Using differing calls to action based on IP address

[SEM-Freak]

Hi,

We have an issue with a particular channel on a lead generation site where we have  sales staff requiring different quality of leads in different parts of the country. In saturated markets they require a stricter lead qualification process than those in more challenging markets.

To combat the problem I am toying with the idea of severing very slightly different content based on IP address. The main change in content would be in terms of calls to action and lead qualification processes.

We would plan to have a "standard" version of the site for when IP location can not be detected. URLs on this version would be the rel="canonical" for the location specific pages.

Is there a way to do this without creating duplicate content, cloaking or other such issues on the site?

Any advice, theories or case studies would be greatly appreciated.

[Highland]

I would create your content with distinct URLs and canonical to the generic if you feel it is too duplicate.

Example, make the following URLs and use a redirect with your geolocation

domain.com/houston
domain.com/los-angeles
domain.com/midwest
domain.com

If I were you, I would make all of these distinct pages with unique content rather than making them canonical. This way you can optimize lots of local searches in addition to the general ones. Canonical is more for people who already have duplicate content. It sounds like you want to make new content. Played right, you could go after lots of local traffic that might be untapped.

[SEM-Freak]

Hi Highland,

Thanks for responding. The offering is the same in each location it's just the way we process the leads differs. For example, in Los Angeles / London we get lots of leads - almost too many for the regional sales staff to handle so they try to pre-qualify the leads. In the mid-west / Scotland the sales staff have to nurture the leads so are happy with a phone number.

For another stream on the site we are targeting local segments but this particular element has a national approach.

Thanks for your input.

[SEO-Doctor]

Why don't you just block the other pages, so you only have your standard canonical page being indexed?  You can then cloak the content by IP, but remember Googlebot always crawls from the US so make sure it is seeing the standard version.

[SEM-Freak]

Hi Gareth,

Thanks for the Googlebot info. Still concerned with cloaking content but will look into it in more detail.

Thanks again