State - Keywords - Location - State | Trying to clarify how to rank for state wide

[ColoradoChris]

Hi to all,

Thank you for all of your help and tips.

So with reading and getting pieces of tips here and there, I just wanted to clarify a few techniques.

Ok so with one of the examples of an Atlanta plumber, it was something like

Atlanta Plumbers | drains, clogs whatever Atlanta

So basically it was something to the affect of using your city at the beginning and again in the end.

So my biggest problem is what to do with my site since I cater to the entire state of Colorado?

My biggest competition is nation wide, so they basically use there brand and 3 keywords in the title.

But they have a like a 68 domain authority, 40,000 facebook likes, and a HUGE advertising budget.

But we are local, they are not, so we are trying to be ranked well for Colorado.

So here is where I am stuck:

My site is dealing with horse barn, metal buildings, garages, and indoor riding arenas.

If the domain authority is a key element, then I am stuck on how to title the homepage correctly?

Is it best to go with something like:

Colorado Barns | Metal Buildings, Arenas - Serving Colorado

Something like that? or is Google smart enough to know where people are located so I can focus on my keywords like:

Pole Barns, Metal Buildings, Garages - My Company Name

I am just lost on how to compete with a State level search. I have read posts about titles for a city level, but not sure how to format a state with the homepage?

If my homepage brings the main link juice, I am trying to format it correctly to be found state wide.

So truly, from my heart, any tips and advice are greatly appreciated.

I have a Google plus local page, I show up in the 7 pack, and I am working hard. But just confused on how to format my title and homepage to let search engines know - Hey this company services all of Colorado for these services.

Thank you so much

Chris

 

[ColoradoChris]

Or as another thought, do you focus on the company brand always on the homepage, then focus on location for service pages?

My thoughts were again that the homepage may carry the most link juice, so its good to add the state on that page?

Boy im lost

 

[JordanJCaron]

Chris,

I would honestly do some research and ask some current clients what they would search.

But I'll give my opinion. Let's say I am in Denver and looking for your product. I'd search for the city then your product. I wouldn't search for the state and then your product as I want a provider in Denver.

You could create pages targeting all the major cities in Colorado off of your main domain and use your main domain to target the state terms. This would help in adding some content to the site as well as interlinks.

You could then use your home page to target the state terms. This is the page you'd be doing most of your backlinking too so you'd want to target a larger market as links will help the rankings.

But with that said, don't sleep on creating city specific pages that target all of your products. I work with a guy who builds niche websites for contractors and we'll use the main page to target the largest city they service. Then we build out 10 pages to target other cities.