If you’re a small business and you’re trying to rank on Google, you need to have local landing pages on your website that have been specifically created and optimized to connect your business with local clientele. Local landing pages typically feature your service area or physical location and target a specific keyword.
Search engines look for these keywords when deciding how to rank websites and display them to potential customers.
We’ve created this local landing page guide to help you understand how you can create and optimize these pages to increase your chances of ranking in top positions and increase your visibility in local searches.
Page URL
Your business’ page URL is the building block of Google’s search rankings. These are known as ‘on-page signals’ and help Google determine how to rank your website. When crafting your page URL, be sure to include the target keyword in the URL. This target keyword is usually your niche that clients will use in their search query. Additionally, you’ll want to include your business location. It’s best to keep these short and simple.
Here’s an example of how you’d want to do it:
✅ /plumbing-phoenix-az/
❌ /plumbing-phoenix-arizona-best-plumber-company/
Title Tag
Your page’s title tag is another on-page signal that Google looks for when ranking your website. A title tag is what appears in your browser tab at the top of the page but it’s also the title that shows up on the search engine result page (SERP) when someone sees your page.
Your websites page title tag should include the target keyword with your niche and the location you’re trying to target. Additionally, the title tag should be less than 60 characters in length so it doesn’t truncate in the SERPs. It should be short, sweet and to the point.
Here’s how you should set them up:
✅ The Premier Phoenix Plumbers | Joes Plumbing
❌ Phoenix, AZ Plumbers & Best Plumbing Company | Joes Plumbing
Meta Description
This is a short (<160 characters) description of the content of your webpage. With local landing pages, your meta description should include your city and target keyword and provide an accurate and enticing description to try and get users engaged. The meta description also shows up on the SERP page so you want to write something enticing that will get the user to click through.
Meta descriptions don’t necessarily help your business to rank higher on their own, but they are directly tied to your business’ click-through rate, which is examined by Google when ranking pages.
Here’s an example of what you could have:
✅ Joe’s Plumbing has been a top-rated plumber in Phoenix since 1990. We offer same day plumbing services and work nights & weekends. Call (888)-888-8888 today!
❌ Welcome to our site. We are a company that does things for people who need stuff done. If you want services, we might have them. Check out our pages to see what we offer. We are in the business of doing business, and our website has information. You can find things here if you look for them. Our services are available sometimes.
H1 and Heading Tags
A good location landing page needs to have one H1 tag, which should include the city + service keyword. You can just use the same content as your meta title if you want here. Avoid using multiple keywords in your H1 tag.
You also want to add H2, H3 tags down the page with relevant keywords as well. There’s a few ways you can find out the related keywords you could use but a quick way to do it is by looking at the Google autocomplete for your main keyword to see if there’s anything in the dropdown. You can also look at the People Also Ask section to get some ideas.
Here’s a good example of a solid H1:
✅ Phoenix’s Premier Plumbing Company
❌ Joe’s Plumbing Arizona
Introductory Content (First 100 Words)
They say that introductions are everything. The same is true with your local landing pages! The first one hundred words of introductory content on your landing page counts toward your keyword prominence, which is another ranking factor that Google uses to determine the ranking of your page. You want your main keyword to be present at the top of your local landing page.
This introductory content can be very similar to your meta description as well, no need to recreate the wheel here but we do want around 100-200 words after your H1.
You can take a look at our Plano web design local landing page here for a good example.
General Content Guidelines
Topic coverage is key to the success of your landing page. In addition to the introduction, the general outline of your content should be relevant to the city / service you’re targeting. Whilst the general content will vary depending on your niche and target keywords, it should follow this basic outline.
- Describe the service in-depth
- Use H2-H3s where you can on the page with relevant keywords
- Use high-quality images to showcase the service / work
- Include customer testimonials and positive reviews
- Include an FAQ (frequently asked question) section towards the bottom
- Internally link other location pages with buttons or contextual links
Relevant Images
Another important aspect of a successful landing page is that it features relevant, high-quality images of the services that it provides. These images should be directly related to the geographical location and be optimized for both mobile users and desktop devices.
Your local landing page should always feature at least one image, with the associated keyword and location in the filename and alt text.
Contact Information & Business Hours
Your local landing page should contain your name, address and phone number. As this is how your customers-to-be will contact you, it’s important that this information is present on all of your local landing pages, typically we like to see these towards the footer.
Pro Tip: It’s critical to ensure that your NAP (name, address and phone number) are consistent across your various websites and any social media accounts that you may operate for your business. NAP audits are a great way to double-check that your contact information remains the same across various online profiles and postings.
