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When trying to optimise a single page for 2 geographical locations. In this case 2 bordering counties in UK. Which is the best approach for page title?

A: Private Dentist | Somerset & Dorset

B: Somerset Private Dentist | Dorset Private Dentist

C: Something else?

I find this happens quite often when a business is near the edge between 2 areas. Maybe separate pages is the obvious answer? but I worry about duplicate content on the 2 pages and also the website being confusing to users if it has multiple similar pages.

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You are correct that you should not duplicate pages and swap out the keywords. Google calls doing so doorway pages. Doing that is against Google's webmaster guidelines. It could get your entire site penalized. As you point out it isn't good user experience and it could drive away customers.

You may create pages to target keywords if they have original content and would make sense for visitors. It isn't hard to think of ways to create pages for both areas:

  • Separate pages for driving directions to the dentist from Dorset and Somerset
  • Separate pages for testimonials of customers from Dorset and Somerset
  • Separate pages for dentistry statistics and facts in Dorset and Somerset

It is also fine to write a single page that tries to target both areas. When writing titles for SEO you should:

  • Accurately describe what each page is about
  • Target keywords and phrases for which you want to rank by using them near the start of titles
  • Avoid keyword repetition and lists of keywords

Your title B is awful. It is just a list of keywords with repetition. It looks spammy and it isn't going to help your SEO.

Your title A is better, but I doubt that it accurately describes the page. "Private Dentists in Somerset & Dorset" could be a good title for a page that lists all the dentists in the area. But in this case it sounds like this is the website of a particular dentist. For the website of a dentist in private practice, the title of every page should include the brand. The name of the dentist (or the name of the practice) should go at the end of the title.

It is hard to say exactly what the page title should be without knowing all the pages on the site. The home page should be targeted primarily at the brand name. It should be a separate page that targets other more generic keywords. I might suggest pages on the site like:

  • / (home page): Dr. Phil N. Kavatee DDS, Dentist, 1 Main St, Somerset
  • /service-area: Private Dentist Serving Somerset and Dorset - Dr. Phil N. Kavatee
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  • Thanks for all your advice. That all makes a lot of sense. This is a situation I find fairly common for the small business websites I build. Where they have one set of pages perhaps between 10 and 50. All the usual top level pages, home, about, services, contact and then single pages for each of the specific services they offer. How to then best localise the page titles. for area 1 and area 2. Should the areas even be mentioned at all or will Google just localis for the searcher automatically? So just title the pages without area names and just service names, focus keyphrase, etc...
    – George Litchfield
    Commented Mar 9, 2021 at 17:54
  • You don't always have to use locations in titles to rank for keywords including those locations. I always advocate putting some boiler plate on every page of a local business that has NAP (name, address, phone). In the case of being near a border, that should also include other location (1 main st, somerset, nearby to dorset). Putting locations into titles can be very powerful, but its hard enough to do with one location sometimes. "teeth whitening in somerset near dorset - dr phil n. kavatee" might work for a service offered by a dentist for example.
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Commented Mar 9, 2021 at 18:08

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