Using subpages vs using blog posts as optimized entry points for SEO?

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  • SEO
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Hi guys, I am new here and hope I'm following the rules, but if not I apologize in advance. Let me start off by saying I am primarily a fitness trainer, not an SEO guy so these questions may seem overly rudimentary--again I apologize in advance if that's the case.

Anyway, I am wondering if it makes more sense to approach my organic SEO efforts by utilizing subpages or blog posts for my keyword-optimized entry points.

A little backstory: I own a strength and conditioning gym that is home to a few different service programs, like various private training and fitness bootcamp programs. Each of my services has it's own domain in the form of a mini-site sales page with a call to action, and my gym itself has its own domain and is essentially my main website with a full blog, subpages, etc.

I have done all my keyword research and am looking to boost my rankings for the most relevant, searched-for terms in my local area. Because this is such a niche thing and the inherently local nature of a gym business, I have very specific keyword phrases that I am using, and am honestly in no way interested in ranking well for more general keywords. (e.g I am infinitely more concerned with ranking #1 for "personal training costa mesa" than I am for "personal training", even though the search volume for the more general term is exponentially higher, because a microscopic amount of those people searching generally for "personal training" are actually viable prospects for me, compared to a high amount searching for the more long-tail phrase).

I'm trying to determine if it makes more sense, both from a logical and from a usability perspective, to use sub-pages based around the keywords I am optimizing for as my entry points for my keyword phrases, or would it make more sense to use blog posts as the entry points? Since I will be doing my own SEO and building back links and stuff I want to make sure my efforts are going towards the best choice.

If I was to use a subpage, my content would be structured like a sales/info page more than likely, while if it were a blog post it could be much more informational and less salesy, in the form of an article. What makes more sense? Would someone typing "personal training costa mesa" be more interested in an article providing information about how to say, choose the best personal trainer in their area (with a link on that page to an info page about my personal training services), or would they prefer to be linked straight to the page discussing MY personal training service, (basically me assuming they are ready to buy MY service)?

Knowing this information now will help me keep my SEO efforts efficient. If the answer is to do separate sub-pages, each individualized for specific keyword phrase groups, I can create the subpages and then begin growing my backlinks and submitting it to directories and stuff. This is how I've approached SEO projects in the past for previous websites, but it's always been hard to make sure I avoid duplicate content while still providing quality copy on each iteration of the pages.

However, if the answer is to do blog posts instead, then I think it would be prudent for me to write the blog posts instead and avoid making the optimized subpages all together, instead linking these SEO-optimized blog posts to a single generic sales page for the program (so I can completely avoid dealing with duplicate content situation).

So, cliffnotes, which is better:

Subpage optimization
domain dot com/service1/geographically-optimized-entry-sales-page-1
domain dot com/service1/geographically-optimized-entry-sales-page-2
domain dot com/service2/geographically-optimized-entry-sales-page-1
domain dot com/service2/geographically-optimized-entry-sales-page-2
etc...

or

Blog post optimization
domain dot com/geographically-optimized-informational-blog-post-1
domain dot com/geographically-optimized-informational-blog-post-2
domain dot com/geographically-optimized-informational-blog-post-3
domain dot com/geographically-optimized-informational-blog-post-4
etc...

Thanks a lot for your time and I look forward to learning from you guys on the subject!
#blog #entry #optimized #points #posts #seo #subpages

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