Effective Local SEO Requires Effective Landing Pages

[This article was previously published in December 2023 and has been revised and updated.]

Whether it's simply your home page, or a series of specialized destination pages, having optimized landing pages are key elements of an effective local SEO strategy.

If you are a local "brick-and-mortar" business, or even an online business with a local, geographic focus, you don't need to be found by the entire world on the Internet. and local SEO landing pages will help you to be found locally.

Bringing Locals to Your Business with Effective Landing Pages

Getting hundreds or even thousands of website visits from folks in places as diverse as Derby, England or Asmara, Eritrea might be interesting, but these visitors are not likely to become customers for your local business.

The ultimate and overriding goal for any local business website is to be found by local prospects - people near you that need or want your product or service. While this sounds painfully obvious and simple, it can be an amazingly complex process to get someone who is searching online for a business like yours to find your website.

We've all heard the statistics: if your site doesn't show up on the first page of the search engine results you will probably not be seen. Ever. If you do happen to make it to page one, but are not in the top three positions, your odds of even being considered are still slim. 

If you are fortunate enough to be one of only a select handful of similar businesses in your area, it can be easier. For example, how many hot air balloon ride companies can there be in a town of only 50,000 people?

If, on the other hand, you are simply one of dozens or even hundreds of similar businesses in a heavily populated area, then it becomes exponentially more difficult to be found organically.

A pressing concern today is the continuing relevance of search engine optimization (SEO) in this new age of AI. However, SEO is still absolutely relevant for local businesses today, even with the advancements of AI and large language models like ChatGPT and Bard.

The landscape might be changing, but the core principles of SEO – providing valuable content and optimizing your website for user intent – remain essential for attracting local customers.

Local SEO Landing Pages: A Key Component for Capturing Organic Search Results 

Being found organically simply means being found online by someone searching for a business like yours on a search engine such as Google or Bing. This is not the same as someone clicking on a paid ad (such as Google AdWords) or by typing in your business name or URL.

The purpose of SEO is simply to increase the likelihood of your website being found by prospects using a search engine. But being found is just the beginning. People have to like what they see once they've clicked on your link in the search results. And this relies on a number of tools at your disposal.

SEO vs. Local SEO: Understanding the Key Differences

• Google Business Profile: Formerly known as Google My Business, a Google Business Profile provides essential information about a business, including location, hours, and customer reviews.
• Local Citations: Ensuring consistency in business information across online directories and citation websites helps search engines understand a business's location and credibility.
• Local Directories: Listing a business on relevant local directories can increase its visibility and attract potential customers.
• Geo-targeting: Using location-specific keywords and targeting local audiences through advertising and content marketing can enhance a business's local search rankings.

In essence, SEO focuses on improving a website's overall search engine ranking, while local SEO concentrates on optimizing a business's visibility in local search results. Understanding these distinctions is crucial for businesses looking to attract customers in their target geographic area.

One of the tools, if you will, for making this happen is a landing page.

The Power of Effective Local SEO Landing Pages

In today's digital marketing world, where consumers are increasingly turning to search engines to find local businesses, having a well-optimized landing page is crucial for improving your search engine ranking and - ultimately -  driving more foot traffic. A landing page is a standalone webpage designed to capture visitor information and encourage a specific action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or requesting a quote.

A great description of a landing page that was offered by Moz years ago that still applies:

A Landing Page is a page that focuses information targeted towards a particular user – and according to Seth Godin, optimized specifically to encourage 1 of 5 actions:

1. Get a visitor to click (to go to another page, on your site or someone else's)

2. Get a visitor to buy

3. Get a visitor to give permission for you to follow up (by email, phone, etc.). This includes registration of course.

4. Get a visitor to tell a friend

5. Get a visitor to learn something, which could even include posting a comment or giving you some sort of feedback

So, How Do Local SEO Landing Pages Benefit Your Business?

Local SEO landing pages help your business in several ways including:

1. Targeting Specific Locations: Landing pages offer a platform to dedicate content and keywords to specific geographic areas. Landing pages can offer localized content, addressing the needs and interests of users in that particular area. They can also be tailored to specific local offers or events, increasing the likelihood of conversions among local audiences. Whether it's a single city, multiple neighborhoods, or a wider region, these pages can cater directly to users searching for services in those areas.
2. Enhancing Relevance: Compared to generic website pages, landing pages allow you to delve deeper into locally relevant information. This could include details like local business hours, contact information, localized offers, and addressing local pain points or interests. Search engines favor content that closely matches user intent, and locally tailored landing pages deliver exactly that.
3. Generating Higher Conversion Rates: By focusing on a specific location and its needs, landing pages can offer a more personalized and targeted user experience. This leads to higher engagement, better understanding of user intent, and ultimately, increased conversion rates. Users searching for "plumbers near me" are more likely to convert on a landing page dedicated to your plumbing services in their zip code compared to a generic "about us" page. They also provide an opportunity to include location-specific keywords, helping search engines understand the geographical relevance of your business.
4. Boosting Mobile Visibility: Google prioritizes mobile friendliness in search rankings, and landing pages are often easier to optimize for mobile than broader website sections. This is crucial for local SEO, as most location-based searches are conducted on mobile devices.
5. Integrating with Local Business Listings: Landing pages can be optimized to seamlessly integrate with your local business listings on Google My Business, Bing Places, and other directories. Landing pages can complement your Google My Business profile, for example, by providing additional relevant information, which can positively impact your local SEO efforts. This creates a consistent brand experience and strengthens local search signals, further boosting your visibility.
6. NAP Consistency and Local Citations: Landing pages can reinforce the consistency of your critical NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information. Your NAP is crucial for local SEO. Having this consistent information across these pages reinforces your business's credibility and authority. These pages serve as valuable sources for citations (mentions of your business name, address, and phone number), which are fundamental for local SEO. In addition, landing pages can attract local backlinks, especially from local directories or businesses, contributing to your overall SEO strategy.

