Local Landing Pages: SEO Guide & Examples (Checklist Included)

Updated
Posted by Dalton Luka

A local landing page is a web page that’s created and optimized to generate visibility and traffic in a target locality. For local businesses, this is generally a physical location or service area that targets a specific keyword. This includes the website that is linked to from your Google My Business listing (now called Google Business Profile).

Use this local landing page checklist to improve local rankings, traffic, and lead generation for your business.

Follow this checklist and examples to create and optimize local landing pages:

URL contains keyword and/or target location

Google uses on-page signals such as the URL to rank webpages.

Include the target keyword and/or location in the page’s URL (ultimately, what to include will depend on the niche).

Example for a plumber with several locations in Phoenix Arizona:

✔️ example.com/phoenix/

✔️ example.com/phoenix-plumber/

❌ example.com/plumber-plumbing-company-in-phoenix-arizona/

Note: For many local businesses, this will be the website’s homepage and URL modifications will not apply.

Keyword and target location in page title

Another on-page signal is the page’s title tag.

An example of an SEO title tag on a local landing page

This should include the target keyword (or variation) and the target locality. Also, the title tag of the page should be under 60 characters in length.

Example:

✔️ Phoenix Plumbers - 24/7 Services - Master Flow Plumbing

❌ Plumber Phoenix AZ - Best Plumbing Company & Plumbing Services

Keyword or variation and location in meta description

Although the meta description itself isn’t a notable ranking signal. However, click-through rate is a strong ranking signal and is impacted by the web page’s meta description.

An example of an SEO meta description on a local landing page

The local landing page’s meta description should include the target keyword (or variation) and the target location less than or equal to 160 characters.

Example:

✔️ Master Flow Plumbing of Phoenix provides professional residential and commercial plumbing installation and service 24/7.

❌ As a Phoenix plumber, our residential and commercial plumbing company is available 24/7 for emergency plumbing installations & repairs, water heater installations, and drain cleaning services.

Pro Tip: The local landing page should contain unique and localized content that is focused on a specific service category or subcategory.

Keyword or variation and location appears in H1

A local landing page should also have an optimized h1 tag. This should include the target keyword or variation and not include excessive keywords.

Example:

✔️ Phoenix Plumbers - 24/7 Services

❌ Phoenix, AZ Plumber & Best Plumbing Company

Intro content (first 100 words) contains keyword or variation and location

Keyword prominence is a ranking factor, meaning that the target keyword should appear in prominent locations of the web page or local landing page In addition to the URL, title, and h1 of the page, this should also be applied to the first paragraph of the page (especially in the viewport).

Example:

✔️ Master Flow Plumbing of Phoenix provides professional residential and commercial plumbing installation and service 24/7.

❌ As a Phoenix plumber, our residential and commercial plumbing company is available 24/7 for emergency plumbing installations & repairs, water heater installations, and drain cleaning services.

This should match or be VERY similar to the page’s meta description.

Page contains at least one image relevant to keyword and location

As media consumption has risen over the last decade, it has also become more correlated with ranking factors. To ensure your local landing page is optimized, include at least one unique JPG image with the relevant keyword and location in the file name and alt text.

Example:

✔️ <img src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/master-flow-plumbing-phoenix.jpg" alt="The plumbing technicians at Master Flow Plumbing in Phoenix" >

❌ <img src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/phoenix-plumbing-company-plumbers.png" alt="Phoenix plumber" >

Pro Tip: This image should also be used as the og:image meta property and image for open graph social sharing.

NAP & business hours appear in main content or footer

Include the business name, address, and phone number details of the location. Also, be sure to include the business’s operating hours. This information should be included in the main content, footer, or both, depending on the number of physical locations.

Page contains GMB / Maps embed or link

The local landing page that represents the primary business category (see full Google My Business category list) should also include an embedded Google map.

Here’s how to embed a Google Map:

  1. Perform a Google Search for your business
  2. Use the Google Maps element
  3. Click the Share button
  4. Choose the Embed a map option
  5. Select Copy HTML
  6. Embed this HTML on the local landing page
An example of a Google Maps embed

Page showcases relevant GMB Reviews

The local landing page should also include reviews that are local and keyword-specific.

