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So because my entire site is a marketplace of personal trainers (and only personal trainers) I won't need to create another category

Correct.

URL structure is such an infinitesimally small ranking factor, it's not worth your time trying to change it at this point.

Well, I should have clicked through to the link...sorry.  Your page is fine as-is.  I had thought there were multiple categories of people/products on those pages.  IF/WHEN you add those at a future date, that's when you'll want to build out the /Houston/trainers page with trainers (and no redirect would be required).

I think in the era of mobile, the shorter your URLs are, the better. So I'd go with

rfpt.com/houston/trainers, which it sounds like would also be easier to implement from a development perspective.

Copy Yelp's implementation in terms of site architecture and getting around what Josh is referring to as 'doorway' content above.

That's correct.  Every unique clinic that can be reached at a direct-dial phone number should have its own page (or silo) on your website.  If they all have their own websites, the intermediate page is not necessary, assuming that you've thought about the SEO implications of splitting your link equity over multiple sites, rather than one singular, authoritative domain (which would be my recommendation).

My guess is you'll see an improvement in rankings moving to a subfolder structure but a possible decrease in the # of results you get on page one (if the subdomains were ranking there previously).

Not entirely sure that's an accurate response.  There are plenty of SABs who have not claimed a Google My Business Page and yet are still in the Maps index -- and ranking QUITE well.  Here is just one example.

I would try submitting a few locations to each aggregator and see which one has the primary feed in these categories.  My guess would be Infogroup or Acxiom in this particular case.

It's going to be a lot of manual work at this point unless/until Google allows for SABs to be included in bulk upload.  I'm not so sure I'd even try to tackle GMB yet, but instead focus on aggregator submissions and primary vertically-relevant directories like Thumbtack, AngiesList, Yelp, YP.  Those should honestly get you pretty far in terms of rankings (although obviously you won't get the benefit of being able to choose a featured photo, etc.).

Hey there,

Just wanted to clarify on this thread--
The only possible overlap will be on Factual.  We (Moz Local) will be locked out of updating Superpages, and you can simply choose not to authenticate Foursquare.

And as long as you are submitting the same info, Factual will only maintain one record for each location.If you DO find that there are duplicates created as part of this process, we'd definitely like to know ([email protected]) because it's not the behavior that should be happening...and in an absolute worst-case scenario, you'll be able to close duplicates directly from he dashboard using our newly-announced feature

If that content is unique and providing value to searchers, then that's exactly what's working well in the Hummingbird/Pigeon SERPs these days.  Many national directories with trusted brands are outranking individual small businesses.  Check Yelp, Avvo, TripAdvisor, Thumbtack, Angie's List, etc.

No, I'd strongly recommend a page (or set of pages) about the location that lives on your primary domain.  Non-physical locations can only rank organically, and you're much more likely to rank organically using the strength of a parent domain.

Hi Echo,

You're in a very competitive space, so I would say I'd focus more on getting quality unstructured citations.  One or two from colleges and universities or government organizations could indeed tip the balance in your case.  Have you thought about giving free rides from O'Hare and Midway to incoming guest speakers at various seminars / colloquia @ Univ of Chicago, Northwestern, etc, just as an example?

Taking a quick look (assuming this is you) -- I'd suggest trying a couple things first, though:

1. set your service radius much tighter (something like 30 miles)

2. get more reviews on TripAdvisor, WeddingWire, AngiesList, and Yelp.  These seem to be the most prominent review portals in your space.

Hope that's helpful.

My guess is you'll see an improvement in rankings moving to a subfolder structure but a possible decrease in the # of results you get on page one (if the subdomains were ranking there previously).

That's correct.  Every unique clinic that can be reached at a direct-dial phone number should have its own page (or silo) on your website.  If they all have their own websites, the intermediate page is not necessary, assuming that you've thought about the SEO implications of splitting your link equity over multiple sites, rather than one singular, authoritative domain (which would be my recommendation).

Hi Andrew and Christopher,

Thanks for contributing to this thread.  I've just returned from vacation to Miriam's email in my inbox.  We're definitely looking to bring more local reporting features to our customers over the next few months & appreciate you voicing this request, as it helps us prioritize features internally.

Thanks again for being a part of our community!

Cvissi,

Couple things:
#1 If this is one client with 250 locations, then it's a best practice to create a [email protected] email address and then use the Bulk Upload feature from within Google Places for Business.

#2 If it is actually 250 individual clients with 1 location each, you should create a unique account along the lines of [email protected] for each one of those locations.

You should never use an agency email address to claim client locations.

Does that make sense?

It's going to be a lot of manual work at this point unless/until Google allows for SABs to be included in bulk upload.  I'm not so sure I'd even try to tackle GMB yet, but instead focus on aggregator submissions and primary vertically-relevant directories like Thumbtack, AngiesList, Yelp, YP.  Those should honestly get you pretty far in terms of rankings (although obviously you won't get the benefit of being able to choose a featured photo, etc.).

Hi Elyk,

You are correct that Google is interpreting "asphalt company" as having Local Intent (e.g., it thinks you are exceedingly likely to hire a locally-based company to repave your driveway), and thus geo-locating that search to your IP address.

So you'll see different rankings than a searcher in Portland, Oregon (like myself) or Chicago or New York.

The rankings in Moz Analytics are currently pulled from "outer space" so we don't localize those queries.  I'll get Jon White, the product manager of Moz Analytics, to jump in on this thread and provide a little more color around our plans to add local rankings to M.A., however.

Best,
David

Ron, this is exactly how I'd set up the site:

"I believe we should create a mini web site starting at the location page that has specific content and navigation related to each location.  That the content should focus on the specifics of that area and what would serve that clientele the best. We should add to each branch location based on the key words and competition in that area. "

I'd surface blog articles tagged with each location in their corresponding sections here, but wouldn't worry so much about the structure of the blog per se.

No, I'd strongly recommend a page (or set of pages) about the location that lives on your primary domain.  Non-physical locations can only rank organically, and you're much more likely to rank organically using the strength of a parent domain.

Google is unlikely to show schema markup for reviews on category pages.  Yelp does not get these snippets on their category pages like this one and yet invariably gets them on individual business profile pages.