Is it advisable to have unique pages for different cities/states though there wouldnt be any actual differentiation in the actual content.

[DYo]

Is it advisable to have unique pages for different cities/states though there wouldnt be any actual differentiation in the content. For example should we have separate pages for "hammers in california" & "hammers in new york". The product is same and content more or less the same. The search volume for individual queries is low but  collectively makes a large number. The unique title tag automatically will generate traffic. So does it make sense to make 50 such pages. Else is there any way to uniquely target 50 such queries/month/city

[AndyMacLean]

No is the short answer. Having almost identical pages  with only minimal differences (for the purposes of SEO) is exactly the kind of spammy thing the recent Penguin & Panda updates are clamping down on. If you dont have stores in california, new york etc Google doesnt want to rank you for those terms.

PPC would be a better solution for those kinds of terms if they can get past the minimum search threshold.

Optimising product pages for types of hammers e.g. claw hammers is the way to go.

[DYo]

Thanks Andy. I tend to agree with you and hence the concern. But isnt it an easy opportunity which we are just letting go?

Having built some domain authority should we let go of such easy opportunities? Is there some organic way to target these?

PPC is always an option...

[AndyMacLean]

The Penguin update as described by Google is to hit 'over optimized' sites. Creating duplicate pages with minimal word changes for the purpose of SEO is exactly the kind of thing that Penguin is for - so no, its not an easy opportunity, its not an opportunity at all.

[jim_cetin]

A good approach in cases like these is to link the content via Tags to your City's.

So you will be able to link content to locations!

[DYo]

Thanks Andy. Agree completely!

[DYo]

Jim, can you please elaborate more.

[jim_cetin]

no worries.

As of some of the previous answer were suggesting that it depends on many other things too, for example:

• Are you selling those 'hammers' online or do you have shops in each city?

If Online only, then having a page for hammer/s and add tags for the city's. The question to ask then: what is the user experience and what content do I have for the city tags page?

Have a look at the below document from SEOmoz, if you haven't read it yet.

http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/how-usability-experience-and-content-affect-search-engine-rankings

If there are shops in each City, then you will have the information for those shops in the tag page for the City... Address, phone opening hours etc....

hope this helps you further.