Title Tag, URL Structure & H1 for Localization

[hopkinspat]

I am working with a local service company. They have one location but offer a number of different services to both residential and commercial verticals.

What I have been reading seems to suggest that I put the location in URLs, Title Tags & H1s.

Isn't it kind of spammy and possibly annoying user experience to see location on every page??

Portland ME Residential House Painting

Portland ME Commercial Painting

Portland Maine commercial sealcoating

Portland Maine residential sealcoating

etc, etc

This strikes me as an old school approach. Isn't google more adept at recognizing location so that I don't need to paste it In H1s all over the site?

Thanks in advance.

PAtrick

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Patrick,

Adam's most important tip is to use creativity to not make these page read in a robotic, repetitive fashion ... that applies to how you write all tags, as well as main body copy. (Good point, Adam!). Personally, I wouldn't worry about a number of times you repeat a keyword in the text. Trying to meet numeric quotas can kill creativity. Write as beautifully and helpfully as you can on every page you publish, and you'll probably find that you are naturally optimizing all tags and text without having to jump through any hoops to do so.

[AdamThompson]

Google is getting much better at recognizing location, but I would still work to include it on the page in a few places. That's what I've seen the best results doing. My recommendation:

• Include the location in the title tag.
• Include the location in the H1 or at the top of the page - this is for the user as much as for search engines, to reaffirm to the user that they are on the website of a local company.
• You don't have to use the exact keyword + location phrase - mix it up and be natural. For example, "We're a roofing company serving Portland and the surrounding area of Maine."
• Include the location (eg city name) and state at least 2x on the page.
• Use schema.org markup on your physical address in the footer, sidebar, or elsewhere on the page.
• Don't include the location in anchor texts in your navigation - that looks rather spammy.