A Local Landing Page Should Feel Local
Have you ever been to a concert and the lead singer mentions the city they’re in that night? The crowd goes wild for it.
That is not what we’re after.
That is simply a cheap pop. That is not how to create content for local landing pages for SEO.
Local landing pages help a business rank for a specific service in a specific city. A common mistake small businesses make is to simply copy a page and swap out the city name. Just changing the city name is not enough.
Each SEO landing page should read like it was written specifically for that city. It should be written specifically for the residents and potential customers in that community.
Your local SEO landing pages should focus on local details, great quality and useful content, trust signals like testimonials, and blog articles that support the page.
Start With The Service And Location You Want To Target
While the home page of your website can cover a variety of topics, your landing pages should each have one clear purpose. That goal should be to identify the specific service and geographic area or city you are targeting.
Some examples of these landing pages would be:
- Small Business Web Designer Green Bay
- Plumber in Lawrence
- Landscaping company in De Pere
- Commercial cleaning in Appleton
On each SEO landing page, your keyword should be used in all the key spots:
- The page title
- The H1
- The first paragraph
- At least one H2
- The meta title and description
- A few other places throughout the page
Just because this is a landing page does not mean you do not need great quality content. Be sure your keywords sound as natural as possible throughout the page.
Do Not Duplicate A Page And Change The City Name
It can be tempting to simply duplicate a page and swap out the city name. Doing so is fast and easily repeatable. The service may stay the same, so why not just change the city name and move on to the next city page?
While your various city landing pages might all have a consistent page structure, the content needs to be unique for each page. Your pages might all follow an outline like this:
- Hero section
- Point one
- CTA
- Point two
- CTA
- Footer
The problem with just switching the city name is that you will end up with duplicate content. Google is then unlikely to find any of the pages unique or specific.
And since we do not do anything in SEO purely for Google, users matter too. Visitors can spot generic content like that. Reading content that feels thrown together or copied is not going to compel users to reach a conversion point or pick up the phone and call.
Two strong local SEO landing pages with great content written for those specific cities are more impactful than ten cheaply created and duplicated pages.
Your content should be written to answer the questions and needs of someone living in that specific city.
Write The Page For People In Just That One City
Each page should be relevant and specific to someone in the city the page is written for.
Your Green Bay service page should read differently than your Appleton service page. The two cities are only 30 miles apart, but the content for each page needs to be unique.
Research the city you are creating a landing page for. If the city is important enough to have a landing page, it is worth your time to research that community first.
Include local details on the page, such as:
- Neighborhoods
- Major roads
- Landmarks
- Local events
- Business districts
- Common industries
When including these details in your content, they should not read like a simple brain dump of all the random things the city has to offer. Simply mentioning Lambeau Field is not going to connect with a Green Bay resident.
This is not about getting that cheap pop at a concert. It is about proving that you understand the city and what your users are looking for.
If there is any city specific slang or lingo you can find, include that where it fits naturally. For example, if writing a page for Milwaukee, include a reference to it being the Cream City. Locals know that name, get much outside Milwaukee and it isn’t well known.
Add Local Reviews, Projects, And Other Social Proof
Testimonials and other social proof can go a long way with consumers. I have said this before: If you say something about your business, people question it. If someone else says it about your business, it is Gospel truth.
If those testimonials are from customers or businesses in that city, you can better persuade users to take the next step.
If you have a client in the city you are creating a landing page for, get a testimonial from them. You can expand that social proof further with things like:
- Customer testimonials
- Case studies
- Project photos
- Before-and-after examples
- Logos of businesses served
- Short stories about completed work
By going into more detail about that client, you will be able to speak directly to what potential customers in that city are looking for. You can prove that you understand the challenges and issues they are facing and that you have solved that problem before.
For example, a city near where I live that has very difficult soil to build on. One home builder mentions that they have built homes in that city before, and that they know how to work with the soil. They prove that they know the issue going on, that they’ve worked there before, and can do it again.
Cover The Essential On-Page SEO Elements
This is not specific only to local landing pages for SEO. These are important elements for nearly any page you want to rank in Google or other search engines. Great content still needs to be organized using some basic on-page SEO practices.
Your primary local keyword for these landing pages should appear naturally in:
- The title tag
- The H1
- The opening paragraph
- At least one H2
- The page URL
- The meta description
- Image alt text when appropriate
The H1 serves as the main title of the page, so it may look similar from one local landing page to another. With the H1, some consistency is ok. The H1 should match the primary keyword to help search engines understand the purpose of the page.
Headings through the page should group content into logical sections. This not only helps search engines understand the page, but also makes the content easier for users to read.
Add a keyword, or a natural variation of it, in some of the headings. Do not force it into every heading. Keywords should always fit naturally into the content.
You can also support your landing page with locally focused blog articles. Think about the questions, concerns, or challenges customers in that city may have and create useful blog content around those topics.
For example, a home builder could write about the soil conditions in a particular community. That blog could then link back to the company’s main landing page for home-building services in that city. The blog answers a specific local question while helping users discover the broader service page.
This on-page SEO helps Google and users understand the page and where it fits within the rest of the website. If a page has mostly duplicated content, that purpose can lose its clarity.
Review Every Local Page As Its Own Page
No page on your website should be published and then ignored.
For any landing page you really want to rank on Google, you should regularly check for things like:
- Outdated local information
- New testimonials
- New project examples
- Improved photos
- New internal links
- Changes to services or service areas
It can sometimes be helpful to look at two landing pages side by side. Doing so can highlight sections that are too similar.
You may also find that one page has a strong, unique section while another page is lacking in that same area. That is a good clue that you need to spend more time improving the weaker page.
You should always ask whether the page still provides great quality content and real value to the user. If you think the content might be a little lacking, it probably is. That is a good sign that you need to spend some time improving it.
You should also look at the page and ask whether it still fits into your marketing plans. If it targets a city you are no longer focused on or interested in serving, the page may no longer be needed.
If you remove a landing page, add a redirect to a closely related page on your website. That could be a service page or even th home page.
Content For Local Landing Pages For SEO That Connects
Local SEO landing pages are about much more than simply mentioning a city name and a service you offer. They need to show that you have knowledge, relevance, credibility, and trust. Most importantly, they need to speak to and connect with users in that city.
Your pages should not simply be duplicates or copies. They should be written for the specific city, community, and group of people the page is meant to reach. Include local details, testimonials, project examples, useful answers, and other forms of social proof.
If you have not started creating local SEO landing pages yet, think about a city where you would love to rank. What service could you successfully expand into that city?
Learn about the community and its residents. Find out what questions they have. Discover the challenges they face. Knowing all this will build confidence in contacting your business. Use that knowledge to create great quality content that feels like it was written just for them.
Not sure which cities or services offer the best opportunity for your business? Reach out to Full Scope Creative, and we will help you identify where local landing pages could fit into your SEO plan.