Build location pages that attract & convert local customers
If you're a local business looking to attract more customers, local SEO can help ensure that highly-motivated potential customers - those who are actively looking for what you do where you do it - can find you.
Local SEO works best for 3 specific types of local businesses, whether a single-site or made up of multiple-locations:
Local businesses with physical locations where customers visit them to transact (e.g. shops, restaurants, hair & beauty, schools);
Local businesses who visit their customers to transact (e.g. builders, plumbers and electricians);
Local businesses where customers visit them and they also visit their customers (e.g. solicitors, accountants, design & marketing agencies, restaurants offering delivery).
In either case the objective for your local business must be to rank well for your service or product offering within your local area so that these prospective customers find you.
To ensure that your local business ranks well on Google, you're going to need to invest some time and effort in optimising your website for location and service-specific keywords.
A great place to start with your on-site local SEO - whether you have 1 location or several - is by creating and optimising your location landing page(s).
So what goes into a great location landing page? We'll get to that shortly, but first a note of caution.
Beware the 'doorway page'
According to Google "Doorways are sites or pages created to rank for specific, similar search queries. They are bad for users because they can lead to multiple similar pages in user search results, where each result ends up taking the user to essentially the same destination. They can also lead users to intermediate pages that are not as useful as the final destination."
Examples of doorways include:
Using multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page
Creating pages to funnel visitors into the actual usable or relevant portion of your site(s)
Substantially similar pages that are closer to search results than a clearly defined, browse-able hierarchy
Are my location pages doorway pages?
Ultimately Google wants to ensure that they're delivering great search results for their users. So as long as your location landing page forms an integral, useful part of the user experience, and provides the information that your local audience needs then you should be okay.
If in doubt, a good general rule of thumb is that you should only really have a location landing page for each of your business' Google Business profiles. Of course, if you only have 1 location and 1 Google Business Profile, then you should probably just have 1 location landing page.
That said, for hyperlocal businesses serving multiple villages or towns from their central location, having a localised page for each of those locations can genuinely be useful to a potential customer.
For instance, if I'm looking for a roofer in central Manchester I don't want results from Glasgow appearing. But if a result appears for a roofer based in nearby Salford, with great customer reviews, that regularly works in central Manchester, then I may consider engaging with them.
Creating a location page that ranks and converts local customers
So you're ready to start creating a location page for your local business. Here are some tips for ensuring that yours not only ranks on Google but also converts browsers to leads.
Your location page’s Meta Title & Description
Your Meta Title & Description is used by Google and your target audience to understand the content of your page. These appear in the Search Engine Results Pages (or SERPs) and as well as help Google determine your ranking, also help encourage potential customers to click through to your page.
As you can see in the below screenshot from a Google SERP, the clickable blue link is the Meta Title, while the Meta Description is the 2-line description below that.
Your Title tag should include your primary service keyword as well as your location (city, county) within ideally made up of between 50-60 characters.
Your Description tag needs to be enticing as well as ideally including your primary service keyword. Write this one mainly for your target audience as it's your first opportunity to invite them to find out more about how you can help. Your Meta Description needs to be made up of between 155-160 characters.
For example, for a London-based Italian restaurant:
Family-run Italian Restaurant | Clapham Junction SW11
With our rustic, wood-panelled walls our Italian restaurant has been a favourite fixture of Northcote Road, Clapham Junction, South London for over 20 years.
While for boiler repairs in Cheadle:
Boiler Repair, Maintenance & Servicing | Cheadle, Manchester
Trusted local boiler repair & servicing in Cheadle. Gas Safe Registered. 12-months parts & labour guarantee. 500+ 5-star reviews. Find out more and get a quote.
And for a Kent-based marketing agency:
Award-Winning Marketing & Design Agency | Maidstone, Kent
We’re an award-winning Maidstone-based marketing and design agency working with clients across Kent and the South East. Find out more about working with us.
Localising your landing page content
As your location page can often be the first (and sometimes only) page that a potential new customer sees, it needs to provide a comprehensive overview of everything that might be relevant to that person.
So when you're creating a location landing page for your local business, consider it a localised version of a really good website home page. You then need to reiterate your locality alongside your service-related content.
Here's a list of content suggestions that we would expect to see in a well-localised, well-ranked, high-converting location landing page:
Your Business Name, Address, Phone Number
Your name, address and phone number (also known as NAP) is an essential part of local SEO, not just on-site as it should match - and be consistent with - your Google Business Profile and all other online directory citations.
Tell people where you are
Include directions to your business, ideally using an embedded map (Google Maps offers a great API for this). If your business is hard to find, you could also provide localised written directions, GPS coordinates or use a service such as WhatThreeWords.
Your opening hours
Now we know where you're based, when are you available for visits or appointments? What time do you open? Do you offer an out of hours service? Can I make a booking or schedule an appointment when you're closed? Are you open during holidays? Make it really obvious when you are and aren't available to potential customers.
Be clear about what you offer in that location
Detail the services, products and brands that you provide to customers in and around your specified location. When you discuss each offering try to relate it to the location, for instance "In-home hairdressing and beauty services available in Bolton".
Your relationship to the local area
Provide some background on your business' (and potential even any personal) relationship to the local area. How long has the business been established in this area? How many happy customers do you serve in this location? Do you and/or your team live locally?
Localise your photography
Incorporate plenty of local photos on your landing page to provide a subtle but clear anchor between your business and your target location. These could include photos of employees and/or service vehicles near recognisable local landmarks, or simply of some local landmarks.
Introduce your team
An introduction to your team, particularly those members that a customer is likely to engage with, either in person or over the phone. Again photos, along with a brief bio, can help provide much needed assurances and build familiarity with your business.
Signpost related information
In much the same way as a good home page does, your location page should also help visitors navigate your site content easily. Linking to nearby locations, service pages, social media profiles, the company ‘About’ page and relevant blog content can bring more value to your visitors and help convince them that you're worth working with.
Answer customer questions before they're asked
Including your most frequently asked questions (or FAQ) on a location page can help save time for you and your potential customers. Answering specific queries about your services, pricing and so on can also help qualify local customers and move them along their decision making process.
Provide social proof
Online reviews are not only a great way to reassure people that you provide a quality service, but they can also improve your local search ranking (Google loves lots of positive reviews) and even improve conversion rates on-site. If you’ve won awards, have industry accreditations or work with well-known businesses, this is also a great opportunity to mention those.
Include a clear call to action
A strong and obvious call-to-action such as 'request a quote', contact form, email link and/or phone number is essential. Whatever the objective of your business we usually advise our clients to focus on a single call to action as this can be less confusing. And please, please, ensure that any phone numbers are 'clickable'!
And a couple of technical considerations
Update your Schema
Use Schema.org Markup to ensure that your business is currently categorised in terms of its business type and location. This helps Google understand what your business does and where it does it, setting expectations, eliminating confusion and reducing irrelevant enquiries.
Optimise your page for mobile
Mobile users are accounting for more and more search traffic, particularly for local search. As such Google now prioritises mobile optimised web pages over those that aren't, and even posts “slow to load” warning labels in some mobile search results. A good way to check your mobile performance is using Google's PageSpeed Insights recommendations.
Last but not least, don't forget your Google Business Profile
When you're happy with your new location landing page, make sure you update related Google Business Profile(s) so that it links directly to it.