Example:

✔️ Mike with Master Flow Plumbing was the best. He helped us with a new installation, and was completely transparent with the whole process. - Andy G.

❌ Would highly recommend!

Footer externally links to social media profiles

On average, social signals carry less weight than on-page and Google My Business, and review signals, they shouldn’t be overlooked.

Your brand should have all relevant social media profiles created, optimized, and linked to from relevant local landing pages.

For most businesses, this will include:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Having your business established on each of these platforms can help increase trust signals and create a set of foundational social media links to your website.

Content is competitive (Surfer SEO score)

One of the most important factors for local landing pages is that their overall on-page score is competitive when compared to top ranking pages in Google search.

Surfer SEO provides a data-driven on-page SEO score for how your local landing page stacks up when compared to local competitors.

Here’s how to get your on-page SEO score:

Surfer's content score and guidelines

Pro Tip: For most niches and local landing pages, a Surfer Score of 70 will be sufficient. Additionally, be sure that niche and general directories like Yelp! are excluded from your analysis.

Page has LocalBusiness Schema

Once your on-page has been optimized with Surfer, it’s add LocalBusiness Schema Markup to the web page.

Example:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "http://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "The Fang Law Firm",
  "url":"https://masterflowplumbing.com/phoenix/",
  "description": "Master Flow Plumbing of Phoenix provides professional residential and commercial plumbing installation and service 24/7.",
  "logo" : "https://masterflowplumbing.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/master-flow-plumbing-logo.jpg",
  "image" : "https://masterflowplumbing.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/master-flow-plumbing-phoenix.jpg",
  "telephone": " (123) 456-7891",
  "priceRange": " Free Estimate",
  "openingHours" : "Mon - Sunday: Open 24 Hours",
  "hasMap": "https://goo.gl/maps/abdcedefghijklulz",
  "address":
    {
      "@type": "PostalAddress",
      "streetAddress": "1234 Street Name",
      "addressLocality": "Phoenix",
      "addressRegion": "AZ",
      "postalCode": "85020",
      "addressCountry": "USA"
    },
  "sameAs":[
  "https://www.linkedin.com/company/master-flow-plumbing/",
  "https://twitter.com/master-flow-plumbing",
  "https://www.facebook.com/master-flow-plumbing/"
  ]
}
</script>

Once LocalBusiness Schema has been added to your local landing page, it’s important to test that it’s working by using Schema’s Structured Data Testing Tool (SDTT).

Page is mobile friendly

Since the majority of local searches are performed via a mobile device, it’s important to make sure that your local landing pages are mobile friendly.

Here’s how:

  1. Head over to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool
  2. Enter the URL of your local landing page

If your local landing page is mobile friendly, you should see this result…

If your page is not mobile friendly, it suggests that there may be an issue with your website’s theme, and SEO web design may be needed.

Page is indexed

Once updates and optimizations for your local landing page is completed, submit it for indexation via Google Search Console.

Afterwards, be sure to analyze the impact of optimizations.

Local Landing Page Examples

Let’s take a look at some good (and not so good) examples of local landing pages…

Here’s a good example of a local landing page…

A good example of a local landing page

Here’s why it works:

✔️ Includes noticeable CTAs

✔️ Has a link to specials / offers

✔️ Includes target keywords in prominent places

✔️ Page is responsive across all devices

✔️ Links to other relevant location pages in surrounding areas (not pictured)

✔️ Features social proofing with customer reviews & completed projects (not pictured)

As a result, this page ranks quite highly in search for its target keywords.

Here’s a not so good example of a local landing page…

A bad example of a local landing page

Here’s why it doesn’t work:

❌ Features extremely large image in viewport

❌ Page has an overall poor heading structure

❌ Most prominent CTA is hiring-related and not customer-centric

❌ Overall inconsistent branding with an unsettling color palette

❌ Does not showcase customer reviews

As a result of these mistakes, this page ranks quite poorly in search results.

With this guide and local landing page checklist, you should be able optimize your local landing page and improve your rankings in search.

Happy SEO-ing 🙂