Hi all. I work at a place that repairs computers. We have a web site with pages that lets people know we repair computers. We also have our local zip code listed on our web site. When people in my surrounding zip code area (maybe 10 surrounding zip codes) need a computer repair, they might do a Google search where they type in the key words: "computer repair" + their zip code. If their zip code is the same as the zip code we have listed on our web site for our business location, then we might come up in an organic search. But... What if they are in any one of 10 other nearby zip codes? When they list "computer repair" + any one of the other 10 nearby zip codes, I'd still like to come up in the Google organic search. So how do I do that? I realize that I could do 10 versions of all our web pages, each with one of the 10 nearby zip codes. But I found out that Google frowns on that, to where they might blacklist us. So we can't do that. So how do we do it? Is it as simple as saying (in fine print at the bottom of each page of our web site)- "Serving the following zip code areas: 17001, 17002, 17003...17010" ? That would get all 10 local zip codes listed on each of our web pages and we won't have all the duplicate web pages that Google does not like. Is that the way to do it, and still keep Google happy, and also have a chance of coming up in a Google organic search when any one of those 10 zip code areas is listed in a Google search? Thanks for any advice.
its best to focus on getting #1 for a specific keyword organically and if you want to target other zip codes use google adwords
Hi startwall: Thanks for the reply. I do plan on coming up with other key words. But I found out that people might type in "computer repair" + their local zip code. Their zip code is just a specialized key word. I might only be 5 miles away from their zip code location. So I would like to come up in the organic search for when they type "computer repair" + their zip code. On my web pages, I'm wondering if I can use: "Serving the following zip code areas: 17001, 17002, 17003...17010" ? That sure would get the 10 surrounding zip codes on my web pages. I'm trying to figure if there is anything wrong with doing it that way?
you could put that on your site but chances are you won't get any hits in google unless they are in the title of the page, having those words on the main page would rank so low on the google results it wouldn't make a difference, zip codes are so broad of a term that most other city information sites would rank higher
This is a good idea and many of LOCAL businesses do it. But the important thing is your TITLE and DESCRIPTION which would attract clicks. Here is the trick! Create a highly targeted title for your keyword (without the zip code as you will have many) BUT Don't include a DESCRIPTION meta tag. Why? because if your description tag is not present, search engines would pull data from your page (relevant to your search), which would also include ZIP code present on your page (anywhere). So for example, Make a paragraph with all the zip codes you want to target (clearly and un-ambiguously) at the bottom or at the top or where ever. Now if the searcher searches for "computer repair 17001". Search engines would get a description with "computer" "repair" and "17001" in that automatically. Just create a TITLE which is generic, example: "Local Computer Repair Services | Serving Tri State Area" or "Computer Repair Services for NY, PA and DE" etc Cheers
I have never tried this tactic above so I'm not saying it's wrong, and if it works as described, you would definitely have a good description that would attract clicks. I would propose a different approach. My advice would be to write a Title for the biggest metro area that serves your main zip codes, and then use directories, blogs and forums that allow keyword rich anchor text to build links that include the target zip codes. I think you should continue to write your titles as described above, and your descriptions in the best converting, keyword rich text as you would normally. This will allow you to still target those zip codes, but keep your META description in tact. Google uses "Snippets" of your content in their search results, so I think removing your description would just hurt your results because it will eliminate the good keyword rich description. Their "Snippets" should pick up on those ZIP's listed on the page anyway. I would be interested to see the other proposed tactic on a live site as I have never tried this before. (can you share a URL Jonathon? - thanks in advance)