Playbook: Earning Local Links for a Multi-Location Clinic
A step-by-step plan for building local authority for a clinic group, written as an illustrative example.
Read article →Key takeaways
- Category pages often match the most valuable searches
- Short, useful copy beats long filler
- Links to categories help more than links to the homepage
Illustrative example. This playbook describes a fictional online store to demonstrate our approach. It is not a client result and contains no real figures.
The situation
Picture a store selling home fitness equipment. Its category pages are product grids with a title and nothing else. Most blog posts get a little traffic, but few shoppers reach the product pages from search.
Step 1: Research the searches that lead to buying
Terms such as "adjustable dumbbell sets" or "folding treadmill for small spaces" sit close to a purchase. We would map each important category to a clear group of related searches and decide which page should own each one.
Step 2: Fix the basics on each category page
- Write a unique title and meta description that reflect real searches
- Add a short introduction above the grid and helpful copy below it
- Show subcategories as links so shoppers and crawlers can go deeper
- Add breadcrumbs and consistent internal links
Step 3: Make the copy genuinely useful
Good category copy helps someone choose. It explains the main differences between products, answers common questions and points out what to consider. A few hundred well-chosen words are enough, and padding hurts more than it helps.
Step 4: Control filters and duplicates
Filters can create thousands of similar URLs. We would decide which filtered pages deserve to rank, such as a popular size or brand, and keep the rest out of the index with canonical tags or other rules.
Step 5: Earn links to the pages that sell
Most stores collect links to the homepage and to blog posts. Outreach can change that. A buying guide, a comparison chart or a set of expert tips gives writers something to cite and a reason to link to the category it supports.
Step 6: Track the right numbers
We would watch impressions, clicks, ranking positions and revenue from organic search for each category, not just overall traffic. That shows which pages are working and where to invest next.
What this teaches
Category pages deserve the same care as your best products. Understand the searches, write for shoppers and earn links to the right pages. Read more about our e-commerce SEO service.