How to Create Content for Local Landing Pages for SEO?

What Are Local Landing Pages?

Local landing pages include content specifically made for a local audience. The goal of these local landing pages is to appear in local search results and attract new customers from your geographic area (or customers who specifically look for a service or product in your area).

There are different types of local landing pages. Let’s take the example of a restaurant chain that has different locations in multiple cities. Each location has its own local landing page with all important business information, a small map, and a text with unique characteristics. We refer to this type of landing page as a store page.

Additionally, you can also have local landing pages for specific services. This type of local landing page is essential for businesses that don’t have a physical location. The focus here lies on the offered service and the city, neighborhoods or areas where this service is offered.

Lastly, we have local blog articles that can further draw in new local customers. You can think of a blog page about “New York City’s favorite winter cocktails” or “Why you should always keep the number of your New York emergency plumber on speed dial.” While these pages should not be your first priority, they still give Google more context about your business and draw the connection between your expertise and your location.

Why Are Local Landing Pages Important for Local SEO?

Local landing pages aim to attract customers from organic search results. They draw potential customers through searches like “restaurant near me” or “doctor in [city].”

Let’s analyze a typical SERP for better understanding.

1. You can see sponsored ads.

2. Next, you see the Google map pack (or 3-pack) results. To appear here you need to optimize your Google Business Profile.

3. Lastly, you see the organic search results. Here is where you want to get your local landing pages to rank!

While paid ads require a financial investment, appearing in the Google Map Pack and organic search results can be achieved through effective local SEO optimization. Securing visibility in both areas significantly enhances your online presence, drawing more potential customers - your ultimate goal.

Local landing pages also play a crucial role in building trust. Combined with citations on business directories, they ensure accuracy and confirm to Google that your business is legitimate and its online information is reliable. By improving your visibility directly, and indirectly boosting your Google Business Profile’s ranking in the Map Pack, local landing pages become invaluable. This is especially important, as the Map Pack remains the go-to place for users with local search intent.

Which Businesses Need Local Landing Pages?

If you run a local business that primarily serves a local audience, implementing local landing pages is essential. This applies to brick-and-mortar businesses with physical locations as well as service area providers. Even hotels, though they may not serve a local audience, cater to guests searching specifically for accommodations in your area. Especially if you have multiple locations in different cities or neighborhoods (or even countries), local landing pages are a must.

It’s not just physical locations that benefit from local landing pages. If you offer an online service, you can still leverage these pages to optimize for local SEO. For instance, think of keywords like “Local SEO services Amsterdam” or “Online Marketing New York.”

How to Create Local SEO-Friendly Landing Pages?

Let’s have a look at how to create both, local landing pages for your location (store pages) but also local landing pages specifically for local content (e.g., blog articles or service pages). The following strategies will take you through the process of creating local SEO-friendly landing pages.

Research Local Keywords

First, you need a set of keywords that you know are actually searched by your local audience. Use a keyword research tool (for instance, Google Keyword Planner, which is free) to find keywords with a high keyword volume.

Other than the local keywords for your Google Business Profile, keywords for your website should be high in volume but low in keyword difficulty. Otherwise, they will get too competitive. We recommend that you always choose keywords that are realistic for your domain ranking (try this free domain rank checker). If you only have a domain rank of 20, a keyword with a difficulty of 80 will be too competitive.

Try to find niche keywords (and longtail keywords). Instead of “restaurant near me,” choose the keyword “Italian pizza restaurant near me,” which is less competitive and still has an adequate volume.

Create a keyword list for each of your locations. Make sure you have general keywords such as “restaurant near me” but also more specific keywords such as “best cocktails in [city]” to be able to create localized blog pages.

Learn more about how to research keywords for local SEO.

Create an Overview Page for All Store Pages

Next, you need to create an overview page where all your store pages will be listed (and can be accessed individually). Make sure your overview page is easily findable through the homepage and menu bar for maximum user-friendliness. Give it a name such as “Our Locations” and add a search bar on top in case you have quite a number of locations.

