How to optimise a page for a regional search without it looking clumsy?

[benners]

What's is the best way to go about optimising a page for a regional search phrase. E.g. 'Physiotherapy CITY' and keep the text looking natural and not manipulated?

Previously I've added the search phrase 'Physiotherapy CITY' to TITLE and H1 but this can look clumsy when used in the H1 tag.

If I grade a page using MOZ on-page optimisation it will suggest I add the search phrase to the H1.

What the recommended way of doing regional on-page optimisation?

[David-Kley]

If the majority of your page and back end seo is optimized around the subject and the area, I doubt changing the header tag to look more natural would hurt your seo. I understand what you mean, as we have done local pages for the majority of our clients. It is difficult to make it not appear to be what it is: a page designed around ranking for a local area.

On a sidenote, this may not be such a bad thing. If people are looking for PLACE, in CITY, and the first thing they see when they hit the page is PLACE serving CITY, state...might be that they say "This is just what I was looking for"

As an seo, its hard for us to understand what a consumer expects to see when they get to a webpage since we are so involved in the process of making it. I dont think most consumers don't look into it that far, and simply see a page on a site that offers what they searched for. This could change based upon your target audience, and intelligence level.

The MOZ tools are just that, tools. They offer a way for people to see basic optimization tips for ways their site can be improved. Don't take everything they say to heart, since they are just a guideline. We have pages that are a perfect A+ super 100% in MOZ tools that dont rank on page one. For more advanced seo practices, you could potentially hurt your ranking by changing certain things, based upon what you said your target keywords were.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Benners,

Good question. The H1 tag is majorly important to customers and much less so to bots, so I would always recommend going with natural language over strictly optimized language. In other words, I would recommend:

Receive Compassionate Physiotherapy in Our Relaxing Boston Office

as opposed to

Physiotherapy Boston Is Our Specialty ... or something like that.

Sometimes, you can strike a balance between the two, though, along the lines of:

For Caring Physiotherapy, Boston Patients Have A Compassionate Option Here at GreenTree

I would advise taking this approach not just with onpage tags, but also with title tags, too, due to their prominence in the SERPs. My bias is definitely toward natural in everything:)

[benners]

Thanks MiriamEllis

I've had two quite different comments on this and I think the key bit is your point about bots not caring so much about H1 tag. How much don't they care? I thought H1 and TITLE still were of high importance. If my goal is to get best rank for a client and MOZ page optimiser gives me a better grade with an exact keyword H1, I'm feeling more inclined to go with it and as David-Kley says above...

"If people are looking for PLACE, in CITY, and the first thing they see when they hit the page is PLACE serving CITY, state...might be that they say "This is just what I was looking for""

Well this does make good sense. I search for something and the website instantly tells me I've found what I was looking for.

So I've actually decided to go with "Boston Physiotherapy" although I do think a more sales and customer focused H1 would look less manipulated. It's a difficult one.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Again,

For more opinions on header tags, you might like to check out:

http://moz.com/blog/some-opinions-on-the-seo-myths-realities-fight

http://moz.com/community/q/are-h1-tags-important-or-influential

http://moz.com/community/q/h1-tag-proper-uses

Hope these help!

[benners]

Thank you Miriam. Yes those posts did help and have set me straight on H1 tags.