The diagnosis
People search "kitchen remodel cost sacramento," city level. My pages answered at ZIP level, and my city pages were link lists with no prices on them. Ranking for queries nobody types. Started rebuilding city pages around actual cost tables and launched a 1,000-page city-by-project pilot instead of another fleet.
Interesting update.
One thing I'd be careful with:
Getting pages indexed and getting the right pages indexed can look like the same win early on.
Sometimes they're not.
That's one of those decisions that can quietly shape everything that follows.