If you only have one location, you can skip the overview page and link directly to the store page from the homepage and your menu bar. Give it an anchor text such as “Find Us” or “Our Location.”

Create Individual Store Pages

Now we will focus on the actual store pages. Create a page for each of your locations and stick to the following format.

• URL Structure: Use the same URL structure for each page and change the location-specific parameter. Example: ww.italian-kitchen. com/locations/[city/neighbourhood/street]
• Title Tag: Use a correct title tag that features your company name and the specific location such as Italian Kitchen | First Street New York.
• Meta Description: Give each page a descriptive meta description where you include your name and location. (Example: Visit Italian Kitchen, your go-to Italian restaurant on First Street New York, and indulge in tasty pizza, fresh pasta, and mouth-watering salads. Open 7 days a week.) We have marked the company name, location, and specific keywords in bold. Menu items as well as your business category (Italian restaurant) should be mentioned as well.
• Headings: Each page should have an H1 heading (in this case, this should be again your name, preferably business category, and location but let’s look at the full structure example:
• H1: Visit Italian Kitchen - Italian restaurant on First Street New York
• Small text with location-specific characteristics
• H2: Address & Contact
• H2: Opening Hours

• H2: Menu (or Services)
• H2: Gallery
• H2: What Our Customers Think About Italian Kitchen on First Street New York

• Optional: H2 [Special Events & Promotions]
• Optional: Meet Our Team at Italian Kitchen on First Street New York
• Optional: Contact Form (or link to contact form)

Include NAP on Your Store Pages

Make sure you include your NAP on each store page. This should be at least the location name, address, phone number, and email address, but also the opening hours. They should be the exact same as on your GBP and other directories!

Include a Map with a Pin on Each Store Page

The best and most convenient thing is to insert a small map with a pin for your location on each store page. This way, potential customers can immediately see where exactly your location is. When seeing just the address, many people cannot immediately place where your location actually is.

Service Pages for Service Area Providers and Virtual Offers

If you are a service area provider, traveling to your clients (for example, a plumber, make-up artist, or locksmith), you won’t create pages for your physical location (since no client wants to visit your home, obviously). Instead, you’ll create pages targeting specific neighborhoods or areas where you provide your services.

• H1: Plumber Joe - Emergency Plumbing Services [City / Neighborhood]
• Small text with location-specific characteristics and your services
• H2: Contact details
  • (business name, phone number, e-mail address; instead of a full address, mention your service area)
• H2: Operating Hours
  • E.g., 24h service incl. weekends
• H2: Services
• H2: Gallery
• H2: How our Clients Experienced Our Emergency Plumbing Services in [City / Neighbourhood]
• Optional: Meet the Plumber Joe Team

You can still include a map that highlights your service area! This is particularly helpful for businesses like plumbers, electricians, or other service providers who operate in specific regions.

In this example, consider adding a widget for immediate calls, as clients needing emergency services (like a plumber) are more likely to call rather than wait for an email response. Of course, this approach depends on the nature of your business, but for urgent or on-demand services, making it easy for customers to reach you instantly is key!

Post Engaging Photos Specific to Each Location

Include unique images for each location in the form of a small gallery. Whether you run a restaurant, hair salon, clinic, or hotel, potential customers want to get a feel for where they’ll be visiting. Feature images of your interior, staff, and the surrounding area. You can also highlight location-specific products and offers, such as special amenities, menu items, or services.

For service pages dedicated to a service area business, include images of the neighborhood or pictures taken during a job in the respective area. These visuals help build credibility and give customers a clearer idea of your work and presence in their community.

Incorporate Customer Reviews for Each Location

Including a few customer reviews for each location can further build trust and motivate potential customers to take the next step - whether that’s contacting, booking, or directly visiting your business. Since each of your locations has its own GBP, you can select a few standout reviews from there and showcase them directly on these pages.

For service area providers (or online businesses), you can display general reviews instead. As you don’t have a physical location, your focus is on the quality of your service, which isn’t tied to a specific location.

