8 Best Practices for Optimising Local Landing Pages for Search Engines

According to Google, 46% of all searches have local intent. This means that nearly half of all searches are made to find information about businesses, products or services in a specific local area.

Creating landing pages for your city or town, then, is a valuable strategy for businesses with physical locations looking to enhance their local visibility. 

These local landing pages provide critical information to potential customers and search engines, including your physical locations, the specific areas you serve and the products or services you offer. 

The content of these pages should incorporate relevant information about the targeted city or town and the business keywords that you aim to rank for.

In addition, location pages can be utilised as Google Business Profile URLs, PPC ad, email, and even online directory landing pages. 

When executed correctly, local landing pages can help establish trust and authority for your business in the communities you serve. 

To ensure that your local landing pages are optimised correctly, let’s explore some best practices and tips.

1. Avoid duplicate content

In the past, it was acceptable to reuse content across multiple local landing pages. 

However,  Google SpamBrain and the helpful content update now require each page to have unique and genuinely helpful content. Merely swapping out a few pictures or changing the city name will no longer suffice. 

Duplicating content on local landing pages can result in Google considering them as doorway pages, which violates their guidelines, as pointed out by John Mueller. 

For example, an H1 like “Best Plumber in Canberra” would raise a red flag for Google. 

If there are identical pages the only difference is the city name. Instead, your H1 should provide genuine value.

A more useful H1 would be:

• “Do You Own A Business in Sydney? Then You Need An Accountant You Can Trust”. 

These local landing pages should not solely exist for the purpose of ranking higher for keywords and city names. 

It’s crucial to provide valuable content that the end user will find worthwhile and useful. (If you can accomplish this, Google will reward you accordingly.) 

For instance, the lawn care company below created a lawn mowing calculator for the Houston, Texas area on their local page, which adds significant value to the user.

Since estimates likely vary depending on the city and location, this is useful.

They also included content on the page specifically explaining their services for Houston and the surrounding areas and discussed how their quoting system works.

Content like this is beneficial for people in the Houston area because they’re getting accurate quotes for their locality.

2. Don’t spam your content

Although keyword stuffing has been a well-known violation for a long time, it is still prevalent, especially in poorly designed local pages. 

Therefore, it is essential to avoid overusing keywords on your local page, such as including “Best Lawyer” or “Brisbane Landscaper” in your H1, which comes off as spammy. 

Combining such keywords with stuffed content can lead to Google’s SpamBrain and helpful content updates penalising your entire site as unhelpful. 

It’s worth noting that you don’t need to overload your page with keywords for Google to understand what it’s about. With subtle clues, Google is intelligent enough to figure it out.

3. Optimise URLs and images

Be sure to use SEO best practices with your URLs.

When possible, keep the URLs as short as feasible. But if you can include the product or service and the city, do so.

• http://website.com/lawncare-cedar-rapids 

It is crucial to maintain a proper URL structure and use hyphens to separate words, without including funky characters, underscore, squiggly lines or question marks. 

Additionally, ensure that your images are SEO-friendly and avoid uploading pictures with the gibberish file name from your camera or smartphone.

Instead, rename each image to meaningfully describe its content and include the city name if relevant. Use hyphens to separate the words to ensure readability. 

For instance, if you plan to upload an image of a bathroom remodel you did in Brisbane, consider renaming it to “bathroom-remodel-brisbane.png.”

Furthermore, remember to add alt tags to your photos when uploading them to your landing page. 

Use keywords you intend to rank for and the city name but make sure to describe the image accurately. (That’s the whole purpose of the alt tag after all.)

4. Write location-specific information about your business

To make your local page informative and natural-sounding, it’s essential to include relevant details about your business. This not only benefits the reader but also enables Google to identify your page as helpful.

One way to do this is to add “Before” and “After” pictures optimised for keywords and the city name.

For instance, the screenshot below displays a restoration service company’s local page, targeted specifically for Evanston, IL.

The restoration service company missed out on a chance to highlight the local connection of their before and after photos by not mentioning the specific area where the pictures were taken. 

An effective approach to incorporate this information naturally on a local landing page is by using an H2 heading such as “Before and After Flooding Cleanup in Evanston, IL” placed above the images.