Correct Embedding of Google Maps/Google Business Profile
It’s important to include an embed of either your Google Business Profile or Google Maps on your page. If you have a Google Business Profile you’ll want to link that instead of the Google Maps. You could put this near your Address & Phone number similar to the bottom of this page on McKinney Roofing.
Here are the steps to properly embed Google Maps within your local landing page.
- Perform a Google Search for your business.
- Click the Share link.
- Choose the “Embed a map” option.
- Select “Copy HTML“.
- Embed this HTML code in your local landing page.
It’s important to note that if you have multiple business locations and multiple local landing pages, that these embedded Google Maps links should accurately reflect the location of your business in that city.
Google Business Profile Reviews
Effective local landing pages serve not only as a bridge between your business and potential customers but also as a platform to establish trust and credibility. Adding Google Business Profile (GBP) reviews directly onto your landing pages is a powerful strategy to achieve this. Reviews and testimonials are among the first things savvy customers look for when considering a new service or product. They provide social proof, a key component that could make or break the odds of a customer reaching out. Positive feedback from past customers gives visitors confidence of the quality and reliability of your services. Given that a significant portion of purchase decisions are influenced by reviews, featuring positive Google Business Profile reviews prominently on your landing page can dramatically enhance conversion rates.
Social Media Profiles
While maintaining a dedicated, cohesive and connective social media strategy is critical for the success of modern businesses, social media profiles don’t rank as highly among Google’s search engine algorithms as you might think.
However, this does not mean that you can neglect your social media presence. Far from it. Your brand should have all of the relevant social media profiles, with optimization, that are linked properly from your local landing pages. Having these accessible from your local landing pages helps Google Business Profile to add them to your business listing.
Your business should have social media profiles for most, if not all of the following social media:
- Facebook
- Instagram
- LinkedIn
- Twitter
- YouTube
Depending on the specific business model of your company, all of these platforms may not make sense, however, all companies should at least have a Facebook page. With most modern businesses, the more connected you can be to the internet, the more opportunities you’ll have to show up in non-local searches and generate organic traffic for your website.
In general, businesses that maintain a social media presence are seen as being more trustworthy than those that do not.
LocalBusiness Schema Markup
Schema Markup is code that can be added to your local landing page to help Google better understand it’s content. By adding Schema Markup, you are providing more readable data to Google’s search engine ranking algorithm.
If you’re using WordPress, you can use a plugin like RankMath which automatically adds LocalBusiness schema if you follow the steps here.
If you want to install it manually on your website you can use this – https://microdatagenerator.org/localbusiness-microdata-generator/
Once you have added LocalBusiness Schema to your local landing page, you need to test the efficacy of the code by using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
Mobile Friendliness
Today, almost everyone searches for local businesses on their mobile device. Given this ever-increasing trend, it’s critical that your website and local landing page are optimized for mobile-user friendliness.
If your page performs poorly on mobile, your website design may need a revamp, steering it more towards SEO-based web design.
Indexation
Indexation is the final step in the process of crafting high-converting local landing pages that bring in your ideal customer! Once you’ve gone through the steps of transforming your local landing page into a high-ranking SEO-rich webpage, you can submit it to Google for indexation through Google Search Console.
Indexation should take a little over a week, but to give it a better chance of achieving a higher ranking index, ensure that the landing page is being linked from 2 other pages on your website. Internally linking your pages together helps Google crawl it faster.
Successful Local Landing Page Examples:
Example 1
Here’s Why It Works:
✅ Included the location & service in the H1
✅ Special offer front and center
✅ Social proof high up on the page
✅ 2,196 words on the page
✅ Prominent placement of target keywords throughout the page
✅ Page is properly optimized across all device platforms.
✅ Links to relevant location pages in surrounding areas.
✅ Customer reviews and completed projects reinforce an authoritative, trustworthy business narrative, complete with happy customers.
Example 2
Here’s Why It Works:
✅ Location & Service in the H1
✅ Location & Service in the H2
✅ 1,626 words on the page
✅ Prominent placement of target keywords throughout the page
✅ Page is properly optimized across all device platforms.
✅ Map of service areas
✅ Social Proof
Conclusion
As you can see local landing pages are a great local SEO strategy for small businesses and it’s something we implement on all of the local SEO campaigns we run with our clients. It drives highly targeted traffic at your website with users that are typically looking for your services and are ready to buy. If you’re wanting to implement this strategy on your website then Icepick Web Design & SEO can help!