city.

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After creating this GBP closer to Austin, TX, I understand that the Local SEO optimization of the site could be all focused on Austin, TX since we want to rank for this location. While Roundtop, TX, would only be mentioned as the actual physical location of the Addiction Treatment Center. Does this make sense?

For NAP consistency purposes, bearing in mind that we want to rank and build citations in Austin, TX, would you think it best to adopt the new address and phone numbers (from the Austin consultation office) as the main ones to be used in all citation building campaigns, using the Roundtop, TX address as something more "secondary" on the website?

In my opinion, as Roundtop is extremely small and there is no other Addiction Treatment facility within a radius of at least 18 miles, I see this as a better option.

Of course, we would keep at least one page on the website talking specifically about the Roundtop, TX physical location, as this is where the facility is actually located, but overall, all the Local SEO efforts on the website would revolve around Austin, TX from now on,

Thanks again! I hope you have a Happy Holiday and and an amazing New Year!

I am stoked that my answer was of help!

stodzy said:

For NAP consistency purposes, bearing in mind that we want to rank and build citations in Austin, TX, would you think it best to adopt the new address and phone numbers (from the Austin consultation office) as the main ones to be used in all citation building campaigns, using the Roundtop, TX address as something more "secondary" on the website?

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If I was in your spot, I would have the entire website focused on addiction treatment in Austin, TX and have a dedicated page about your treatment center in Roundtop, TX.

Therefore I would use the NAP of my physical location in Austin, TX as my predominant website NAP and reference the NAP of the treatment center on the dedicated page.

Hope this is helpful.

stodzy said:

1. In which cases should we ignore this and use a larger city to optimize the site? Only when the GBP city is very small and has no search volume?

Example: We work with another client from the same niche in a similar situation, but located in Marietta, GA (which is not as small as Roundtop, TX), but still, the city for which the site is optimized is Atlanta, GA (20 miles away), which is a bigger city.
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I don't think you should ever "ignore" the city you are located in - or the cities surrounding it - but as for what location to choose for your homepage I recommend going with the area you currently get the most customers in OR have a realistic expectation of getting more customers in (brand recognition goes a long way...).

For an industry like Addiction Treatment where I assume people are willing to travel for a quality facility its very possible to get quality content to rank in and around Austin - same with Marietta - so I think targeting these cities on your Homepages could work out. You can also hedge your bets by creating and optimizing pages for all the major cities between Roundtop + Austin - a group of well done city page can produce leads comparable to that of a well done homepage.

stodzy said:

2. In this Marietta scenario, would it be better to optimize the site for Marietta instead of Atlanta, considering that it is not TOO small and there is some search volume for our KWs?

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Really depends on your client's goals and their brand presence in Marietta vs Atlanta. If they are servicing people most in/from Marietta and surrounding suburbs vs people IN Atlanta, I would likely go with Marietta. That is unless you have tapped out this market and need to break into Atlanta - then I would try creating a city page for Atlanta and getting that to rank before I made it the focus of the Homepage.

stodzy said:

3. I understand that by doing this (optimizing the site for a city other than where the GBP is located), we can't expect the GBP to RANK for searches containing this main/larger city but only the website in the Organic Results section, correct?

Ps.: Not least because, in very small towns, the GBP usually ranks 1st naturally, as there are few competitors...

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If the GBP + website rank in the small town well now and has so for a while, then you can expect it to continue to do so even if you optimize some pages on the site for a different city (even the homepage). If it doesn't, you can always change the GBP landing page to the city page that ranks best for the city you are physically located in and that should fix the issue. Though since you said you are the only Addiction treatment Center in Roundtop you should be ok!

@stodzy hope this helps

ElizabethRule said:

I don't think you should ever "ignore" the city you are located in - or the cities surrounding it - but as for what location to choose for your homepage I recommend going with the area you currently get the most customers in OR have a realistic expectation of getting more customers in (brand recognition goes a long way...).

For an industry like Addiction Treatment where I assume people are willing to travel for a quality facility its very possible to get quality content to rank in and around Austin - same with Marietta - so I think targeting these cities on your Homepages could work out. You can also hedge your bets by creating and optimizing pages for all the major cities between Roundtop + Austin - a group of well done city page can produce leads comparable to that of a well done homepage.



Really depends on your client's goals and their brand presence in Marietta vs Atlanta. If they are servicing people most in/from Marietta and surrounding suburbs vs people IN Atlanta, I would likely go with Marietta. That is unless you have tapped out this market and need to break into Atlanta - then I would try creating a city page for Atlanta and getting that to rank before I made it the focus of the Homepage.



If the GBP + website rank in the small town well now and has so for a while, then you can expect it to continue to do so even if you optimize some pages on the site for a different city (even the homepage). If it doesn't, you can always change the GBP landing page to the city page that ranks best for the city you are physically located in and that should fix the issue. Though since you said you are the only Addiction treatment Center in Roundtop you should be ok!

