How to optimize website for several US locations we service?

[SCLTeamShip]

Hi,

Our business has a few brick-and-mortar business locations, but it is servicing multiple big cities in the US, where we do not have a location, but we do business in though our independent agents (and we cannot use their locations).
I have inherited the website, which has duplicate content for all the locations (cities and states), and I am worried about possible penalties. Every major city and state in the US has been targeted so far, but it seems pretty spammy to me- duplicate content, pages for all major US cities, pages for all states, etc. This is a B2C services website, and we can service anyone in the US.

Example of pages:

domain.com/services/service-from-x-city 
and domain.com/services/service-from-x-state

The goal is to rank locally for all the cities we are targeting. What on-page optimization should I work on besides unique content for each one? Should I consolidate some pages, and if yes, what do you recommend?
What overall strategies should I follow so I do not lose the traffic for the targeted cities? 
Off-page, I am working on building local citations for these cities.

Thank you.

[chris.kent]

On-site wise I would do the following:

move the city pages underneath the state pages. So the tennessee page would have links for Nashville, Memphis, Jackson, Etc.

Include local details. So instead of nationwide cleaning service having content that read "we service all areas of the following city:Memphis. We can get up all stains and discolorations" I would probably have something like "We service all homes between the mighty Mississippi river and highway 385. We can get out any stain from BBQ sauce to flood damage." That way the content is unique, and geographically relevant. From there I may link to nearby cities.

I would consolidate cities where there is not enough search volume to justify a stand alone site.

Offsite I would probably consider getting links from local news stations. Additionally, I would think about doing something like a city by city comparison on relevant factors. People love to represent their cities, and it would make great link bait for local bloggers. Hope this helps.

[SCLTeamShip]

Thank you, Chris

These are helpful suggestions. I am going to create unique content as you suggested- so this should help create unique content.  I will probably organize all of them under our main Locations page, where we also have an interactive map for our physical locations. Right now, these cities and states pages are buried within the site and not visible. 
Regarding the off-site links- I like your idea of getting links from local news stations. Any ideas of how I may be able to do that? I don't have anything newsworthy for those cities at this time.

[chris.kent]

To give you specific ideas I would have to know more about the business/industry you were working with.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Anaid,

Google's definition of a local business is one that has a physical location and unique local phone number within a given city. So, the goal of ranking locally for cities where you don't have these things is not one I would set. Rather, you should strive for true local rankings for the cities where you do have that real office and dedicated local phone number, and hope for organic rankings in those cities where you serve, rather than where you are.

You are right to be concerned about duplicate content. Chris has given some good suggestions. I would further suggest that you consider blogging. Get your service people in on the action to write up their projects in different service cities. Take photos and videos. Develop a body of unique content this way, rather than going with the thin/duplicate content approach.

The decision to target every major city in the USA may not really be ideal. I don't know what your business is, of course, but I would say that nearly any business taking this approach would be tempted to put up tons of duplicate content, because the effort of writing thousands of pages would be so intensive. Better to have 50 awesome pages rather than 900 poor ones. If you're a B2C company, perhaps some of those efforts to reach out can be Social rather than via creating landing pages, but landing pages can certainly be an important part of your effort, so long as they are great content.

Just remember, your local goals need to revolve around your brick-and-mortar businesses. Everything else needs to be viewed as an organic effort.

[SCLTeamShip]

Hi, Miriam

Thank you for the answer. We do serve the entire US.
I am working on re-creating the content on these pages (which is a total of about 30) to make it more unique. I don't see another solution at this time, since I don't have a team of bloggers at this time, just an external team who do the development and PPC.  The rest falls on my shoulders- including solving technical issues, optimization, link-building, social media, blogging, research for content/competition/trends in industry and online, reputation management, analytics, even graphics, new business projects, etc.- all while trying to educate the management and sell them on the changes that are beneficial for the company.

Due to the reasons mentioned above, what I am trying to do at this time is remove us from the danger zone, so I am going to change the content, as Chris said. The only other thing I can do is to re-direct some pages and then work on building links off-site, but this will take a while.

We are in the export (and a bit of import) business, any suggestions for this industry are greatly be appreciated.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Anaid,

Wow, that sounds like you have a ton on your plate with this project. I think you are taking the right steps in minimizing danger, but honestly, if you've got to write 30 awesome pages of content about the export/import business, you may need to insist on getting some help from a dedicated copywriter on that. With all the other work you are doing, time has to be found to research exciting topics to make these pages great, and if you're already maxed out in your time, you may need an extra pair of hands and eyes.

[SCLTeamShip]

Thanks, Miriam.

Yes, you are right. I have already asked for help and a budget, but things are moving slowly, even with getting images and video content and it is, of course, frustrating, since I want to improve the results sooner.

Basically, I am dealing with old-school people who still don't get online marketing and look at it as a necessary "evil" so my hands are tied. I am making progress at convincing them, although at a turtle-like pace.

Thank you again.