{"id":2563,"date":"2019-08-20T13:41:39","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T11:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dazzlepop.net\/site\/?p=2563"},"modified":"2019-08-20T13:41:42","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T11:41:42","slug":"5-tips-to-improve-your-regional-seo-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dazzlepop.net\/site\/5-tips-to-improve-your-regional-seo-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips to improve your regional SEO strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For some businesses, ranking for a larger region may make more sense than optimizing for a hyperlocal approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is especially true for service area businesses that offer services in various areas and may not get in-office foot traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implementing a well-orchestrated regional SEO strategy can help extend your impression reach without breaking the bank for physical offices in every little city in an area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If done correctly, you can still rank in the SERP for the coveted \u201cnear me\u201d searches that have become commonplace for users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regional SEO vs. Local SEO<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is a key difference between local SEO and regional SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Brian Harnish<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLocal SEO is a strategic process that focuses on emphasizing the optimization efforts of local brick-and-mortar businesses.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Many non-brick-and-mortar businesses, also known as service area businesses, attempt to implement local SEO by setting up virtual offices to increase their visibility in the local SERP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Google\u2019s guidelines<\/a>, virtual offices are allowed as long as it\u2019s staffed during your normal business hours by your staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"gmb<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Do not consider this as a loophole to proceed with your own local SEO strategy for your service area business. Google is aware of many common virtual office providers and actively suspends GMB listings.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you can always reinstate your suspended listing, it\u2019s certainly a pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your listing may get suspended again in the future if a report is filed by a user or Google suspects that you\u2019re violating their guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an effort to reduce any decline in organic visibility and business from your SEO efforts, I recommend following these five tips to optimize your regional SEO strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Research Your Area<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We may think we know the areas we serve, but hard data can always prove us wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you start chucking away with the next steps, make sure you know which cities are generating the most organic search interest for your goods or services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conduct Local Keyword Research<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Conduct thorough keyword research by adding geo modifiers to your phrases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compare that with your geography report in Google Analytics<\/a> to see if there are any similar trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you have your list of cities, rank them from highest search interest to least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Group Your Cities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Next, we want to see which of these cities we can group together in single regions. Our goal is to reduce the number of regional pages we\u2019ll be creating in step three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if I\u2019m trying to rank for my SEO services in Dallas, I may also want to target the common business districts such as Addison, Plano, Frisco, and Irving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that Fort Worth is less than 40 miles from Dallas, which means it may make sense to combine the two areas, depending on how many regions you\u2019re targeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this stage, we may end up with a single DFW page that can target the majority of North Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Limit Doorway Pages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Google defines<\/a> doorway pages as \u201c\u2026 sites or pages created to rank highly for specific search queries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They go on to elaborate that doorway pages are essentially a set of duplicate or similar pages that all lead to the same destination and may harm the user experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating doorway pages often takes the form of duplicate local landing pages, which is a trend<\/a> that really needs to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unfortunate truth is that sometimes, they actually work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe there is a right way and a wrong way to approach doorway pages for regional SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, in a late 2017 Webmaster Hangout, Google\u2019s John Mueller even confirmed<\/a> that well-crafted doorway pages may be a fine strategy if implemented correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Create Better Regional Pages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Creating a well-oiled regional page is not too different than my guide to the perfect location page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several elements that should be included on both a location page and a regional page, but regional location pages require a bit extra to ensure they provide a meaningful user experience<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Include an Area-Specific Description<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The description should be 100% unique on your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can be what separates a well-crafted region page and a doorway page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some things to include in your business description to help improve the value of your region page include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n