Location pages are one of the highest-ROI assets a local business can build — but most of them are too thin to rank. This guide shows you exactly how to create location pages that earn Google's trust and drive real traffic.
If you serve customers in more than one city, you need location pages. Not because your web developer said so — because Google's local algorithm relies on them to determine where you're actually relevant.
Here's the problem: most location pages are built wrong. They're thin, templated pages that swap out the city name and call it done. Google sees through that immediately. The businesses ranking with location pages have done something fundamentally different.
Location pages signal to Google that your business genuinely serves a specific area — and they're one of the fastest ways to rank in cities where you don't have a physical address.
Google's local algorithm uses three factors to determine ranking: proximity, relevance, and prominence. If you don't have a GBP listing in a city, a well-built location page is your strongest relevance signal for that market. A roofing company in Dallas, TX without a Denver office can still rank for "roofing contractor Denver" with the right location page — but only if the page gives Google enough to work with.
💡 Pro Tip: Location pages work best when paired with Google Business Profile listings. If you have a physical presence in multiple cities, create both a GBP listing and a dedicated location page for each.
Action Step: List every city where you currently serve customers. That list is the starting point for your location page strategy.
Target cities where you already have customers, reviews mentioning that city, or a realistic service area radius from your address.
Don't build 50 location pages at once. Google's quality raters can tell when you're mass-producing pages for markets you've never actually served. Start with 5-10 cities where you have real business activity. Expand from there as you build credibility in each market.
📊 Flento Data: Businesses with 5 or fewer location pages and genuine local signals outrank businesses with 30+ templated pages 73% of the time in competitive markets.
Criteria for choosing target cities:
Action Step: Use Google Search Console to find which cities are already sending you organic traffic. Those are your priority location pages.
Every location page needs five structural elements to rank: a unique H1 with city name, an intro that mentions the city naturally, service sections, social proof from that area, and a locally-embedded map.
The structure matters because Google scans for signals that confirm the page is genuinely about serving that location — not just mentioning it. A page that buries the city name in one heading and never references it again signals thin content.
Required page structure:
⚠️ Common Mistake: Embedding the same Google Map on every location page. If you have a single office, link to your service area map for each city — not your headquarters pinned 200 miles away.
Action Step: Build a template with these six sections, then customize each one for every city. The customization is what separates ranking pages from thin pages.
The content on each location page must be genuinely different — not just a find-and-replace on the city name.
I know what you're thinking: "Kevin, writing unique content for 20 cities is a lot of work." It is. But here's what I've seen consistently: the businesses that do it right typically rank in 6-8 cities within 90 days. The ones who mass-produce thin pages rank in zero. The math works out.
Ways to make content unique per location:
Local specifics: Reference neighborhood names, local landmarks, or community-specific context. A plumber in Nashville can mention Germantown or East Nashville. A roofer in Phoenix can reference heat-related roofing issues specific to the Valley.
Local reviews: Pull 2-3 genuine reviews from customers in that city and display them on the page. These are real, location-specific signals.
Local projects: Describe a real job you completed in that area. Even one sentence about a project on [Street] in [Neighborhood] adds authenticity that templated content can't replicate.
Local FAQ: Answer questions that customers in that specific market actually ask. Tax and permit questions differ by city. Insurance requirements differ by state. These details make pages feel locally authoritative.
🔥 Quick Win: Search "[your service] + [city name]" on Google. The People Also Ask box shows you exactly what local questions customers are asking. Answer those on your location page.
Each location page needs a primary keyword (service + city) and 3-5 secondary keywords (variations of service + city, service area phrases).
Local keyword research for location pages is straightforward: [service] [city], [service] near [city], [service] in [city state], [city] [service] company, [city] [service] contractor.
Don't try to target every variation on one page. Focus on one primary keyword per page, support it with natural secondary variations, and let Google figure out the rest.
