Location page SEO: area pages worth reading, not copies.
You work across several towns and want customers in each of them to find you. Copying one page and changing the town name is the quick answer, and one of the weakest. A useful area page tells someone in that area something real: where you cover, how you work there and what to expect, so Google and the customer both have a reason to take it seriously.
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Can we not just copy the page and change the town?
It is the obvious shortcut, and plenty of websites take it: one page written for the home town, copied for every place nearby, with the name swapped. It looks like coverage. In practice it gives a customer in each town nothing they could not read on the original page, and it gives Google a set of near-identical pages that all compete with each other.
Google has a name for this pattern, and it is explained below. The alternative takes more work per page, which is exactly why fewer, better pages tend to be the stronger choice.
What Google calls doorway pages.
Google’s spam policies describe doorway pages as pages created to rank for specific searches that add little value of their own. One of the examples Google gives is a set of similar pages targeting different cities or regions, each sending visitors on to the same place.
Copied town pages fit that description closely. They are cheap to make, and they can do more harm than good.
A location page is worth having when it tells a customer in that area something they could not learn from your other pages.
Real things about real places.
Where you go
The towns, districts and villages you actually cover in that area, so a customer can check straight away.
How you cover it
Whether you are local to it or travel in, and anything that changes for jobs there. Only what is true.
Local factors
The kind of properties, local rules or common problems in that area that affect your type of work.
Real work there
Photos and reviews from jobs in that area, where you have them. Never invented projects or customers.
The right services
Links to the services people in that area most often need, rather than a list of everything.
A way to get in touch
Phone and form, with your real business address and no suggestion of an office you do not have.
Fewer, better pages.
When not to build an area page
If there is nothing specific to say about an area, the honest answer is not to make a page for it. A short list of the places you cover, on a single areas page, does that job better than a thin page that repeats the rest of your site. Areas you do not actually serve should never get a page at all.
What area pages can and cannot do
Area pages mostly help in the ordinary search results, below the Map Pack, and help customers check that you cover them. They do not move your Google Business Profile closer to a searcher. For the Map Pack, distance still matters, which is why the profile and your reviews carry so much weight.
Which areas deserve a page.
Four questions decide it. An area is worth its own page when the answer to all four is yes:
- Do you really work there? Regularly, not once two years ago.
- Do people there search for what you do? Search data and keyword research show whether there is enough demand to justify a page.
- Do you want more work there? A page for an area you would rather not travel to brings enquiries you will turn down.
- Is there something specific to say? The places covered, the type of properties, local factors that affect the work.
Areas that pass the first three but not the fourth are usually better listed on a single areas page than given a thin page of their own.
How an area page is put together.
- A heading naming the trade and the area, and an opening that says plainly how you cover it.
- The places covered: towns, districts and villages, so a customer can check at a glance.
- How you work there: where you travel from, and anything that changes for jobs in that area.
- Local factors: housing types, common problems, or local rules that affect your kind of work.
- Proof from that area, only if you have it: photos and reviews from real local jobs.
- The services people there need most, linked to their service pages.
- Nearby areas, linked, and your real address and contact details.
Research the area, then write for it.
- Check the area first. Who appears for your searches there, what people search for, and whether there is enough to say to justify a page.
- Distinct pages, not name swaps. Each page is written separately around that area’s towns, properties and needs.
- Honest about your base. Every page shows your real address and never suggests an office, team or branch that does not exist.
- Visibility checked across the map. Rankings are tracked from points across each area, not from one search on one phone.
How progress is judged
Whether each page is indexed and which searches it appears for in Google Search Console, enquiries from those areas, and how visibility in each area changes against the starting benchmark. Area pages mainly help in the ordinary search results, so they are judged there rather than on Map Pack positions alone.
Not sure which areas are worth a page?
The free audit looks at where you appear now and which businesses are winning the searches in the areas you want more work from.
Area pages need service pages behind them.
An area page tells a customer you cover their town. A service page tells them you do the job they need. Linked together, they answer both questions. Your business details also need to match across the web, which is what citation building handles, and a local SEO audit is the place to start if you are not sure which areas are worth a page.
You can see how this works on AKVelora’s own site: AKVelora has one address in Cardiff and serves eight areas from it, starting with local SEO in Cardiff.
Common questions.
Do i need an office in each town to have a page for it?
No. A location page describes an area you serve. It should never suggest an office, a branch or a team that does not exist.
How many area pages should i have?
Only as many as you can make useful. For many trade businesses that is a handful of main towns, plus a list of the smaller places covered.
Will an area page get me into the Map Pack in that town?
Not directly. The Map Pack depends heavily on where the searcher is and on your Google Business Profile. Area pages help more in the ordinary results and with customers checking you cover them.
I already have dozens of near-identical town pages. What now?
Usually the best move is to keep and improve the few that matter, and merge or remove the rest. The audit can help decide which.
Should area pages match the service areas on my Google profile?
They should tell the same story. If your profile lists an area as a service area, a page or at least a mention on your areas page helps customers and Google see that you really cover it.
Can i reuse the same photos on several area pages?
Use photos from jobs in that area where you have them. Reusing the same set of images on every area page is one of the signs of a template page.
Find out which areas are worth a page.
The free audit looks at where you appear now and where your competitors are winning, area by area.
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