FreeA spreadsheetAbout 40 min

Design the Listing and City Page

A directory is a set of records and pages built from them. Before you build anything, decide what a record holds and what each page must show.

By Anthony Limpert, founder of Clickflame

Why This Matters

The worst mistake is building the page first and filling it later. You end up with thousands of pages that say the same thing with a different city name. Google's spam policies name this as doorway abuse and scaled content abuse. A clear record model stops it before it starts.

✓ How To Do It

Open a spreadsheet. Make one tab per thing you will list. Start with Business, Category, City and Source.
On the Business tab, add columns for name, street address, city, phone, website, category, hours, and a plain sentence about what they do. Add a column called checked on, with a date.
On the Source tab, write down where each field comes from, the license or terms that allow your use, and the date you read those terms. Use only public records or data you have the right to use. Keep this tab private.
Mark which fields you may publish. If a source does not let you republish a field, leave that field out.
Define the listing page. It must show the name, address, phone, category, a map, what you checked and when, a claim button, and a remove button. If a page cannot fill those, it is not ready.
Define the city page. It must hold facts that are true only for that city, such as how many listed businesses it has, which categories are common there, and what a buyer there should know. A city page with swapped words is a doorway page.
Write the URL pattern once, such as /category/city/business-name. Keep it short and never change it later.
Build five listings and two city pages by hand in your sheet before you write any code. Read them out loud. If two read the same, add a real fact or cut one.

Done WhenA saved sheet with Business, Category, City and Source tabs, plus five sample listings and two sample city pages.

Reference List

Sources

Google spam policies

Tips & Pitfalls

Do not publish a field just because you can see it. Public does not always mean free to reuse.
If you cannot say in one sentence why a city page helps a buyer, do not build it.
Never say in public where your data comes from unless you have a written right to credit that source.

Done with this step? Mark it complete to track your campaign progress.