How to improve your SEO with local landing pages

Local SEO is now a key factor for any company that wants to improve its visibility and overall performance (traffic, leads, etc.). This is because local searches are becoming increasingly common when users enter their search requests. In fact, 58% of them search for local information every day. Google is well aware of this. This is why its algorithms put more emphasis on local search results.

These highly coveted positions are extremely competitive. A solid SEO strategy is therefore crucial if you want to appear in these results.

As a consequence, the key to standing out is the way you present your services. You have to demonstrate why you stand out from your competitors in a targeted geographical area. And that’s exactly what local landing pages can be used for. These will enable you to present your services in more detail so that you can perfectly meet the needs of Internet users.

In this article, we show you how to create local landing pages to improve your SEO.

Create local landing pages to better target user searches

Before you start, you may want to ask an expert from a web marketing agency for advice to make sure that the following strategy is right for you. This is because this strategy is not applicable to all business models.

Local landing pages are used to position yourself in an area around your business so that your target audience can find you more easily. When someone performs a search in a specific location, Google could present your local pages first which will be more relevant because they precisely match the search.

Consider an example with good local pages: let’s assume that a contractor in Montreal West is looking for a company that specializes in office cleaning. He will search for “office cleaning Montreal West”. The first search result will bring him directly to a local page of the JAN-PRO website, not to the home page.

The idea is to create pages for all the places your services are located or for all the areas you serve. It can be a city, a town, a specific landmark, a district (street, avenue), etc.

However, make sure to create local pages that bring added value. The idea isn’t simply to create a page displaying an address, but rather high-quality content. One of the factors for quality content that Google will rank is having between 350 and 500 words. You therefore need to think not only about creating a local landing page but the content that goes with it.

Identify where your leads are located

This is the first thing to do before you create your local pages. As we said earlier, the purpose of local pages is to target Internet users based on the location or coverage area of your services. Creating local pages is quite tedious, so you need to create local pages that reach the right people to avoid wasting time and money. But how do you choose the places that will be featured on these local pages?

Here’s an example: let’s imagine that we are a plumbing company. We do business in Montreal and the surrounding area and we want to know where customers who visit our website come from, in order to target our local pages accordingly. To do this, we will use Google Analytics. Here is the path to follow: Audience > Geo > Location.

Next, choose your country from the table that appears (in this case, Canada). We are now moving to a regional level.

Here, we are interested in Quebec. If you want to display your data at city level, you need to click on “city” in the “Primary dimension” option above the table.

For our example, we will assume that the majority of the customers who visit our website come from Montreal, Longueuil and Laval. But this may not necessarily be the case for you. Depending on the nature of your services and location, you may have more cities, so you should choose the most important places to avoid multiplying your local pages.

Note: you can even, if you wish, create local pages for the different areas of the city where you provide your services. For example Montreal West, Montreal East, Montreal South Shore, etc.

Use keywords wisely

In order for users to easily find your services based on their location, as with any SEO strategy, you need to choose your keywords wisely.

This is easy to achieve, just take the service you offer and the location of the service as keywords.

For example, in our case, we could have as keywords: “Plumber” and “Montreal”.

Note that we could replace “plumber” with “pipe repairman”, “pipe fitter”, etc. In short, any term that approaches the type of service you are positioning yourself on or want to position yourself on.

If you don’t know which keywords to position yourself on, start from the area you work in and brainstorm. Alternatively, you can use special tools such as SEMrush, Ubersuggest, etc.

 

Of course, using these keywords wisely is not enough, you also need, as with any web content, to apply a number of SEO practices if you want your local landing pages to be properly optimized.

Create SEO-optimized content

When you create content for your local pages, there are many things to consider. First, your pages should provide a user experience similar to the homepage of your site. They should also have the same structure.

Second, your content has to be relevant, unique and engaging.

Create a unique description

For each service you offer, make sure that its description is unique. Focus on what you do best. Show why you are a better choice than one of your competitors who may be closer to your target.

You should also link them to case studies of local clients you have worked with. You can also link these pages to other services you offer. This will create internal linking and add consistency to the whole of your site.

Note: on these pages, you can also highlight certain products or promotions, emphasize the guarantees you offer, etc.

Add trust factors

After describing your services, you can add several elements that will allow you to establish a relationship of trust with Internet users.

Start by adding testimonials from your satisfied customers. These are very important, since they not only legitimize the quality of your services, but they are also an excellent way to add details about them. That’s right! Who better to talk about you than your customers?

You can also display your different partnerships. This shows that your services are recognized by other companies. This also anchors them more firmly in their geographical area.

Finally, if you have certifications or have received awards for your services, now is the time to show them off!

Add visuals

Visuals (images, videos, etc.) are also very important for your local page content. They make reading more pleasant, but above all, they can be geographically tagged to provide another local signal to search engines.

These videos and images can be used to introduce your team, showcase your expertise, etc. In short, use them to create a connection with Internet users.

Don’t forget to add a map to your local page to pinpoint your services, areas served, or any other item you think is useful.

Avoid creating duplicate content

As mentioned above, while you can use the same template for your local pages, it is not recommended to use the same content and change a few words.

Using the example of our plumbing company. You shouldn’t just change the title “Expert Plumber in Montreal” to “Expert Plumber in Laval” and leave the rest of the content unchanged. This would create duplicate content and you could risk getting on Google’s bad side. At best, it will ignore your local page, at worst, it will punish you by removing your site from search results or downgrading it.

Therefore, it is recommended to create content for each area you have selected (unique description, customer reviews from that area, map of the area, etc.). As with any of your pages, make sure that your content is high quality and relevant. This requires that your information be clear and precise, so that the Internet user is encouraged to take action.

Creating local pages doesn’t absolve you of local SEO practices

Page optimization alone is not enough to guarantee you a good ranking in local search results. Therefore, we highly recommend setting up an SEO strategy for your website and creating a Google My Business listing (if you haven’t done so already). It would be a shame to ignore this tool given that it is free and effective ;).

Conclusion

You now understand how to improve your SEO with local landing pages. All you need to do now is take charge!

To summarize, local pages are not intended for all companies. They only concern companies that offer local services and want to position themselves in search results for a specific area. Local landing pages are a very useful local SEO practice and help you easily stand out from your competitors.

If you find this task too complicated or if you do not have the time for it, you can contact us for personalized assistance.