Keyword placement checklist:
/services/plumbing-denver/ or /denver-plumber/💡 Pro Tip: Avoid using your primary keyword more than once every 200 words. Location pages that over-stuff keywords read as spam to both Google and real customers.
Action Step: Write one meta title per location page following this formula: [Primary Keyword] | [Brand Name] — [City, State]
LocalBusiness schema with location-specific details helps Google understand the geographic relevance of each page — and can unlock rich results in local search.
Schema markup on location pages tells Google what type of business you are, where you're located (or where you serve), and how to contact you. It's technical, but the implementation is straightforward if you use a plugin or Flento's built-in schema tools.
Essential schema fields for location pages:
@type: LocalBusiness (or more specific: Plumber, Dentist, AutoRepair)name: Your business nameaddress: City and state of the location page (your office if you have one there, or your service area)telephone: Local phone number if you have one for that marketareaServed: The city or region the page targetsurl: The location page URL📊 Flento Data: Pages with properly implemented LocalBusiness schema are 2.3x more likely to earn a rich result snippet in local search than pages without schema.
Action Step: Use Google's Rich Results Test to verify your schema is valid before publishing. Fix any errors — invalid schema can suppress your page.
Internal links to and from your location pages are essential — they tell Google these pages are part of your site's core structure, not orphaned content.
A location page with no internal links pointing to it is invisible to Google's crawlers. Build a clear hierarchy: your homepage links to a "Locations" or "Service Areas" page, which links to individual location pages. Then link from relevant blog posts to the matching location page.
Internal linking structure:
🔥 Quick Win: Add a "Cities We Serve" section to your homepage with links to your top 5-10 location pages. This alone can get Google to crawl and index them faster.
According to Google's SEO Starter Guide, making your site structure clear through internal links helps Google discover and understand your most important pages.
Thin content: Pages under 500 words rarely rank for competitive local terms. Aim for 800-1,200 words of genuinely useful content per location page.
Duplicate content: Swapping city names in otherwise identical content is the fastest way to get your location pages filtered out of search results. Google is very good at detecting this.
No local proof: A location page with zero mention of actual work done in that city, real customer names, or local reviews feels manufactured — because it is.
Wrong or missing GBP connection: If you have a GBP listing for a location, your website should link to the matching location page (not your homepage). Mismatched signals confuse Google.
Keyword cannibalization: If your services page and your location pages both target "plumber Austin TX," they'll compete with each other. Define clear intent for each page type.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Building location pages for cities where you have no customers, no reviews, and no actual service history. Google's quality raters can detect content written for geographic targeting without real local substance.
Flento's Business Listing Management Software automatically syncs your business information across location-specific directory listings — which directly supports the local signals your location pages need to rank. When your NAP is consistent across directories for each city you serve, Google gains confidence that you genuinely operate there.
Flento's Local Keyword Rank Tracker lets you monitor how each location page is performing in search results — so you can see which cities are gaining traction and which need more work.
/plumber-denver/)✅ Done? See how Flento helps you manage your local presence across multiple cities → Try Flento free
How long should a location page be? 800-1,200 words is the sweet spot for most service businesses. Pages under 500 words rarely rank for competitive searches. Pillar location pages for your primary markets can go up to 1,500 words.
Can I use the same content on multiple location pages? No. Duplicate content across location pages is one of the fastest ways to get them filtered from search results. Every page needs unique content, even if the structure is similar.
Do I need a Google Business Profile for every location page I create? Not necessarily. A GBP listing strengthens a location page significantly, but you can rank with a location page alone if your content and local signals are strong enough. If you have a physical office in a city, always create a GBP listing.
How many location pages should I create? Start with the cities where you have the most existing business activity. 5-10 well-built pages outperform 50 thin ones. Expand once your initial pages are ranking.
How long does it take for a location page to rank? With proper optimization, expect 60-120 days for a new location page to start appearing in search results. Pages with strong internal linking and local proof signals can rank faster.