So like, I didn’t even know location pages were a thing till I saw someone ranking way above me for “freelance coach in Miami.” Wild. I was doing everything—keywords, backlinks, even paid ads—but still flatlined in local searches. Turns out I missed a big one: local location pages. Yeah. That.
One page with your address in the footer? Trash. I learned that the hard way.
here’s what I figured out (slowly but surely)
A location page isn’t just a random place to slap your city name. It’s like, its own fully cooked page, dripping in city-specific details. You want to be the answer when someone Googles “best thing in [insert your spot]” and that won’t happen with recycled blurbs and generic junk.
Imagine you got four shops: Chicago, Austin, Denver, and Boston. If all your pages say the same thing, you’re screaming “Google, I’m lazy.” Not good.
Why even bother with these pages? (spoiler: Google cares)
First off, search engines are nosy. They want to know exactly where you’re at and what you’re doing there. Location pages give them that. Real talk, my traffic literally doubled after I made three city-specific pages. No joke.
Second, people trust what looks familiar. If they land on a page with their city name, local map, reviews from nearby folks—they feel at home. That’s how trust starts, yo.
Third, it works. Period. That’s the point. The goal ain’t more pages—it’s more people who care.
My way of making them (it’s not rocket math, I swear)
Okay, you wanna make one? Lemme walk you through the chaos I call my method:
1. Messy Keyword Dives
First I hunted down phrases people actually type. Like “photographer in Tampa” or “dog groomer near Austin.” Added in local slang, neighborhood names, even some inside jokes if I could pull it off. You think small, you lose big.
2. Make Every Page Feel Local AF
No cookie-cutter content. If you’re copy-pasting the same paragraph into five pages and swapping the city name—Google sees you. And honestly? That’s boring as bricks.
Write like you’re talking to someone from there. Mention the farmer’s market, the local cafe, street names. I once wrote “just five minutes from where they shot that zombie movie downtown,” and people loved it. Authenticity is SEO gold.
3. The N.A.P. Thing (Name, Address, Phone)
Keep that stuff identical across your website and listings. I had a page say “Ste 104” and my Google profile said “Suite 104.” That mismatch? Killed my visibility. No clue why Google’s picky like that, but it is.
Also, drop in a Google Map embed. That little visual matters more than you think.
4. Schema stuff, aka techy things that help robots
You don’t gotta be a developer. I used one of those schema generators and filled in what I could. Business name, hours, phone number, that kind of thing. It tells Google what’s what.
Do I fully understand how schema works? Nope. Does it work? Definitely yes.
5. Meta tags (title + description, duh)
I make sure every location page’s meta title is loud and clear. Something like:
“Cozy Bookstore in Dallas – Find Your Next Read at Owl & Pine”
Then the description gives a reason to click, but I always squeeze the city in again. Feels like cheating but it isn’t.
6. Connect the dots (internal links, y’all)
I messed this up at first. Made great location pages… but nothing linked to them. Rookie move. You gotta add links on the homepage, your services page, maybe even blog posts like “Why Our Tampa Shop Smells Like Vanilla.”
Linking helps both people and algorithms crawl around.
7. Local voices. Real people. Trust me.
I tossed in a few testimonials from customers in each city. Not fake ones. I just asked real ones to drop a few words and got their permission to use ‘em. “Carla from Detroit says…” has more punch than “One happy client.”
Bonus: If you can add their selfie or tag their social? People eat that up.
8. Show your face (or building, or truck)
I uploaded a few photos of me at the local spot. Even if it’s just a pic of a dusty waiting room with a dog bed in the corner, it’s still yours. Google sees it. Humans feel it. Boom.
9. Make it phone-friendly or die trying
Mobile users outnumber desktop folks in local searches. It’s a fact I didn’t want to accept. But when I visited my own site on mobile and saw a janky layout, I cringed.
Now I test every location page on my phone before I hit publish. Tap-to-call buttons are a blessing.
10. Spy on your progress
I peek at my Google Search Console once a week—maybe more if I’m bored. It tells me what pages are doing okay and which ones need a slap. You don’t have to be obsessed, just check in.
You’d be shocked how much one tiny change (like fixing a misspelled city name—whoops) can boost impressions.
Some sneaky bonus tricks
If you’ve got more than one branch, make sure each one’s got its own Google Business Profile. Link it directly to the right page.
Then, hunt for backlinks from local blogs, Facebook groups, or event listings. Hyper-local links tell Google, “Hey, this business is really here.”
And don’t be afraid to add blog posts to your location pages. Something like “Our Team Volunteered at [Local Food Bank]” gives the page life and freshness.
The blunt truth
If you’re not using location pages and still hoping to rank in local searches, you’re basically whispering in a loud room. These pages ain’t optional. They’re the megaphone. They’re how you say, “Hey Google, hey people, I’m RIGHT HERE and I got what you need.”
So yeah, I slept on it too long. Now I’m building a new one every week. Each one sharper, funnier, better. And yes—higher in the search results.
Let your pages speak the local language. The web will listen.
Also, you can learn more about Local SEO here.