How Do Location Landing Pages Work in SEO?

Landing pages are a common staple in most digital marketing strategies. Even if you’re not heavily invested in marketing and advertising, you might have different pages of your website designed for different target audiences. Creating different landing pages allows you to customize your content for very specific types of people, ultimately increasing your chances of getting a conversion or at least winning someone over.

So how do location-based landing pages work in the context of search engine optimization (SEO)? And are they really as powerful as they’re claimed to be?

What is a location landing page?

Location landing pages are much like other types of landing pages. They are pages of your site that are optimized with highly specific content. They’re somewhat different from other landing pages for two reasons. First, they’re location-based. For example, you might have a different landing page for each major city in the continental United States. Second, they’re completely optimized for SEO. While you might have the secondary goal of appealing to specific people in specific cities, your primary motivation is getting more traffic from search engines.

The value of location landing pages for SEO

Why are location landing pages so valuable to SEO?

I won’t get into the fundamentals of SEO here, so you may need some background information to make sense of this. Suffice it to say: SEO is all about increasing traffic from search engines, and it requires you to create good content, establish a connection with audiences, generate relevant traffic and gradually expand your web presence.

Related: The Secret to Keyword Research for Local Businesses

Location landing pages help you in several ways:

• New pages with unique content. Each location landing page you add to your website is going to be a brand-new page with completely unique content on it. In the SEO world, more content isn’t necessarily better; your website may have 10,000 pages, but if all those pages are low quality, it’s not going to help you any. However, if each of these pages does provide valuable content, it can lift the authority of your website significantly.
• Local keyword optimization. More to the point, each location landing page gives you an opportunity to optimize a full page of your site for a location-specific keyword. If you want to target people in Tallahassee, or in Columbus, you can do that. If successful, you greatly increase your likelihood of being displayed to people who conduct searches in those regions.
• Relevance for niche audiences. This is also your opportunity to speak directly to a niche target audience. Your fans who live in urban California are going to have a much different perspective of your brand than your fans who live in rural Texas. These segmented landing pages allow you to target each one individually.
• Competitive differentiation. This is also a great way to make your brand stand out from the competition. If your competitors aren’t appealing to local audiences, you can avoid the competition entirely, reducing the momentum and investments you have to support your landing pages in search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Link building potential. Each location landing page also provides you with link building potential. Building links to each of your location landing pages could be a quick way to generate new domain authority.

Related: Why User Experience Is Vital for Quality SEO

Tips for utilizing SEO location landing pages

Of course, location landing pages aren’t guaranteed to be a success. You need to utilize them properly if you’re going to reap the benefits. These are some of the most important strategies to follow to achieve that:

• Start with your biggest targets. Figure out which cities and local areas are most likely to provide you with a positive return on your investment. Some cities are going to have much more favorable audiences for your brand than others. You’ll need to do a little bit of demographic research to sort this out.
• Create truly unique content. Don’t copy and paste the same formula onto every location landing page; this is a good way to turn off your audiences and possibly attract a penalty. Instead, write high-quality and unique content for each location landing page under your brand’s umbrella.
• Appeal to local audiences. Don’t write generic content for your hyper-specific landing pages; instead, try to specifically appeal to your local audience. Align yourself with their values and perspectives.
• Experiment with different variables. Because each landing page serves a similar purpose and likely has a similar layout, you can use this as a great opportunity to experiment, measure and adapt your tactics. Which variables are most likely to lead to conversion?  

Not every business needs location landing pages to be successful in SEO. But if you’re trying to target audiences in many different major cities and avoid national competitors, they could be exactly what you need to boost results without spending a fortune.

Related: Your SEO Checklist: 4 Steps to Optimizing Your Website