A local landing page is a page built to rank for searches tied to a specific place where your business has a real presence. Location page strategy is the decision about which of those pages should exist, what each must contain, and where the line falls between legitimate local coverage and doorway pages.
The distinction that governs everything here is simple: a location page represents somewhere you are. A service area page represents somewhere you go. Confusing the two produces most of the location page problems worth fixing.
When a location page is justified
A page earns its place when there is genuinely something different to say about that location. Test it against these, and if none apply, the page probably should not exist.
- A physical presence. Premises customers can visit, or from which staff work.
- Distinct staff. Named people at that location, with their own credentials.
- A different service mix. Some services offered there and not elsewhere.
- Local proof. Reviews, work, clients or cases specific to that area.
- Genuinely different practical detail. Hours, parking, access, stock.
A page that has none of these has nothing to say beyond the place name, which is precisely the doorway page pattern.
What separates a real location page from a doorway page
Search engines have been identifying template-plus-place-name pages for a long time, and the pattern is easy to detect at scale.
- Doorway: identical copy with the place name substituted, generated for a list of suburbs.
- Doorway: addresses that are virtual offices, mailboxes or a relative’s house.
- Doorway: pages linked only from a footer list nobody uses.
- Real: content that could only have been written about that location.
- Real: local proof that would be inaccurate if moved to another page.
- Real: a page a customer in that area would find useful even without search.
A practical test: if you could swap the place name for another and the page would still read correctly, it is a doorway page.
What a location page should contain
- The full address, formatted consistently with your other listings and citations.
- Genuine opening hours, including any that differ from your other locations.
- Contact details for that location specifically, not a central switchboard alone.
- The services actually available there.
- Staff, where the business is one customers choose partly on people.
- Reviews from customers of that location, not a pooled feed.
- Practical detail: parking, access, public transport, entrances.
- An embedded map, and directions written for someone approaching from the main routes.
Structure and internal linking
- Give each location a stable URL under a consistent pattern.
- Link locations from navigation or a location index, not only from the footer.
- Link each location page to the services offered there, and back from those services.
- Avoid linking every location from every page, which flattens the signal.
- Match each page to its own Google Business Profile, so the profile and page agree.
Common mistakes
- Generating suburb pages in bulk for areas with no presence.
- Pooling all reviews onto every location page.
- Using one phone number across every location, which weakens the association.
- Publishing a location page before the premises actually opens.
- Leaving pages live after a location closes rather than redirecting them.
- Copying the service description verbatim across locations.
Where you operate several locations, the wider structural questions are covered under multi-location SEO, and a diagnostic review under multi-location SEO audit.
Frequently asked questions
How many location pages should we have?
One per genuine location. Not one per suburb you would like customers from. If you have three branches, three pages. Coverage of surrounding areas is a service-area question, not a page-count question.
Can we create pages for areas we serve but have no office in?
You can create service-area content, but it should not pretend to be a location. Do not publish an address you do not occupy. Frame it around the service and the area you travel to, and expect it to compete less strongly than a real premises would.
Should each location have its own phone number?
Where practical, yes. A distinct local number strengthens the association between the business and the area, and matches what appears on the profile. A single central number across many locations weakens each one.
What happens when a location closes?
Redirect the page to the nearest remaining location or the location index, and close the Google Business Profile properly rather than deleting it. Leaving a page live for a closed branch produces poor experiences and, eventually, poor signals.
Consulting CTA
If you have location pages that are not ranking, or you are unsure which locations justify their own page, book an SEO consultation for a location page review.