How to Target Multiple Cities Without Hurting Your SEO

Can you imagine the hassle of finding an electrician if every Google search returned global SEO results?

How many pages of search results would you have to go through to find a beautician in your neighborhood?

On the other hand, think about how inefficient your digital marketing strategy would be if your local business had to compete with every competitor in the world for clicks.

Fortunately, Google has provided a solution for this problem through local SEO.

By allowing you to target only customers in your area, it’s a quick and easy way to get the word out about your business to the people who are most likely to patronize it.

But what if you have multiple locations in multiple cities?

Is it possible to rank for keywords that target multiple cities without hurting your local SEO?

But before you rush out to fine-tune your site for local searches, there’s a word of caution: Getting it wrong can hurt you. So it’s important to make sure you do it right.

It’s a bit more complex than plain old search engine optimization, but fear not – we’re here to guide you through the process.

Follow the instructions below and you’ll be ranking in searches for all your locations before you know it. Ready to get started?

Why Is Local SEO Important?

If local SEO can “hurt” you, why do it? Here are two good reasons:

Local SEO Attracts Foot Traffic

Imagine you’re out of town for a cousin’s wedding.

The night before the big day, you’re in your hotel room when you’re craving a cheese pizza.

You pick up your phone and Google…what?

No, you’re probably going to Google a location-specific keyword like [best pizza in Louisville].

When you get the results, you don’t say “good to know” and then go to sleep.

No. Instead, take the action that prompted the search in the first place. In other words, you pick up the phone and order the pizza.

Or you get up, take a taxi and have dinner in that spectacular pizzeria.

And you’re not the only one who does this.

In fact, every month, searchers visit 1.5 billion locations related to their searches.

And you’re also not the one in a million people doing a local search.

Almost 46% of Google searches have local intent.

So, the next time you’re thinking about skipping local SEO, think again.

In fact, it could be your ticket to getting that random holiday guy to visit your pizzeria. (Or a beauty salon. Or a hardware store – you get the point).

Local SEO Ranks You Higher On Google

We are all well-informed about the SEO KPIs you should be tracking to rank on Google.

With local SEO, hit these two birds with one stone. Note that this is based on the distance/relevance of the searcher’s location to the business.

City Pages: Good Or Bad For SEO?

Long ago, in the dark ages of SEO, city pages were used to enter local keywords to rank higher in Google.

For example, you would create a page and write content about flower delivery.

You would then copy your content to several different pages, each with a different city in the keyword.

So one page for [flower delivery in Louisville], [flower delivery in Newark] and [flower delivery in Shelbyville], each with the same content.

As is often the case, it didn’t take long for Google to notice this spam tactic.

When it released its Panda Update, it made sure to flag and penalize sites that did this.

Therefore, city pages can hurt your SEO and penalize your site.

How Do I Optimize My Business For Multiple Locations On Google?

1. Use Google Business Profile

Remember, Google’s mission is to organize and deliver the most relevant and reliable information available to online searchers.

Their goal is to give people exactly what they are looking for.

This means that if they can verify your business, you will have a better chance of ranking in the SERPs.

When you sign up for your Google Business Profile, you’re confirming to Google exactly what you offer and where you’re located.

In turn, Google will trust you to share your content with search engines.

The good news is that Google Business Profile is free and easy to use.

Simply create an account, claim your business and fill in as much information as possible about it.

Customer photos and reviews (in addition to responding to reviews) can also help you optimize your Google Business Profile account.

2. Get Into Google’s Local Map Pack

Have you ever done a local search and received three top suggestions from Google?

Screenshot of search for [plumbing near florida], Google, November 2022

Yes, these companies are very lucky.

Searchers are likely to pick one and look no further for their plumbing needs. Bad luck, everyone else.

Of course, this makes it extremely valuable to be one of the three listed in the local map pack. And with the right techniques, you can be.

Here are three things you can do to increase your chances of landing one of the three coveted slots:

Sign up for your Google Business Profile

As discussed in the previous point, Google prioritizes sites it has verified.

Provide Google with all of your information, including your business name, address, phone number, and hours of operation.

Photos and other media also work splendidly. And remember, everyone likes pictures.

The better your reviews, the more likely you are to be featured in the Google Local Maps Pack.

3. Build Your Internal Linking Structure

Did you know that tweaking your internal linking structure will help boost your SEO?

Of course, external links pointing to your site are great.

But you don’t control them. And getting them takes some work. If you still can’t get them, the internal links will help:

All of this will help you rank higher on Google and increase your chances of being discovered by someone doing a local search.

4. Build Your NAP Citations

NAP stands for Name, Address and Phone Number.

It generally represents your company’s information online.

The first place you want your NAP is on your website.

A good rule of thumb is to put this information at the bottom of the home page, which is where visitors expect to find it.

