A geo hub is a dedicated section of your website to house geographical-specific information. Let’s say you have a practice in White Plains, NY, but you also have an office in the Bronx. In order for you to get first-page results in both areas, Google is going to want to see dedicated information for both of these geographic areas. As you can see below, a search for “car accident lawyer white plains ny” results in law firms and pages of content focused on that subject.
But, when you exchange “white plains” for “the Bronx,” you get completely different results.
This is because Google wants to provide the best results for each individual search. Google is not finding the best website…it’s finding the best web page. That means if you want to be found in multiple cities, you need to have dedicated pages to be found in each location.
What Is the Point of a Geo Hub?
When it comes to search engine marketing, you have four options for being found in the search engines. Google’s LSA ads show up at the very top. They also sell Pay Per Click (PPC) real estate that shows up just below the LSA spots.
Most data shows that ads are only clicked on around 5% of the time for all searches. However, that’s not really fair because most searches are for information and not products or services. For example, if you type in “what time does the Superbowl start,” you’re not likely going to click on an ad. But, if you search “what are the best shoes for plantar fasciitis?” you may click on an ad if it looks like it will answer your need. With that being said, nobody goes to Google because they have the best ads. Google gets over 80% of the search volume because people trust their organic results.
Organic results consist of the map listings, which are currently limited to the top three businesses, and the natural links on the page that Google has deemed to be the best sources of information for your exact search.
This is where your geo hub will come into play. Once you start ranking really well for your practice areas in your city, you’ll be limited on the number of new cases you have access to each month. But you can grow your lead exponentially by creating geo hubs for other cities. If you combine that with a quality virtual office, you’ll have the opportunity to show up twice on the first page of Google.
I did mention a “quality” virtual office. By that, I mean you can’t use a national brand like Regus or Da Vinci. Those have already been flagged by Google and won’t typically rank in the map pack. You want to be in an office space that doesn’t have any competing lawyers, so Google isn’t forced to choose between you and your competitor in the same office building.
Geo Hub Execution
Keep in mind that a geo hub that is going to rank well is not a page where you just swap out the name of the city. That will be looked at as duplicate content, which can do more harm than good for an SEO campaign. Each page on your website needs to be original and should refer to local results to give it a personal feel.
If you’re already ranking well in one market and want to expand your reach, a geo hub could be a great solution for you.
Contact Market My Market for Best-In-Class Geo Hub Content
Geo hubs are crucial for any business looking to rank well in its local market. At Markey My Market, our content and SEO experts can make this a reality for you by crafting top-notch copy and optimizing it so that it outranks the competition. For further questions or to learn more about your options, call us at (866) 691-5533 or complete our online contact form.
