@digitaldave01 - That's the thing, though - they've been doing this multiple-location SEO strategy for 2+ years. Not a blip in rankings. Their doorway pages just keep performing better.@marketingtyson - Their DR is actually lower than mine (28 vs my 32). That's what's killing me. And yeah, definitely something fishy with their backlinks. Shows only 50 in ahrefs but they rank everywhere.@lawseopro - I actually did check traffic... that's the most frustrating part. Used Semrush - they're pulling serious numbers on those auto-generated pages. Like 300-500 visitors per city page monthly. Even their smallest city pages (populations < 10k) get 50+ visitors.My questions keeping me up at night:1. Is this actually "doorway pages" if they're providing a real service in those areas? They do have legit GMB profiles in 5 main cities.2. For multiple location SEO, what's the real line between scale and spam? Like if I service an area, why shouldn't I have pages for each city?3. Their pages all follow exact same template:City name in title/h1Same content but city swappedGeneric city info pulled from WikipediaSame images across all pagesSame service content word for wordHOW is this working in 2025? I have unique content, real location info, actual customer testimonials from each city... and I'm getting crushed.My traffic in January is down 40% while they keep climbing. At what point do I just say screw it and copy their approach? Because right now my "white hat" strategy is killing my business. | heroappliances

heroappliances a month ago

Just need to vent and maybe get some advice. I run an appliance repair business, been grinding for 4 years doing everything "right" according to SEO guides:

Unique content for each service page
Proper schema markup
Google Business Profile fully optimized
Building real local backlinks
Getting tons of genuine 5-star reviews
NAP consistency everywhere

Then I discover this competitor who's straight up DOMINATING every city in our state with clearly auto-generated pages. Like literally 1000+ pages following the same template:

/service-city-state  
/appliance-repair-[city]-[state]  
/emergency-repair-[city]-[state]

The worst part? Their content is basically identical for every city, just swapping city names. No unique info, no real value, just mass-produced BS. And Google LOVES it! They're ranking top 3 for every damn city.

Meanwhile, I'm here spending weeks writing unique content for each location, doing proper competitor and demographic research, adding actual local information... for what?

I checked in ahrefs - they built these pages 6 months ago and have been crushing it since. Same DA as me, similar backlink profile.

Am I missing something? Should I just give up and do what they're doing? Seems like Google rewards this crap while punishing those who follow their guidelines.

What would you do in my position? Keep grinding the "right" way or switch to mass location pages?

heroappliances a month ago

(current)

@digitaldave01 - That's the thing, though - they've been doing this multiple-location SEO strategy for 2+ years. Not a blip in rankings. Their doorway pages just keep performing better.

@marketingtyson - Their DR is actually lower than mine (28 vs my 32). That's what's killing me. And yeah, definitely something fishy with their backlinks. Shows only 50 in ahrefs but they rank everywhere.

@lawseopro - I actually did check traffic... that's the most frustrating part. Used Semrush - they're pulling serious numbers on those auto-generated pages. Like 300-500 visitors per city page monthly. Even their smallest city pages (populations < 10k) get 50+ visitors.

My questions keeping me up at night:

1. Is this actually "doorway pages" if they're providing a real service in those areas? They do have legit GMB profiles in 5 main cities.

2. For multiple location SEO, what's the real line between scale and spam? Like if I service an area, why shouldn't I have pages for each city?

3. Their pages all follow exact same template:

City name in title/h1
Same content but city swapped
Generic city info pulled from Wikipedia
Same images across all pages
Same service content word for word

HOW is this working in 2025? I have unique content, real location info, actual customer testimonials from each city... and I'm getting crushed.

My traffic in January is down 40% while they keep climbing. At what point do I just say screw it and copy their approach? Because right now my "white hat" strategy is killing my business.