Another effective way to integrate valuable content into your local landing page is to discuss the history of the community or how your business caters to the unique needs of the local community. 

For example, the plumbing company in the screenshot below included a brief history of the city in their content and highlighted how the city was annexed even before gas and sewer lines were installed in homes. 

In the real estate industry, city pages can highlight the schools in the area, popular restaurants, shopping centres and grocery stores, among others. Let potential home buyers know what the local cities and towns have to offer.

Alternatively, you can use case studies or work examples to get city names into your local pages.

This architecture firm showcases work they’ve done in various towns and cities.

What a beautiful way to showcase their architectural designs and get the city names into their various pages.

Local landing pages don’t have to be boring. Use your creativity when it comes to writing your city-specific content.

By finding unique and engaging ways to present your content, you’ll increase the chances of attracting and retaining potential customers.

5. Take original photos of the locality

To add a personal touch to your local landing pages, consider taking your own photos of the towns or cities you’re writing about.

Capture shots of popular landmarks such as town squares, parks, local entertainment, and restaurants to showcase the essence of the community.

Using original images instead of stock photos demonstrates your involvement in the area, which can positively impact your business’s reputation.  Again, be sure and optimise those photos for search purposes.

6. Highlight local charities and organisations you support

Promoting your support for local charities or organisations in the areas you serve is an excellent way to show your dedication to the community.

Mentioning these organisations on your individual city-specific pages can help increase your credibility and likability to potential customers.

For instance, you could consider donating supplies such as cat or dog food to a local animal shelter every month. 

Not only is this a great deed but you can also include their logo and information on your local page by contacting the shelter and asking for their permission.

By doing this, you are not only giving back to the community but also showcasing your support for a worthy cause.

Also, ask if it’d be OK for them to include your company’s logo on theirwebsite and a link to your local landing page as a simple thank you for the donation. Many charities are willing to do this.

Do you have an interest in sports and children? You can consider sponsoring uniforms for a local youth soccer or baseball team and adding your logo to their jerseys.

It is an effective way to support the local community while promoting your business.

Make sure to include the team’s logo or information about the team on your local landing page.

Additionally, reach out to the sports organisation and inquire about being added as a sponsor on their website, with a link to your city-specific page. 

Not only are you showing website visitors that you’re supporting the city but you’re getting valuable, quality backlinks in the process.

7. Include logos and details about local professional organisations you belong to

Show off what you are doing at a local level – whether it’s the local Chamber of Commerce, the city’s SCORE chapter or the local newspaper or community business website.

Wherever possible, see if you can get a backlink.

8. Include your address and embed Google Maps

Including your address and phone number on your landing page is essential if you have a physical location in the city.

To further assist your customers, embedding a Google Map on your page can provide easy and quick driving directions to your establishment. 

This feature helps customers find you easily, especially if you are located in a busy city with complex roads and intersections.

If you embed the Google Map properly, the map can also show your brand and your Google Business Profile reviews in it.

If you have a service area business, you can benefit from Google Maps, too. To embed a service area in Google Maps, just search for your Google Business Profile on Google Maps.

Click on “Share” and then “Embed a map.” Next, simply copy the HTML code and paste it on to your web page.

Leverage your local connection

Research by HubSpot found that businesses with location-specific pages on their website have a 5x higher chance of converting local searchers into customers. This means crafting landing pages specifically for your town or city, with the assistance of SEO companies for small business is an effective method to reach out to local customers.

A well-designed local landing page should comprise of pertinent information regarding your business, the town or city you are catering to and how the two are interconnected. 

Your local landing pages can help you establish a closer relationship with your community while also gaining the approval of search engines like Google.

How we can help

If you’re looking to increase your online visibility and attract more customers to your business, it’s time to take advantage of the power of local landing pages.

As a leading provider of technology and marketing services, we’re here to help you create effective local landing pages that drive results.

And with our AI-powered Top4 platform, you can take your local marketing to the next level.

Sign up today to create a local page on Top4 and instantly boost your online presence. Don’t wait – spaces are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis for each postcode. Let us help you transform your business growth and attract more customers from Google.