Screenshot from allweekplumbing.com, November 2022

It’s also great to list your business information on online data aggregators.

These aggregators provide data to major sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Microsoft Bing.

Here are some of the big ones you shouldn’t miss.

Listing your website on all the major aggregators seems tedious, but it’s worth it if you want to get a feature like this.

Screenshot from Trip Advisor, November 2022

Important Note: Make sure your NAPs are consistent across the web.

A mistake can seriously affect your chances of appearing in Google’s local map pack or on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor.

5. Use Schema Markup

Sometimes called structured data or simply schema, schema markup on your website can significantly impact local SEO results.

But if you’re not a developer, it can seem intimidating.

Don’t worry – it’s not as difficult to use as you might think.

A collaboration between Google, Yahoo, Yandex and Microsoft, Schema.org was established in 2011 to establish a common vocabulary among search engines.

Although it can be used to improve the appearance of the search result, help you appear for relevant queries and increase the time visitors spend on a page, Google has been very clear that it does not affect search rankings .

So why are we talking about it here? Because it improves the chances of your content being used for rich results, making you more attractive and improving click-through rates.

In addition, the schema offers several different property options relevant to local SEO, allowing you to select relevant schema categories.

By selecting Schema.org/bakery for your cupcake shop, you’re helping search engines better understand your website’s theme.

After you have selected the appropriate category, you must select the sub-properties to ensure validation. This includes the company name, hours, service area, etc.

The Schema.org/areaServed on the local landing page should always match the service areas configured in a Google Business Profile, AND your local landing page should mention those same cities in the page content .

For a complete list of required and recommended schema properties and information about validating your structured data, read this article. Using a plugin, you can also find out more about schema markup for WordPress.

6. Optimize Your Site For Mobile

If you wake up in the middle of the night and see that your bathroom is flooded with water from an exploded faucet, you do:

If it’s 3 in the morning, you’ll probably choose #2.

People don’t just choose their smartphones over their computers at 3 a.m.

Almost 59% of all website traffic comes from a mobile device.

Screenshot from Statista, November 2022

As usual, Google noticed and moved to mobile indexing.

All of this means that your site needs to be optimized for mobile if you want to rank well in Google, especially for local SEO.

Here are six tips to make your website mobile-friendly:

Bonus Tip: Make Your Most Important City Pages Unique

If you want to name all the cities in a region you serve, just list them on the page; you don’t need an individual page for each city to rank in most cases.

To make the pages different, write original content for each area or city.

You can simply list all the cities you serve on one page.

Or you can go ahead and create individual pages for each city.

When doing this step, make sure that the content of each page is unique.

And no, I don’t mean simply changing the word “hand-to-hand” to “arm-to-arm”.

You need to do some additional research on your target location and then go ahead and write specific and useful information for readers in the area.

Here is an excellent example from 7th State Builders.

Adding information about a city or town is also a good way to gain the trust of your customer.

A OnePoll survey conducted on behalf of CG Roxane found that 67% of people trust local businesses – by identifying your understanding of a locality’s situations and issues, you’re conveying that you’re local, even if you have multiple locations across the country. country

They will see how much you know their area and will trust you to solve problems specific to their area.

Important note: Make sure this information goes to all variations of your website.

With Google’s mobile-first index running, you don’t want to fall in the rankings just because you failed to optimize for mobile.

5 Tools To Scale Your Local SEO

What if you have 100 locations? How do you manage their listings?

Here are some tools to help you scale your local SEO efforts.

Ready To Target Local SEO?

Hopefully, I’ve already made it abundantly clear: local SEO is important. And just because you use multiple locations in different cities doesn’t mean you can’t make it work for you.

How you do it is up to you. Want to create a landing page for each location? Or do you want to list all your locations on the same page?

Whatever you choose, consider the power of local SEO to attract customers to your neighborhood.

Just make sure you do it right. If, after reading this article, you’re still not sure what steps to take, just imagine yourself as a customer.

What kind of information would you be looking for?

What would suit you that your business is perfect for their needs?

Chances are good that location is one of the driving factors, and the best way to take advantage of that is with local SEO.

Featured image: New Africa/Shutterstock

How do I target multiple cities without hurting my SEO?

tips for optimizing multi-location SEO for the different locations of your business.

• Create a web page for each location (with a unique URL!) …
• Optimize for location-specific keywords. …
• Avoid duplicate content. …
• Try to get local backlinks. …
• Create and optimize Google Business Profiles for each location.

What is the most effective SEO tactic? Digital PR is one of the best SEO tactics to get high authority website links at scale. Common digital PR strategies include: Writing press releases. Data-driven content creation (journalists love data)

How do I rank in multiple cities with one website?

