GeoTargeting in Webmaster vs meta tags

We have a website in development right now where the homepage covers what the site is about -then we have 50 state pages that are all unique. The website offers services in all 50 states and therefore all keyword optimization will mostly be taking place in those state pages. There will be keywords we optimize on the homepage, however, the terms for the homepage would be so difficult to rank for that it is not our focus.

Since we are focusing on the state pages, what is the difference between creating a sub directory for each state page, setting up geotargeting for that sub directory in each state versus adding metatags to the state pages?

For example, should we have a sub directory that is/... /California added to Webmaster tools that has all CA pages or should I just add the following that have to do with CA services?


<META NAME="geo.placename" CONTENT="California">

<META NAME="geo.region" CONTENT="USA">

We do not have a physical location in those states, however, we offer services in those states where our business partners do.