Multi-Location Keyword Targeting - Looking for Thoughts / Advice

[chrish]

Hi,
I am just getting my hands dirty with a new project and have not worked on a lot of local SEO projects in the past few years. The client is a national brand that ranks well for synonymous keywords like "HR Outsourcing" and "PEO Services" which have local 3-packs even without City modifiers.

They have locations in multiple cities, and many of the cities have multiple locations.

For multi-location cities, they will have a "city" page as well as individual location pages.

I'm looking for thoughts on targeting multiple keywords per city - if at all possible without using the location pages. They don't want Location 1 saying "why does Location 2 rank for that keyword, we should"...

So:
- "HR Outsourcing Seattle"
- "PEO Services Seattle"
- "Keyword 3 Seattle"

In addition to "regular" Local SEO - citation building, NAP management, on-page optimization of location pages...

Would you target all 3 keywords on the "Seattle" page (which links to all their Seattle locations?). We will certainly optimize those pages & use the Ryte tool to do some TF-IDF analysis.

Other thoughts... build location specific content (will get repetitive real quick), build internal links from content that already ranks for the non geo-modified keywords (lots of cities, not as many pieces of content).

Or does just making the "city" and location pages contextually relevant do a good enough job these days to rank well for 3+ base keywords?

Looking for other thoughts/ideas on how to approach this. Thanks in advance!

 

[JoyHawkins]

The reason why location pages tend to rank better than city pages is because it is easier to get links to them. What do you plan listing as the website URL on Yelp and Facebook for each location? I'm assuming the location pages.

I would try and optimize them bother but just for different keywords if possible. If you have multiple locations in the same city, make sure you add the zip code as a target as well and optimize for "near me" queries and you won't have them overlap as much.

 

[chrish]

Thanks Joy! Yes, all the citation building will be pointing to the location pages. The zip codes helping makes sense. When you say "optimize for "near me" queries" -- this is something newer to me. Is there a good thread or post anyone could point me toward that would help me better understand what this means / how to do this properly?

Thanks again!

 

[JoyHawkins]

This article by the wonderful Phil Rozek is a great one.

I tried changing the title tag on one of our locksmith clients to show something along the lines of "Need a Locksmith Near You [zip code] | City" (not exactly like that but similar) and that one change alone helped him move up in ranking for near me terms.

It's actually a fairly easy win for most industries.

 

[chrish]

Thanks I'll take a look!