IP-Based Content on Homepage?

[newriver]

We're looking to redesign one of our niche business directory websites and we'd like to place local content on the homepage catered to the user based on IP. For instance, someone from Los Angeles would see local business recommendations in their area. Pretty much a majority of the page would be this kind of content. Is this considered cloaking or in any way a bad idea for SEO?

Here are some examples of what we're thinking:

http://www.yellowbook.com

http://www.yellowpages.com/

I've seen some sites redirect to a local version of the page, but I'm a little worried Google will index us with localized content and the homepage would not rank for any worthwhile keywords. What's the best way to handle this?

Thanks.

[Highland]

You could always try using subdomains to do your geolocation (i.e. chicago.yoursite.com). The pro would be better localized rankings and your main site would still be left unaffected. The downside is that this is a lot harder to manage and the subdomains wouldn't naturally build your core site. Sub pages/directories (i.e. yoursite.com/chicago) would let you keep the PR but might not rank well for localization.

I've not seen geolocation seen as black hat (even Google does geolocation in some cases) but the caution is that the bot may not see your local content if you do that.

My $0.02... Go with a subdirectory setup and a soft bounce (i.e. 302) from your main page to your geolocated page. Build a thorough site index AND site map so it all gets indexed properly.

[newriver]

Is a 302 redirect from the homepage to the localized content really the best option? I feel like that's going to just get the localized content indexed rather than the homepage.

If we were to put some localized (as in based on IP) content on the homepage would it affect our rankings for the generic/national terms?

[Highland]

Again, it depends on how bots see your page. If a bot is based in, say, San Francisco, are you going to feed it SF localized results?

Again, a thorough site map and site index (XML) should ensure that all content is spidered