Site Structure When Optimizing For [state] + [keyword] Phrases?, What would your approach be? Options

[SERPico]

I'm in doubt how to approach this, i'm working on a site that i would like to optimize for [State] + [keyword] phrases, e.g. New York Chinese Restaurant - Miami Chinese Restaurant and so on.

My initial thought is to create individual pages for each [State] + [keyword] phrase, to include informational content that would apply to that state and it's chinese restaurants.

And have all those pages residing in the root directory and having a section on each of those pages with links to each individual page.

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Or i could create a individual folder for each individual page, e.g. - mydomain.com/new-york/new-york-chinese-restaurant/



What would you do in this situation and why?
What would you not do and why?

Thanks in advance for sharing your insights and previous experiences when optimzing for geo locations + keyword phrases! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[SERPico]

For anyone that would encounter a similar situation, here is an article on site structure that gave me some good insight how to approach this.

[Randy]

What would you do in this situation and why?

I'd pursue whichever would be the easiest to manage. I'd be willing to bet the easiest to manage would be to have the info in a database, then access from single, dynamic pages where a variable contained the location data.

Why is because it won't make any difference one way or another where SEO is concerned.

[SERPico]

Hey Randy, the site i'm working on is going to be static, i know what you mean and i can see that something like that would be easier to manage.
Unfortunately, it's going to be a little more technical that way, a little too technical for me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'm opting for the folder route, because then if i understand correctly, you're showing Google the page in question has a stronger importance should it be placed in the root directory together with other pages.
It's also a great way for me to keep everything in perspective, by creating a special section for each area/state.

[Randy]

In the root direct vs in a subfolder question it doesn't really make any difference in the importance Google etal ascribe to a page. To them it's all basically the same thing, just a url address.

What does make a difference however is how you link between these pages. If you use your internal navigation to show the engines you consider certain pages to be important, they engines will pick up on your idea of which pages are the most important.

[SERPico]

I see, thanks man! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[SERPico]

I'm in doubt what to choose, since i'm dealing with locations as part of the keyword phrase i want to rank for and to use the keyword combo "Chinese Restaurants" as an example, what would be a better approach?

I want to include links on the home page to individual pages, i'm thinking of doing it like this:


Miami Chinese Restaurants
New York Chinese Restaurant
Los Angeles Chinese Restaurants
Etc,

Would that be a good way to go? Considering there are so many repetitions on one page of the word Chinese Restaurants in the anchor link?

Or should i only use the state itself in the anchor link?

What would you guys think/do?

Thanks!

[Jill]

For location keywords phrases, you don't need to use the location in every instance of the keyword phrase. You're much better off to simply have the location be somewhere on the page in a natural way, plus in the Title tag. But other than that, it generally doesn't sound very good to be saying "new york chinese restaurant" every time you mention it.

[SERPico]

I agree, not in every instance, but to use as an anchor link from the home page pointing to a page created for New York Chinese Restaurants?

So that the specific page being linked to is described as a page that revolves around the subject of New York Chinese Restaurants?


I could also use New York as the anchor text from the home page pointing to the page on New York Chinese Restaurants.