Make your top city pages unique If you want to list all the cities in a region, just list them on the page – you don’t need an individual page for each city to rank in most cases. As for making the pages different, write original content for each area or city. In other words, it depends on you.

How do I rank in multiple cities with one website?

Make your top city pages unique If you want to list all the cities in a region, just list them on the page – you don’t need an individual page for each city to rank in most cases. As for making the pages different, write original content for each area or city. In other words, it depends on you.

How do I list a city state and zip code?

When writing an address all on one line or in a sentence, use a comma before the following: the apartment or suite number, the city, and the state. It is not necessary to use a comma before the postal code. Its address is 3425 Stone Street, Apt. 2A, Jacksonville, FL 39404.

Double space between state and zip code? Use the following guidelines: No punctuation. Type of 10 points at least. A space between city and state. Two spaces between the state and zip code.

Where do you put the comma in a city, state zip code?

In an address, put a comma after the street and between the city and the state: 1714 North Harvey Street, Griffith, IN 46300. Do not put a comma between the state and the zip code.

Where does the comma go in city state?

Unless a place name is at the end of a sentence and followed by a punctuation mark at the end of the sentence, whenever you list a city and a state or a city and a country, put commas around the state or of the country. The rule applies even when the name of the country or state is abbreviated.

How do you write town state and zip?

We use a comma to separate the first four elements (street, apartment, city and state). We do not put a comma between the state and the zip code. The address is 2717 Stark Street, Apt. 3B, Portland, Oregon 97202.

How do you write City State place?

Rule â Use a comma to separate the city from the state, and also put a comma after the state. Example: I lived in Denver, Colorado for 20 years.

Do you put zip code on same line as city and state?

It is preferable to have all city, state and zip code information on one line. If this is not possible, the zip code, including zip code 4, can be placed below the city/state information.

Does ZIP Code come after city?

After assigning the first number of a ZIP code based on the national area, the USPS assigns the next two numbers based on a city. The USPS often assigns the first ZIP code to the main city or town in a region.

Is it okay to put ZIP Code before city?

It helps to have the zip code up to date. this is what is used for most classification. However, since almost all mail is sorted by machine, which reads letters to decide where to send it, it’s not that important.

Where should you put the ZIP Code?

Place the city, state, and zip code in that order on the last line. This must be the last line. Never place a “help line”, telephone number or other entries after the zip code line. The “attention line” should be placed at the top.

How are ZIP codes arranged?

ZIP codes are numbered with the first digit representing a particular group of US states, the second and third digits together representing a region of that group (or perhaps a large city), and the fourth and fifth digits representing a group of delivery addresses within this region. .

How does location based targeting work?

Location-based marketing allows organizations to target consumers at a granular person level with online or offline messaging based on their physical location. With location data, marketing teams can reach consumers based on qualifiers such as proximity to a store, events happening in their region, and more.

What is an example of location targeting? Placement targeting allows you to select specific locations where you want your ad to appear. For most campaign types, you can choose the placements to show your ads. For example, you can choose entire countries, areas within a country such as cities or territories, and even a radius around a location.

How does location tracking affect marketing?

Location-based marketing: where it works Marketers build audiences based on real-world visits, rather than social media likes and follows, for their geo-targeted campaigns. Using this method, marketers ensure that they reach the right audience at the right time and deliver relevant messages.

How do location tracking apps work?

Mobile number location tracking apps use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to establish the precise location of a device. GPS is a navigation system made up of interconnected satellite networks.

What is the location tracking?

GPS tracking is location monitoring by using the Global Positioning System (GPS) to track the location of an entity or object remotely. The technology can indicate the target’s longitude, latitude, ground speed and heading direction.

Why is location important in advertising?

Using location data, marketing teams can reach consumers based on selected qualifiers, such as proximity to a store, events taking place in their region, and more. Location marketing has proven to be effective across customer lifecycles, from discovery and purchase to engagement and retention.

How will iOS 15 affect marketing?

Looking at the data above, we can see that those who say data privacy changes had a positive impact on their email marketing strategy are: 9% more likely to prioritize different KPIs to measure email marketing effectiveness. 7% more likely to leverage non-email channels for marketing.

Why is location-based marketing good?

Location-based marketing is an extremely effective tool for spreading the word about your business. It has been most successful in increasing store traffic and increasing brand awareness. It is also a relatively cost-effective form of advertising compared to other methods of advertising.

Why is it important to integrate location-based into mobile marketing strategy?

Location-based marketing technology not only helps marketers win business, but also improves their relationships with customers. Marketers who incorporate location-based advertising into their marketing strategy better understand customer needs, enabling them to meet those needs and increase customer engagement.

What is location-based marketing?

Location-based marketing (LMS) is a direct marketing strategy that uses the location of a mobile device to alert the device owner to an offer from a nearby business. Location-based alerts are typically sent to smartphones via SMS text messages.