There have been many approaches to helping businesses rank in cities where they are not located. In many cases these tactics have be deemed as “black hat” or “gaming the system”. For an SEO campaign to be successful, it is so important to avoid all black hat techniques and all tactics that would be considered “gaming the system”.
Rand Fishkin, Moz co-founder and SEO authority, conducted a Whiteboard Friday on October 17, 2014 that addressed this topic. In the video Rand Fishkin highlighted 3 tactics for creating geo-targeted pages and their effectiveness. The purpose of this post is to expound on these tactics and provide additional incite.
Image from Moz Whiteboard Friday 10/17/2014
Find and Replace Geo-Targeted Pages
“Find and replace” landing pages have general content about the area you are targeting along with the other elements such as images and a Call To Action (CTA). This tactic takes the least amount of effort and has been successful for companies, such as Angies List, who started this tactic a long time ago. Companies who do this now are having a very difficult time ranking because it is very difficult to build authority for an area where you are not located using this method.
Scaled Out Geo Targeted Landing Pages
Building larger scaled out Geo-Targeted Landing Page takes a considerable amount of time and effort to be successful. It’s more than just writing content and making sure the name of the city you are wanting to target appears in the content a few times. Rand Fishkin suggests you have at least one person dedicated to managing this page, preferably a team. It’s best to have information about the city and what the locals of the city care about; such as upcoming local events and information about other local companies people know and care about.
Understanding Search Engine Optimization
No matter where you are or what you are wanting to rank for, it is important to understand a simple principal of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In order to rank for any term or keyword you must make your case why your site deserves to rank on page 1 above your competitors. This is done using content marketing and other onsite SEO tactics.
The Notch Process
Building your website and page authority using content marketing is key for any SEO campaign. This is why Notch developed the Notch Process. The Notch Process takes your company through a series of steps starting with Brand Strategy. Brand Strategy will insure your marketing campaign has a solid foundation.
Once a brand strategy has been developed we incorporate the other pieces; Web Design, Content Marketing and Marketing Automation. The Notch Process was designed for small businesses and will insure your marketing campaign is successful. Find out more about the Notch process and how it will bring your business the highest return on investment.