Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Can I add multi location business cities to homepage meta title or desc.?
-
I have a business with 6 locations (in the same state) but very different cities. We we expanded from one location with the city name in the URL we followed best practices to move to the new domain without the singular city name in the URL. We definitly took a hit on the organic side and I'm trying to figure out best practice for where to add geo info.
Currently I have geo info:
-In footer
-Contact Page-On local page
It's a WP site and each location has it's own page (ie. locations/geolocation_keyword). I know all other locations will take sometime but my concern is the hit we took on the original location that had geo-target URL.
I guess really my question is simply can I include city names in homepage meta title and desc.?
and is there anything else I can do to bounce back organically on the original city faster? -
You're welcome, Beehive, and good luck with the work ahead.
-
That is exactly the scenario. Thanks for your response and time.
-
Hi Beehive,
Was the Google+ Local page for city #1 previously pointing to the homepage of the old website, but now pointing to a landing page on the new website for just that one city (among the other 5 new city landing pages)? If so, chances are your old homepage had more clout than the new local landing page, which could possibly explain the loss of organic rankings. After all, you used to have a whole website devoted to just this one city. Now you've got just one page on a larger site devoted to it. Chances are, you've got to build up the authority of these new landing pages, if the scenario I've described is accurate, in order to regain your organic authority.
-
I did 301 redirect and google webmaster tools site change tool.
I updated all the citations on yelp etc. to point to the now local page url (/locations/city_keyword)
I guess I figured I knew that this was the right answer and response but it's obviously difficult when you have a strong hold on many keywords and then you fall below the fold. Luckily most keywords do trigger at least 3 map results (after 3 organic listings) in which we are first.
However we did have the trifecta of 3 results above the fold (PPC, Organic, Maps) and now just showing for 2 of the 3 with the one missing being the biggest traffic driver.
I guess my follow up question is currently our organic listing is the serp page with just one mention (footer) of the original city. Should I expect that the local page prevail on serps eventually (ie /locations/city_keyword)?
-
Hi Beehive,
This is a good question. So, as I understand it, you originally had a city-specific domain name when you were a single location business. You now have six locations and have moved to a purely branded domain rather than a city-specific one and this site has a unique page for each of your locations (which is good - a best practice - provided the content is unique on each page).
I would not recommend putting all six city names in your homepage title tag or in the title tag of any other page. Once a business expands like yours has, you've got to come up with a different strategy than the one you were using for a single location.
Questions:
Did you 301 redirect the old domain to the new one?
Did you update all of your citations to reflect the new domain name? Realize this will take time to go into effect. This is very important.
Suggestions:
You might like to read this post about local landing pages: http://moz.com/blog/local-landing-pages-guide
Study the part about Business Model III in the above guide, if you've not already read it. It applies to your business model.
A multi-location local business that I think is doing a good job with their Local SEO is REI.com. Check out their location landing pages.
You must now start building the authority for each of the 5 new locations, with content development, citation building, review acquisition, social outreach, etc.
I hope some of these thoughts will be helpful to you.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
titles length, URL length and meta descriptions on a subdomain effecting SEO on main domain?
Hi all, I am currently evaluating areas for optimization on my main domain. When doing this, Moz has identified multiple titles and urls that should be shortened and missing meta descriptions on my subdomain (a help center of sorts). As far as I am aware, we have not set up any "no-index" rules for this subdomain. Are these items affecting SEO on my main domain? Thanks,
On-Page Optimization | Jan 6, 2022, 6:22 PM | annegretwidmer
Kasey0 -
Adding CTAs in Meta Descriptions
Whats peoples opinions about putting Call To Cations CTAs in Meta Descriptions, and does this ever occur a Google penalty, as it can sometimes look a bit clickbait. For example I am looking at a site which currently has this meta description Meta Description: For more information on our sustainable, natural office furniture, click here to get in contact. Is this kind of description ranking unfriendly, Ive seen them used a lot but IM not a big fan of this myself. Any thoughts?
On-Page Optimization | Apr 17, 2024, 6:11 PM | Donsimong1 -
Do You Add City Name & Key Word For Every Page?
Hello, I'm new to SEO but feel I have a decent grasp on it. However, I had a question pertaining to key words and using my city name in it. For instance, if I am using the key word "herniated disc treatment" do I need to put in my city name behind it or does google recognize that I am already in my city area because of my geo tagging and having it listed on the footer of my site? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! -Scott
On-Page Optimization | Dec 28, 2018, 6:39 PM | slgray0 -
How do you add meta data to dynamic pages?
We have 1000's of dynamic pages on the website and would like to know how to add meta data to these dynamically generated pages. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | Jul 6, 2018, 11:03 AM | REIT0 -
Q&A Page Titles
Hello All! I am currently updating page titles and metadata descriptions for a websites Q&A section and have run in to a problem while updating page titles. Since it is the Q&A section of the website, all of the page titles are around 100 characters and some are up to 200 characters long. Here is an example: Page Title: My child is working below grade level in math. Do I have to purchase the curriculum from the grade below as well? The problem is that this is obviously too long for a SERP to display however I know it is best practice to have matching titles on both the title tag and page title. My question is what hurts SEO value more: the title tag and title of the page not matching or having a very long title displayed on the SERP?
On-Page Optimization | Aug 23, 2016, 12:58 PM | Myles921 -
Does homepage SEO exist at all?
hi Just read a Yoast article explaining that the homepage should never be optimized for a specific keyword and should only be optimized for its business or brand name. i have a large site that I'd like to rank (or increase traffic for as I know people get irritated with that term now) for 'Campervan hire'. It has plenty of sub pages going after 'Campervan hire 'location'' for example. it makes sense to me for the homepage keyword - my core keyword - to be 'Campervan hire' and for the homepage to be optimised for this. However, the article I've just read (https://yoast.com/homepage-seo/) suggests a separate page for this keyword. What are your thoughts pls?? thanks
On-Page Optimization | Jan 15, 2016, 1:04 PM | CamperConnect142 -
Can "window.location" javascript on homepage affect seo?
Hi! I need to add a splashpage to my wordpress site. I use "window.location" javascript on the homepage to redirect on the splashpage (controlled by cookie to redirect only for the first access). Can this technique affect the SEO on homepage? Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | Jun 17, 2014, 8:04 PM | StudioCiteroni0 -
Are ampersands in title tags helpful or harmful?
Do ampersands in the title tag hurt your site's ranking?
On-Page Optimization | Jul 22, 2011, 3:25 PM | ydop1