8 replies to this topic

[Hex]

If you were working with a big client who has done quite well from natural traffic over the years by having one main site and on that site they have had a "service areas" page which links off to a page for each area with many different pages having very similar content how would you think would be the best way to continue to rank long term?

The site i have been looking at is still doing well from long tail traffic to all of these pages but I would like to clean it up and get the perfect long term setup.

I was thinking about using the canonical tag to point all of the service areas pages back to the main service area page which they all link off and then just building links to that one page. I figured that this would pass credit to the main page and allow us to rank that while never having to worry about the dupe content on the individual service area pages. Other than that I am pretty stumped in how to approach this kind of problem.

Link building is no problem we will be able to get links but how to structure the site to rank for 10 areas without having a page targeting each is a problem I have no idea how to get around, espeically when tehy are going well and getting traffic with their current setup.

Does anyone have any ideas that they can share as I think that this is a problem that will rear its head more and more often over the coming months?

[Jill]

Canonical is only the answer for technical issues. In this case why do they have similar content? Is it necessary to have all those pages? If not, then you should recommend that they consolidate them.

[Hex]

Thats the tricky part, I know thats what we are supposed to do but I wonder if they will still get the traffic (which converts) if I take the pages down and put up a single quality page. We always like to say not to track keywords on a daily bases but we do need to track ROi and if I kill off their pages that are getting traffic and put up a single page that doesnt get as much then its possibly hurt the business.

Its a tricky one.......

[Jill]

If those pages are getting direct, targeted organic search traffic, then why not just leave well enough alone?

[Hex]

I think I am going to but heres the thing, it looks like:


vets in london
best vets in london
vets in london open late
late vets in london
vets in london open at weekend
vets in london dog
vets in london insurance
vets in london sick cat

The content on all the above is just mashed stuff - what would you tell a client in this sort of situration

Thanks for replying so far!

[Jill]

I would tell them to create one page for all that and 301 redirect the others to it, no question about it.

[Hex]

Great, thanks, you have been a massive help here - if I were anywhere near Boston I would definitely hire you guys!

[harpsound]

You can still hire them guys.
Ya just won't get a big kiss, thas all.....

But it will be money well spent.
S

[Jill]

Them guys is just me, and I'm not really for hire