Best structure for Service -> Multilocation site in 2024?

[GoLocal]

Client who offers 5 different services is targeting 200 towns/cities across 9 provinces, some tiny with no competition, some large with tough competition — with limited targeting down to neighborhood level in the largest 4-5 cities. What structure would you use for this website given the current landscape? Grateful for any knowledge share.

Services are 100% digital, and online, there is no physical presence in each location. Company has one main GBP for Calgary headquarters only. Goal is to rank the location pages. Thank you.

 

[ElizabethRule]

If you have not already, I would create comprehensive service area pages for their most populated cities/towns first - utilize any conversion data they have (including Ads data) to decide which are the most important cities to create first. Utilize internal linking from state/providence pages, other city pages, service pages etc to help users and Google find these pages (they do not all need to be in the main navigation).

I would write unique content for all services on the service area pages, and monitor rankings for each service using grid tracking tools to understand how well they all rank organically across the city/town they are targeting. YEe, you can use grid tracking or organic search!! Cost can be a factor here, so I would run these reports ad hoc and do some manual searches using a geo-location changer to spot check rankings. GSC will be your best first here too as you monitor search traffic.

Don't sleep on the tiny cities/towns either, no competition can mean you rank well with less effort. In the end, you are going to have TONS of service area pages, but in most cases having a highly targeted local page is going to help you rank above the competition a lot of the time.

I've written about this before, as have others, so these should be good resources:

• How to Craft Unique and Helpful Location Pages - BrightLocal
• How to Rank Your Website for More Keywords with Service Pages
• How to Create Unique and Helpful Service Area Pages for Local Businesses - Sterling Sky Inc