@stodzy hope this helps

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@ElizabethRule, thank you so much for your answer! I really appreciate you taking the time to provide such detailed insights. They are very valuable!

I always assumed that it was kind of a "rule" to use the same location as the GBP on the website's homepage since the ranking factors show that we should include mentions of the GBP location in the title and headings whenever possible.

According to your explanation, we may not use the same city as the GBP on the website in some cases, especially when the facility is in a very small town (and probably already dominating the region). I agree with your approach to this!

My final questions on this subject are:

1. In your opinion, would it be correct to say that by not using the GBP city on the website's homepage, we are "wasting" the weight of this ranking factor for the website's Local SEO? I say this because I suppose when Google's algorithm compares the GBP with the website it's linked to, it will see that the location the site is being optimized is different from the actual location of the GBP, and it can be difficult for the site (homepage) to rank for this larger/different city.
   
   
2. Do you agree that the distance factor should be considered when selecting a larger city for the website instead of using the GBP location? In the case I mentioned of Marietta vs. Atlanta, the distance between the cities is only 20 miles, but in the case of Roundtop, TX vs. Austin, TX, the distance between them is 70 miles. Given the distance, I understand that this makes it even more difficult for the site to rank for Austin, TX. The only way I see to improve this is to have an office in the city of Austin, TX. Does this make sense?

Thanks in advance for your help!

stodzy said:

In your opinion, would it be correct to say that by not using the GBP city on the website's homepage, we are "wasting" the weight of this ranking factor for the website's Local SEO? I say this because I suppose when Google's algorithm compares the GBP with the website it's linked to, it will see that the location the site is being optimized is different from the actual location of the GBP, and it can be difficult for the site (homepage) to rank for this larger/different city.

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I would not say you are wasting anything by targeting your homepage for a major city you are not physically located in. Especially since you are in a small town, you should be able to easily rank a location page organically in that town and you will be dominating in maps and organic search that way.

You can rank a homepage in a major city without having a physical location in that city, websites do it all the time. And if the search volume/opportunity is greater in a certain city that I want to do more work in, I would want the main page on my site to show up in that city as much as possible. I would recommend having a nice location page for the town you're actually located in and link to that page from the homepage to help Google and users understand you are located outside the city, but serve the city as part of your service area.

stodzy said:

1. Do you agree that the distance factor should be considered when selecting a larger city for the website instead of using the GBP location? In the case I mentioned of Marietta vs. Atlanta, the distance between the cities is only 20 miles, but in the case of Roundtop, TX vs. Austin, TX, the distance between them is 70 miles. Given the distance, I understand that this makes it even more difficult for the site to rank for Austin, TX. The only way I see to improve this is to have an office in the city of Austin, TX. Does this make sense?

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Given how competitive Austin is, I would likely recommend getting an office in Austin but I don't think it's 100% necessary to rank a website there organically. Based on a quick competitor analysis, all the top ranking local businesses do have addresses IN Austin - so based on that alone you might want to consider investing in an office there to improve your brand recognition and reach into the city. Optimizing for a location on your website will only get you so far in competitive markets So yes, to an extent I do think distance is a factor but I think it has more to do with brand recognition and authority in the area, no so much having GBP listing in the area.

@ElizabethRule thank you a lot for your comprehensive answer.

It helped me a lot to think better about the strategy for this client (and others in a similar situation).

By the way, the client, which is located in the remote Round Top, TX area, is providing a consultation office in Austin, TX. So this is a big win for us because we will be able to have a new GBP in this area and fully optimize the website for this bigger city.

Thanks again for all your help!

stodzy said:

@ElizabethRule thank you a lot for your comprehensive answer.

It helped me a lot to think better about the strategy for this client (and others in a similar situation).

By the way, the client, which is located in the remote Round Top, TX area, is providing a consultation office in Austin, TX. So this is a big win for us because we will be able to have a new GBP in this area and fully optimize the website for this bigger city.

Thanks again for all your help!

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I did a pest control directory this week. Pest Library is the one thing all the top rankers are using. Orkin is a good one to study. Cheers.

stodzy said:

@ElizabethRule thank you a lot for your comprehensive answer.

It helped me a lot to think better about the strategy for this client (and others in a similar situation).

By the way, the client, which is located in the remote Round Top, TX area, is providing a consultation office in Austin, TX. So this is a big win for us because we will be able to have a new GBP in this area and fully optimize the website for this bigger city.

Thanks again for all your help!

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Good luck and keep us updated on the progress/any questions you have along the way!

GoLocal said:

I did a pest control directory this week. Pest Library is the one thing all the top rankers are using. Orkin is a good one to study. Cheers.

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+1 for Pest Libraries!! they are great hubs for information and a great way to drive super relevant traffic from users clearly interested in pest control services

It finally slipped into the top ten today. Made it! City of 250K so nothing huge but a solid delivery. ♥