Ranking for neighborhoods vs big city

[ceeze]

My client is in a very competitive market, since we cannot rank for the large city name, I was thinking of trying to rank for 2 surrounding neighborhoods. He gets a handful of leads per month based on proximity, but I think he could get more calls/leads. I'm wondering the best way to tackle this. Do I take the Large competitive city page linked to his GBP and add 2 paragraphs to that page, 1 for Neighborhood A and 1 for Neighborhood B? Or, do I have a sub-page for each neighborhood, e.g., site.com/big-city/neighborhood?

 

[fisicx]

What evidence is he providing to Google that they operate in those areas?

If each page is a duplicate of the other with just location changes they will have little value. Add examples of work you have done in those locations and your case improves.

Consider alternatives to GBP for leads. SMM and sites like NextDoor can be a valuable source of potential clients. Referrals can get you lots of new business.

 

[willy_evans]

I've had a lot of success with niche location pages in the past. The key is to make the content unique and specific to that area. Like fisicx said, if you have specific examples of work in those areas or reviews from customers in those areas that would be ideal.

I'd still consider creating location pages or adding website content targeting those both the city and the neighborhood if you can. This will help with geo-tagged keywords which can be valuable even if they don't have high search volume.

I wouldn't change the page he's linking to on GBP.

 

[ceeze]

Got it. Thank you both for your replies.

I definitely don't want to have pages that are very similar to the other location pages (duplicate) with only minor differences. My inclination is to mention the neighborhoods within the major city pages and taking the advice of mentioning work we have done in those areas.

Could this work just as well as creating entire pages just for those neighborhoods?

- and yea, we wouldn't be creating new business profiles for those neighborhoods.

 

[willy_evans]

Got it. Thank you both for your replies.

I definitely don't want to have pages that are very similar to the other location pages (duplicate) with only minor differences. My inclination is to mention the neighborhoods within the major city pages and taking the advice of mentioning work we have done in those areas.

Could this work just as well as creating entire pages just for those neighborhoods?

- and yea, we wouldn't be creating new business profiles for those neighborhoods.

It would depend on the amount of competition you have for those neighborhoods. If a lot of other businesses have dedicated pages, you're less likely to be able to compete by just mentioning. Regardless, something is better than nothing.