How to rank for a location/country without having a physical address in that location/country

[KS__]

Ok. www.mywebsite.com/chicago is better or www.chicago.mywebsite.com? The only negative with the latter is that all pages (FAQ, How it works etc.) within the sub-domain website will have to be re-done with fresh new content while in the first option there's only one page for the location while other pages like FAQ etc stay the same for the root website as well location specific pages.

What say?

[ClaytonJ]

www.mywebsite.com/chicago is better.

A website we instructed down this path is www.cottonon.com - It is more complicated - but that is a retailer that rolls out new shops in each country. Hence Australia is www.cottonon.com/au etc. Go to their website and from a practical perspective watch it operation, this may help in clearing it all up for you.  Note the power CO is in the store finder - where you get to use google maps...

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

If you are trying to rank a certain location or country, you can look into hreflang attributes and language tags for your site.

You can also geo-target specific URL variations in Google Search Console. You can read more about International SEO here, as well as an International SEO Checklist.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi KS -

Got your note on my older post and so am popping by here. I have some questions.

1. Are we talking about other countries ... or maybe other counties? I want to be sure I'm understanding if the business is national or international.

2. Are you meeting face-to-face with customers in the various cities and countries? Can you describe this in as much detail as possible?

[KS__]

Awesome links Patrick. Thanks.

[KS__]

Thanks for all the help John.

[KS__]

Thanks Miriam.

Here are my answers:

1. Are we talking about other countries ... or maybe other counties? I want to be sure I'm understanding if the business is national or international.

Other countries, not counties.

2. Are you meeting face-to-face with customers in the various cities and countries? Can you describe this in as much detail as possible?

No personal contact. I have international numbers listed on the website, so they just give me a call (I use VOIP and Magic Jack) or fill up the form. The conversation begins there.

Hope that answers you.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi KS!

Thanks for the clarification on this. So, if you are not making in-person contact with your customers, whether here or abroad, then this means that the business is not a 'local' business in the eyes of Google. Face-to-face transactions are the prerequisite of this particular type of marketing. So, as you would not be able to go the local business route of building a Google+ Local page for each location in hopes of ranking in Google's local packs of results, then your two options would be:

1. Building organic content on the website that showcases your virtual services in each of your target cities and countries.

2. Participating in PPC that enables you to pay for placement in your target cities and countries.

I'm afraid international SEO is not my area - the links Patrick has shared will be your best bet for learning about this marketing discipline. Wishing you best of luck!

[KS__]

Will it be fine if I add my friends' residential addresses in multiple cities across Country A in Google Places and buy toll free numbers for each of these addresses/cities? So all locations will have different NAP.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi KS!

Unfortunately, that's not really a practice I would recommend to my clients at this point. There's been some indication in recent times that while Google is completely fine with a single-location home-based business, it's very easy for them these days to see that a string of houses is being used to indicate locations in more than one place. It's my gut feeling that they don't approve of this practice and that they would take action against Google+ Local listings created in this scenario. But, in any case, your lack of in-person contact with customers means that the business does not qualify for Google+ Local listings or local pack rankings, regardless of whether you have legitimate business offices or are using the addresses of your friends. So, this may be kind of a moot point. Virtual businesses need to compete organically and utilize PPC, social media, video marketing, etc. to earn visibility - but Local SEO is not the right marketing discipline for them.

Hope this helps!

[KS__]

Hi Miriam.

I agree with  your gut feeling. What is wrong is wrong and one should not play games falsify facts and present them as true.... not at least with Google. They are smarter than everybody of us out here.

I'll stick with the following tactic:

• Find a person or a partner in these countries who is ready to genuinely partner with me... or at least is willing to take calls, talk to leads and direct them to me. A local listing will be created for this/these guy/guys when we have genuine NAPs.

• Focus on organically promoting my website for these locations without local listings.

Thanks for your help everybody.

KS__