How best to optimise a website for more than one location?

[Bristolweb]

I have a client who is a acupuncturist and operates clinics both in Chester and  Knutsford  in Cheshire the site performs well for  Chester based terms such as "Chester acupuncture"  this is the primary location the client wishes to focus efforts on but would also like to improve rankings for the Knutsford  clinic and area.

I have setup local places pages for each clinic  and registered each on different local directories.

Both clinic addresses are placed on each page of the website and have a map to each on the contact page.

Most of the on-page SEO elements such as page titles, descriptions and on-page keywords mainly focus on the term "Chester" over "Knutsford"  is it advisable to target both  locations in these page elements or will local search have an effect on this and will reduce/ dilute overall rankings for Chester clinic?

I haven't setup and separate page for each clinic location as this might help in terms of SEO for improving ranking for both locations but from a user point of view it would just duplicate the same content but for a different location and also would create duplicate content issues.

Any advice/ experience on this matter  would be greatly appreciated.

[Matt-Williamson]

I have worked on a site that targets two locations - for the terms that I have targeted in those locations they both rank number one. How I went about this was as follows: I setup a page on the website for both locations, optimizing all the relevant on page factors titles, headers, keywords in text etc. In your case you could focus on the clinics, how long they have been going and include testimonials from customers of each making sure that reference is given to the specific location. I also setup the URL structure to include the location targeted keyword for each page e.g Chester-acupuncture.html and Knutsford-acupuncture.html and I included the links to the pages in menu structure of the site. I then went about link building for each page getting both listings for their location. I also built group pages for each on Facebook and pointed them to the individual website pages. I went about pushing the social media exposure gaining members through offers and information building a rapport with users, this gained likes for both webpages. I found that this strategy lead to decent local rankings and traffic from the targeted place keywords. Obviously this is a brief summary of the strategy that worked for me, it took time and effort with analysis of my competition, but I gained the results I was after and I think you are looking for.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Bristolweb,
Thanks for coming to Q&A with your question. The best way to think of clients like these is not that you are going to be duplicating or diluting your initial efforts for their first location, but that you are going to create new efforts for their second location.

1. Yes, create a unique city landing page for each of the two locations. But, no, do not duplicate any of the content on these two pages. You must write totally unique content for the two pages.

2. Then, brainstorm creatively with the owner to discover other things that make the two businesses unique. Perhaps, one week, the acupuncturist in location A is holding a seminar at his office, while the next week, the acupuncturist at location B is offering a new patient special. Start a blog on the site to begin highlighting the unique things that are happening at the two locations.

3. You are fine optimizing the website footer and main contact page for two addresses. Also, titles and meta on the main pages (like home and about) can be optimized for the two locations without much worry. But the idea here is to start building out new pages or posts that individually highlight the 2 locations.

4. Just remember, never duplicate anything. Always write fresh content.

Other than this, you are on the right track setting up the Google Place Pages and directory listings for the two different offices. If this effort can branch out into citation and review building as well, your client should see results.

Good luck!
Miriam