SEO’s should know better, yet many undertake frowned upon Local SEO techniques in order to gain clients. Two such techniques are using boilerplate’s and attacking terms that clients may use; such as Architect Midhurst.
Boilerplate’s to Attack Towns & Cities via SEO
I am really surprised that this is still happening. What a boilerplate is, is to create a webpage of content to attack a town or city. Then use the same content on another page in order to attack another town or city by just exchanging the name of the town or city with the one you want to rank for. Not sure if that reads well or not; but I am sure you get my drift.
When I actively sourced local SEO clients, I needed to rank for terms like SEO Portsmouth. However, I also added pages to attack SEO terms for Southampton and Hampshire as well. BUT, I didn’t use a boilerplate. Each page had unique content on it.
When I recently looked at the search engine results pages (serps) for SEO Portsmouth and a few other local places; I could not believe the number of so called SEO Companies who are using boilerplate’s instead of unique content to attack the terms. I also could not believe that Google hadn’t penalised them.
One day I will name and shame; however among the list is a friends website and I feel I need a quiet word in his shell like first.
Attacking Client Based Terms such as Architect Midhurst
If I want a client in a certain industry and town, I might and to be honest have previously done so; attack the search term I know they would like to rank for. This shows them that I just might be the one to help them rank for that term.
This is a little unethical; hence me placing it at the top under a frowned upon technique. I must admit; I am starting to think I might do this again in the future but only as long as I can guarantee not out ranking any potential client once I have them.
Now I am not seeking any Midhurst based clients who are architects; however if I was, then I would set up a page with a title tag and meta description that included the term Architect Midhurst. I would then write bespoke content for that page and not use boilerplate’s.
Within the page there would be a few synonyms or a couple of instances where I might use the plural of the term; such as architects… wait this is not an SEO lesson and I am sure you get my drift.