SEO: make the home page location specific or add a new page for location?

Question

My homepage is coming up on the first page in Google search, main keyword is "balloon decorations".

We provide local service in several cities, but homepage does not mention the location, visitor has to go to "contact us" page to see the list of cities we service.

I was given an advice by SEO company to optimizing the homepage to (Boston balloon) and (Boston balloon decorations) to make it location specific to get listed in the searches with keyword (balloons) originated from Boston. Then make landing pages for the other cities, and put link from home page to them.

There are a few things I need help with:

1. If I do that, will I sill keep the place on the first page in search for "balloon decorations"? Should I leave (balloon decorations) in meta tags?

2. What are my chances to get on the first page of search with new keyword phrase?

3. Is it better to leave the home page as is and add one more landing page for Boston? I was told, that it would not be very effective and will take a long time for the landing page to come up on first page of search.

Answer 1

I would advise putting the locations in the bottom of the page (footer) like this: Boston | New York | Burlington and same for Canada. Your current meta tags and keywords should be left alone. You don't want to burn bridges, now. Consider also adding keywords in your main body hinting to location as well. You can use the FireFox plugin, SEO-Quake to optimize your site further. (It does calculations of keywords and density ratios).

An unrelated note, you have a slight pixel shift between your img and form tags. This amounts to nothing to search engines, but visitors may notice.

Answer 2

If I do that, will I sill keep the place on the first page in search for "balloon decorations"? Should I leave (balloon decorations) in meta tags?
Possibly, possibly not! The problem with any SEO change is you can make it better for the term you work on but could have negative effects for other terms (even terms you are not aware you are ranking highly for)

What are my chances to get on the first page of search with new keyword phrase?
As high as any phrase really. IMO probably higher because you're targeting a more specific audience

Is it better to leave the home page as is and add one more landing page for Boston? I was told, that it would not be very effective and will take a long time for the landing page to come up on first page of search.
Nonsense. IMO this is the better way. But, only if you service one location (Boston). If you are looking to expand further keep the homepage as is, but create special pages for the locations, and fill it with case studies and services in the different areas (with new fresh content in each).

As a general rule, it is my opinion (and I can't prove this with stats) that a well SEO'd page is now not what makes it position 1 or 100. It is probably still 80%, but it's about how it fits and relates to the rest of the website. This means any change is more complex and requires more consideration but, it also makes sense. It also doesn't make sense with companies like Amazon who deal with everything, but also makes sense... So, if you have different topics, then have a different site (why do you think StackOverflow has different websites for different topics!? :) ). But as you're site will all be about balloons, then have different pages for the locations.