2 replies to this topic

[nanosm]

There is an existing site for auto repair shop. It needs to be optimized for the local towns, counties.
Let's say
auto repair warren township nj
auto repair springfield nj
auto repair morris county nj
... and few others. (up to 10)
Would the following do it?
Treat every line as a keyword and then on the main page put something like..
'We are auto repair shop located in springfield nj serving ..(then comes the list of towns..)

Will appreciate any tip as I am new to the game

[bobmeetin]

This is where you need to to come grips with natural page flow and writing content that works for both the human visitor as well as the machine. You will need to be enough vs just plain silly. Commonly in the page footer you might have the business address. You may be able to work in some neighboring cites by saying something like also serving yadda, yadda, yadda.

Repeating auto repair with a bunch of cites sounds a bit much.

You might also set up a testimonials page where folks from some of these other cites are quoted.

Your other best friend is Google Local, Yahoo Local, etc. Be sure to get the business set up with these free services as well. Also read some of the posts regarding optimizing for a local brick/mortar business.

[copywriter]

Welcome Nanosm!

Let's evaluate your situation as working with local keyphrases can be a bit different.

You mentioned that the terms you were optimizing for included:

auto repair warren township nj
auto repair springfield nj
auto repair morris county nj

#1 - Is this the way the phrases appeared in your keyword research results? Identically as listed above... [auto repair warren township nj] and [auto repair springfied nj] etc? Or...

#2 - Is [auto repair] the term you're optimizing for and you've just tacked on the cities to the end of the term?

I ask because you handle it two different ways.

If #1 is the case, you will do better to use the keyphrases exactly as they appeared in your keyword research results. That means working in [auto repair springfield, nj] and the other terms individually most of the time. You can also use the words within the phrase individually a time or two. This can be complicated to do and still maintain a natural flow unless you get creative with your keyword use.

For example, break the term up. Just as an example, "something, something, something when you need auto repair. Springfield, NJ is a convenient location. Drop your car off before work.............." Punctuation (actual punctuation, not general symbols) has no affect on the term. Search engines read right through it as if it weren't there.

If #2 is the case, you've got a lot more freedom. You can use [auto repair] completely separately from the cities/counties. This way you could do one section of the page that lists your locations (springfield, warren township, etc.) and maybe a second one at the bottom of the page with contact info for each location.

Hope that helps!