p tips for optimizing local landing pages to search:

Landing pages are a great way for businesses to increase local visibility, especially for those with physical locations.

Google and your potential customers will be able to see your local landing pages. They will also show you the areas you serve, and the products and services you offer.

These pages may contain information relevant to the city or town that you are targeting as well as the keywords for business you want to rank for.

You can also use location pages as Google Business Profile URLs, PPC Ads, email and online directory landing pages.

Local landing pages are a great way to build trust and authority in the communities you serve.

Let’s discuss some tips and best practices for optimizing local landing pages.

1. Avoid duplicate content

No longer can you use the same content on multiple landing pages in your area.

Each page must contain unique, useful content with Google SpamBrain or the helpful contents update. It is not possible to change the name of the city or add a few photos and call it good.

John Mueller, Google’s local landing page designer, pointed out that these doorsway pages with duplicated content could be considered . This is contrary to Google’s guidelines.

Google will flag a H1 such as “Best Plumber Chicago, IL” for instance.

This is especially true for pages that have the exact same content but the word “Chicago”, which has been replaced by the cities of Evanston and Naperville or Oak Park, respectively.

The following H1 is more useful:

• “Do you own a business in Omaha?” A trustworthy accountant is what you need.

These pages can be used to rank higher in Google for keywords or the name of the city.

It’s not worth spending the time to create quality content.

You must add value on the location page. This is something the user will find useful and worthwhile. Google will reward you for doing this.

Let’s start with an example. Below is a lawn care company that included a lawn mowing calculator specifically for Houston, TX.

This is because estimates can vary depending on where you live.

The page also contained content that explained their services to Houston and the surrounding area, and described how their quoting system works.

This content is great for Houstonians because it gives them accurate estimates for their area.

2. Spam your content is not an option

Although keyword stuffing was a big no-no for many years, you can still see it on local pages that are poorly designed.

Avoid using too many keywords on your local pages. Keywords in your H1, such as “Best Lawyer” and “Los Angeles Landscaper,” are a sign of spam.

It’s easy for Google to spam your entire website if you combine it with keyword-stuffed content.

Google doesn’t need to see your page as a page of keywords to find out what it is about. This is easy to do with a few subtle clues.

3. Optimize URLs and Images

Use SEO best practices when creating URLs.

Keep URLs as brief as possible. If you are able to include the service or product and your city, please do so.

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


Use hyphens to seperate the words and maintain a correct URL structure. No question marks, underscores, or funky characters.

Make sure your images are SEO-friendly. Upload photos that are not gibberishly named for your smartphone or camera.

Each one should be renamed to describe the contents of the image. If necessary, include the name of the city. Use hyphens again to separate the words.

For example, before uploading an image of a bathroom remodel that you did in Oklahoma City, you could rename it to, “bathroom-remodel-oklahoma-city.png.”

Add alt tags to photos you upload to landing pages.

You can use the keywords and the name of the city to rank, but you must describe the image. (That’s what the alt tag is for.

4. Include specific information regarding your business that is specific to your location

It is best to include details about your business on your local page. This will make it sound natural and give the reader useful information, which Google will consider helpful.

This can be done by adding “Before” or “After” photos optimized for keywords and the name of the city.

This is a screenshot taken from a local restoration company page for Evanston, IL.

Although they included photos of before and after, they did not mention that the photos were taken in the area. This was a missed opportunity.

They could have used H2 titled “Before & After Flooding Cleanup In Evanston, IL” to replace the images.

A local landing page can also be used to naturally incorporate your content. You can talk about the history and needs of the community.

The plumbing company shares the history and how it was annexed before the installation of gas and sewer lines in homes. Strategically, it created an anchor text link for their gas and sewer line service page.

City pages are useful in real estate because they highlight local schools, restaurants, shopping centers, and grocery stores. Potential home buyers should know the highlights of local towns and cities.

You can also use case studies and work examples to help get city names onto your local pages.

This architecture firm displays work that they have done in different cities and towns.

It is a wonderful way to show off their architectural designs and include the names of cities in their pages.

You don’t need to make local landing pages boring. When it comes to creating content specific to your city, use your imagination.

Find out how to use keywords and city names naturally.

5. Photograph the area in original photographs

Take pictures and tour the cities or towns you are writing about. You can take pictures of the squares, parks, Chamber of Commerce, entertainment venues, schools, and restaurants.

Original images are more authentic than using stock photos. You should also optimize the photos for search.

6. You can highlight local charities and other organizations that you support

Businesses that help their communities are a joy to be part of.

You should mention charities and organizations that you support in the areas you serve on your city-specific pages.

It doesn’t take much to provide 20 bags of dog or cat food each month to a local shelter. This is a good thing.

Simply contact the shelter to tell them how much you will donate monthly. Also, ask if they would be willing to include their logo or information on your local page.

Ask if they would be willing to put your logo and a link on their website as a thank you. This is something that many charities will do.

Are you a sports fan? Sponsor uniforms for youth baseball or soccer teams? You can add your logo to the uniforms, and you can also supplement the cost.

Include the logo of the team or other information on the landing page. See if the sport organization will add your name as a sponsor to their website.

You are not only showing your support for the city but also getting quality backlinks.

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

You can show off your local achievements at the Chamber of Commerce, the SCORE chapter in the city, or the local newspaper.

Seek out backlinks whenever possible.

8. Add your address to embed Google Maps

If you are a resident of the city, make sure to include your phone number and address on the landing page.

A Google Map can also be embedded. Customers can then easily find driving directions to your location.

When you embed the Google Map correctly, it can show your brand and Google Business Profile reviews.

A Google Map is also available for service-area businesses. You can embed a Google Map of your service area by searching for your Google Business Profile in Google Maps.

Click on “Share”, then click “Embed map”. Simply copy and paste the HTML code onto your website.

Leverage your local connection

It is a great way for local customers to find you by creating landing pages.

A great local landing page should include relevant content about your company and the town or city you serve, as well as how they interact.

Google can help you get in touch with your local community by creating landing pages that are unique and useful content.

Search Engine Land published the article Optimizing local landing page for search: 8 best practices.