The GeoCategory Page: What Is It and How Does It Work?

“Geo” is a prefix that literally means “earth.” In the web marketing and publishing industry, the prefix “geo” is often used in reference to regional targeting; or to have web presence in a geographical area. “Category” is the term we use to mean “topic.” For example, you may have a GeoCategory page titled, “Where to Buy an iPhone in San Diego, CA.” In this case, the category would be “Where to Buy an iPhone,” while the web page is simultaneously targeting the geographical area of “San Diego, CA .” Hence… GeoCategory.

Once logged into your website's Admin, you will see a navigation menu on the left sidebar listing the administrative sections. For now, we will be going over the GeoCategory Admin section (or Category Admin in the old version) - and how to publish these type of pages.

The screenshots will be showing the new and updated interface (skin) and nomenclature (administrative names and titles), so if your version doesn't yet have this, you should still be able to follow the concepts and functions of the GeoCategory page.

The GeoCategory Functions Only If Regions Are Generated

The question we frequently hear is, If I'm only writing one singular content piece for cities, how do the city pages get generated and reproduced? It's a great question! First, the cities and each of their corresponding states must be created (or generated) in the Region Admin section of your website. Second, when writing/composing your GeoCategory content, our proprietary ~region~ tag must be used in order to have the corresponding state or city text to display in the published, front-end version of the GeoCategory article ...See more about the ~region~ tag.

A Better Understanding of the GeoCategory Admin Section

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Creating a New GeoCategory Title

The new title/topic you create in the field below will also generate the URL (web address) for all GeoCategory pages for this topic. This is irreversable! So, be sure it is properly and deliberately thought through.

When creating a new URL, the important terms to include are the nouns, adjectives, and verbs/adverbs. You may exclude connective words (conjunctions) from the initial page name/title (e.g., if, as, for, and, but, also).

Once saved (“SAVE” button below), this title (as seen in the browser tab) can be changed/edited later on, although the url (or web address) of the created pages cannot. It may be necessary to edit the GeoCategory page name/title to a more readable title that’s more appropriate for matching keywords and terms with which you are optimizing your page(s).

Editing an Existing GeoCategory Page Title

In the field below, you can edit the title of your GeoCategory page. However, this will only effect the title of the page (as seen in the browser tab), and will not effect the URL (or web address) of the page.

Keep in mind that page titles are critical to the page’s optimization and presence in organic search engine results. So, when editing your page title, remember to do this with a deliberate purpose in mind.

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The Category Parent Page

The Category “parent” page (Old name is “Description”) is a singular, stand-alone page that will not be reproduced as geo-targeted region pages, unlike the state and city GeoCategory pages (found below). The purpose of this content piece is to provide a thorough description of the category topic (e.g., The iPhone, or any product/service you provide). This page is therefore not targeting any geographical areas or regions. Instead, it should be optimized for “topic-relevant” keywords.

The category parent page is one of three content pieces that make up a complete GeoCategory topic. This parent page is required in order for the GeoCategory state and city pages to function (meaning, the state and city pages will not display).

In the text editor below, you will write your parent page content. As with most text editors, you have the ability to include headings, text formatting, bullet-lists, hypertext links, images, videos, tables, and emoticons.

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The GeoCategory State Page

The GeoCategory state page has robust functionality, and is the second of three content pieces that make up a complete GeoCategory topic. The purpose of this page is to target geographical regions (states). Once published, this content piece will be automatically reproduced to multiple state pages that are all unique from one another.

How many state pages will there be? The amount of state pages published will depend on how many states have been generated in the Region Admin section. There are a total of 51, including Washington DC.

“Intro” Text Box: Why Are There Two Text Editors?

Although not yet functional in state pages, the purpose of having two text editor boxes (State Page Intro & State Page Static) for one content piece is for the ability to write “alternate intro’s.” Presently, this can only be done with GeoCategory city pages.

In the text editor State Page (Intro) box below, you will write your GeoCategory state page content. As with most text editors, you have the ability to include headings, text formatting, bullet-lists, hypertext links, images, videos, tables, and emoticons.

GeoCategory State Page - Static Content

The purpose of this second State Page (Static) text editor box is to place content that you want to remain “static,” and therefore not be replaced (with the front-end published version of page) by alternate intro’s (which would happen in the above State Page Intro text box). However, for now, this feature is not yet functional in state pages. Presently, this can only be done with GeoCategory city pages.

So for now, you may place all of your content in the above State Page Intro text editor box. The published version of this page will display as intended.

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The GeoCategory City Page

The GeoCategory city page is equally robust in its functionality, and is the third of three content pieces that make up a complete GeoCategory topic. The purpose of this page is to target geographical regions (cities or metro areas). Once published, this content piece will be automatically reproduced to multiple city pages that are all unique from one another.

How many city pages will there be? The amount of city pages published will depend on how many cities have been generated in the Region Admin section. The amount of city pages that can be generated could be as many as 10,000 or more! …and that’s just from one GeoCategory topic.

“Intro” Text Box: Why Are There Two Text Editors?

In the text editor City Page (Intro) box below, you will write your introduction of the GeoCategory city page content. To add variety and uniqueness to the city pages, we recommend at some point in the future, having alternate intro’s once your total city region count exceeds about 100. Alternate intro’s can be written in the Alternate Intro’s for GeoCategory City Pages section further down this page.

The “Intro” content can be a few paragraphs or whatever you feel is necessary. A good rule-of-thumb is around 33% of the total page’s content. As with most text editors, you have the ability to include headings, text formatting, bullet-lists, hypertext links, images, videos, tables, and emoticons.

GeoCategory City Page - Static Content

The purpose of this second City Page (Static) text editor box is to place content that you want to remain “static,” and therefore not be replaced (with the front-end published version of page) by alternate intro’s (which would happen in the above City Page Intro text box). This will be the remaining 67% of the city page’s content.

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Importance of the ~region~ Tag

The ~region~ tag is simply the word region sandwiched between two tildes (~). Also, it is case sensitive and needs to be all lowercase in order to function properly.

The ~region~ tag functions as a variable for a state (or city), like California, Texas, Los Angeles, or New York City; not unlike merge tags found in bulk email templates. The ~region~ tag can be used in headings, in text content, and as meta data in html attribute values (such as title, rel, or alt). This functions as a substitute for any mention of state or city.

Our system will display the correct corresponding state or city on the front-end of the published GeoCategory page(s). For example, “This product is found in all of our ~region~ locations” will read as, “This product is found in all of our Texas locations” when published.

Examples of use within a GeoCategory state page: from ~region~ | in ~region~ | the state of ~region~ | ~region~ state.

Examples of use within a GeoCategory city page: from the ~region~ area | in the ~region~ area | the city of ~region~ | near ~region~.