Over the years, I've spent more than 20,000 hours building and ranking websites, and one of the most crucial aspects of local SEO that I've mastered is the creation of geo pages. These are the city or suburb-specific pages designed to rank for local search terms, like "dentist Bondi" or "tree removal Bondi." If you want to dominate local search, understanding how to create effective geo pages is essential. In this article, I will share my insights on how to build these pages effectively, combining my experience with some of the best practices in the industry.
Why Geo Pages Are Essential
The first question I often get asked is, "Do I need to build geo pages?" The short answer is yes, but it depends on your target market. The key is to start with thorough keyword research. You need to identify whether people search for your services with location-specific terms. For instance, "injury lawyer Sydney" clearly has search demand, but "injury lawyer Bondi" might not. However, if you're targeting something like "security system installer Bondi" or "accountant Bondi," these terms often show strong local intent.
A simple Google search can also provide valuable insights if you need access to advanced tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs. Look at the top 20 search results for your target keyword. If you see competitors, especially well-established brands, ranking with geo pages, that's a clear sign you should also consider creating them.
The Evolution of Geo Pages
In the early days, I created geo pages by duplicating a template and swapping out the city or suburb name. This method was quick and effective at the time, especially for large-scale projects. However, as search engines have evolved, so has my approach. Today, each geo page I create is unique, with content tailored to the location and service.
When crafting these pages now, I consider factors like TFIDF (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency). This involves analyzing the top-ranking pages for a particular keyword and understanding how often that keyword and related terms appear. For example, if I'm building a page for "Dentist Bondi," I'll look at the top 20 websites and determine the average keyword density and related terms they use.
Using AI tools has made this process even more efficient. I can generate content that meets specific criteria for keyword usage, ensuring the page is optimized without being over-optimized. The goal is to create valuable content for the user and attractive to search engines.
Structuring Your Geo Pages
The structure of your geo pages plays a significant role in their success. I prefer a clean URL structure, such as yourwebsite.com/service/city-or-suburb
This format is intuitive and communicates the content hierarchy to users and search engines. For instance, if your website targets a national audience but also needs to capture local traffic, you would structure the URLs so that the "service" page targets the national or city level while the "city-or-suburb" page drills down to the specific location.
Creating and Deploying Content
Once you've established the structure, the next step is content creation. Each page needs a strong H1 title, H2 subheadings, an SEO-optimized title, and a meta description with relevant keywords. Initially, the most important thing is to get these pages published. Over time, you can refine and optimize them based on performance data.
One strategy I've found effective is avoiding deploying all your geo pages simultaneously, especially if you're targeting many locations. Instead, I recommend drip-feeding the pages. For example, if you're targeting 400 suburbs, start by publishing the top 100 representing most of your target market. This gradual approach helps avoid overwhelming search engines and gives you time to monitor the effectiveness of each page.
Linking and Indexing Your Pages
Internal linking is a critical component of any successful geo page strategy. It's important to link these pages from relevant service pages and blog posts to help with indexing and ranking. Additionally, ensure your site includes an HTML sitemap and an XML sitemap to ensure that all your pages are easily discoverable by search engines.
For large numbers of geo pages, I often cross-link between nearby suburbs. This helps with SEO and enhances the user experience by providing additional relevant content. When it comes to linking in the navigation or footer, keep it natural. If you're targeting only a few cities, linking them in the footer makes sense and appears natural to users. Consider creating a dedicated locations page in the main menu or linking through related service pages for a larger number of locations.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
One mistake I've seen many businesses make is launching too many geo pages at a time, especially if they're all very similar in content. This can lead to issues with duplicate content, which can hurt your rankings. While large brands with significant authority can sometimes get away with this, smaller or newer websites are more likely to face penalties. I emphasize creating unique, valuable content for each geo page.
Additionally, it's essential to ensure that these pages are not orphaned—meaning they aren't linked from anywhere on your site. This helps with SEO and ensures that users can easily find the information they need.
Conclusion: My Approach to Geo Pages
Creating effective geo pages is both an art and a science. It requires careful planning, strategic content creation, and ongoing optimization. Creating unique, valuable content and structuring your pages correctly can significantly improve your chances of ranking well in local searches.