Share Location-Specific Promotions or Events

Include some special offers or events on your store pages to further capture potential customers' attention. You can also link to special services or relevant blog pages. This can further motivate customers to book or visit directly!

Show or Link the Team Members of Each Location

If you want, you can showcase the team members of each location. Share a photo of each team member along with a link to their profile. This works especially well for businesses where building trust and personal connections are key, such as law firms, beauty clinics, hairdressers, tattoo studios, or doctor’s offices. In these industries, customers often need to feel a personal match with the person providing the service.

Create a Blog with Local Content

Now let’s focus on creating a blog page for localized content. Create a blog overview page that will be linked either directly on your homepage or in your menu bar (the most common option).

Make sure you follow this structure for each blog post:

• URL Structure: Ensure a neat URL structure, for instance, ww. italian-kitchen.com/blog/best-pizza-in-new-york. Don’t make the URL too long, and don’t use any special characters or weird number combinations.
• Meta Description + Title Tag: Give each blog a descriptive title tag (no longer than 60 characters) and a meta description (no longer than 160 characters). Include your main keyword in both of them.
• Headers: Your title should be an H1. It can be the same as your title tag, but it can also be formulated differently. For the H1 title on your blog page, you don’t have to stick to 60 characters (but also don’t write a long sentence). Pay attention to the right header structure. Continue with further dividing your text with H2 (then H3, H4, etc.).
• Images: Ensure each image you upload has a proper image file name (you can include a matching keyword) and a descriptive alt-text (describe the image as if you were describing it to a blind person).
• Internal Links: Add relevant internal links to other web pages. For example, if certain phrases match the content of another blog article, make sure you link to the specific article. While internal links are not as powerful as external backlinks (from other websites to your website), they can still help with a clear and user-friendly structure of your website, which will impact your rankings as well!
• Call-to-Actions: Include good Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons at the end of your blog article or after a good paragraph. CTAs can be, for instance, “Book now,” “Learn more,” or “Call now.” Anything that expects the customer to take action is considered a CTA.

Create Blogs and Guides Relevant to Your Niche and Location

Last but not least, you need to create the actual blogs. Focus on the keywords that you have researched in the first step. Check what competitors are already writing about these topics and see what is ranking in the first 5 results. Is there, for example, a featured snippet with a list shown? Make sure you include a list in your article as well to have a chance to win the featured snippet. Obviously, you need to create better content than your competitors. Focus, therefore, on EEAT content.

EEAT stands for “Expertise, Experience, Authenticity, and Trustworthiness” and plays a crucial role in how Google will rank your content. The goal is to rank higher than thin content that is (most likely) written by ChatGPT and gives no new insights beyond the obvious and already existing content. Create content that is really made for the user instead of for the sole purpose of ranking. Thus, include your own experiences, mention anecdotes and findings, and explain why you are an expert in your field and why customers trust you.

Finally, ensure that you focus on your local audience. Here are some title examples for localized blogs for different businesses:

• Discover the 10 Most Liked Cocktails in New York This Winter
• The 10 Best Local Beach Bars in Miami Are Within Walking Distance of Hotel Beachy
• Discover the Best Hair Care Tips for the Cold Winter in Copenhagen
• Local Recipe of the Week: Vegan Veggie Bowl From Our Amsterdam Chef

Keep Your Local Landing Pages Updated

Maintaining consistency in your business information, particularly your NAP (name, address, phone number), across your Google Business Profile and all online directories - including your landing pages - is crucial. Inconsistencies can confuse Google—and potential customers—leading to a lower ranking for your Google Business Profile in the Map Pack. This can cost you hundreds of customers as only 0.63% click to the second page (as a study by Backlinko revealed).

Let’s avoid any risks by keeping your information consistently synchronized. Obenan provides a local listing technology that not only claims all available listings but also ensures your details remain up to date at all times. Additionally, our local pages application enables you to synchronize your local landing pages (for each specific location) with the information from your Google Business Profile and other directories. This ensures that every page is updated and uniquely tailored, helping you avoid the risk of being flagged as duplicate content!