How Optimized Landing Pages Help with Local SEO

There are several aspects of SEO that a well-constructed landing page can provide:

• Targeted Content: Landing pages can be tailored to specific keywords and phrases that are relevant to your local business. This helps search engines understand the content of your page and match it with relevant search queries.
• Improved User Experience: A well-designed landing page can provide a seamless user experience by guiding visitors toward the desired action. This can lead to higher conversion rates and improved engagement.
• Enhanced Local SEO Signals: Search engines consider various factors when ranking local businesses, including the relevance and quality of your website content. A landing page that is optimized for local keywords and provides valuable information can help boost your local search rankings.
• Tracking and Analytics: Landing pages can be tracked using analytics tools to measure their effectiveness. This data can help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your landing pages for better results.
• Website authority: They can boost a website's overall authority, attracting more qualified leads from nearby communities.

And, last but not least, landing pages allow you to create specific CTAs (Call-To-Action) for local audiences, encouraging engagement and conversions.

Not Just "SEO" - But Local SEO

The reality is that your website's landing pages can do much more than boost local SEO – they are essential for your brand's success. By offering targeted content, enhanced relevance, improved user experience, and better mobile visibility, landing pages act as powerful magnets for local traffic and conversions.

Local SEO landing pages are highly effective for targeting specific geographic areas and tailoring content to meet the needs of local audiences, ultimately contributing to improved search visibility and engagement within those regions.

So, if you haven't already, prioritize creating dedicated landing pages for your local SEO strategy and watch your online presence flourish!

Keep It Simple; Keep It Local

As we've noted here, landing pages can serve a variety of purposes on your website - from your home page to a service page to a case study or resource page. Yet, as a localized webpage, these landing pages serve an additional function for SEO purposes.

Here are a couple of local landing page SEO examples:

This commercial janitorial service company has a specific region that it serves and several pages on their website are optimized to highlight this local and regional aspect. 

And this service company incorporates their target market's geographic locations repeatedly on a variety of pages across their website - including this highly-targeted "Service Area" page.

Landing pages with localized content provide a more relevant and personalized experience for local customers. By tailoring content to specific regions or cities, businesses can better address the unique needs and preferences of their target audience. This can lead to higher engagement, increased conversions, and improved local search rankings.

One Landing Page is Good; Many Landing Pages are Better

Many websites will have only one “landing page” and that is typically their home page. While this is important, the potential for utilizing true landing pages is far larger than that. For example, a cosmetic surgeon might simply have one page on the practice website that lists the procedures and services offered.

A better approach, from an SEO perspective, would be to create a separate page for each procedure. Each of those pages would have key words in their headers and a healthy amount of niche-specific content about both the procedure and the practice.

If a surgery practice had, say, five specific procedures that they could highlight with their own pages, then there are at least five more destinations that could be “found” with organic searches. In addition, if the clinic had several locations, a "location page" could be published for each office. These opportunities illustrate the beauty of landing pages for SEO!

Here are some common examples of local SEO landing page types:

• Service Page for a Specific Location: A plumber in San Francisco could have a landing page for plumbing services in Mission District, highlighting local reviews and offers.
• "Near Me" Page: A restaurant chain could have a landing page specifically targeting users searching for "restaurants near [landmark]".
• Event-Specific Page: A yoga studio could create a landing page for a local yoga retreat, detailing location, schedule, and registration information.
  

According to a post at HubSpot,

More landing pages mean more conversion opportunities. There's also a huge SEO benefit to having more landing pages, which can have an impact even before visitors land on your website. Think about it: The more landing pages you have, the more landing pages will be indexed in search.

Along with the sheer number of distinct pages that search engines can crawl and index, each page represents an opportunity for regular updating and refreshing of the content on those pages. This is critical since search engines prioritize websites with fresh and relevant content.

The Value of Multiple Local SEO Landing Pages

Having multiple local SEO landing pages on a website can significantly enhance a business's online visibility and attract more targeted traffic. Each landing page can be optimized for a specific location, product, or service, allowing businesses to cater to the needs of diverse customer segments.

So, how many landing pages should you have?

While there is no one number for all websites or brands, the data supports the concept of multiple landing pages providing significant benefits in terms of web traffic and conversions. Our friends at HubSpot, for example, recently dove into this question. Here's some of what they determined,

“According to research, business websites with 10-15 landing pages tend to increase conversions by 55% over business websites with less than 10 landing pages.

But it's no exact science how many landing pages your business has, that is often reliant on the scale, product, or service of a business to determine. But after assessing survey and Marketing report data, we can conclude that multiple landing pages can be a net benefit for your business.

And don‘t think that there’s a ceiling to the number of landing pages you can include, in fact, those with more than 40 landing pages increase conversions by over 500%.”

However, keep in mind when optimizing local landing pages, it's important to avoid duplicate content and keyword stuffing. Other best practices for multiple local SEO landing pages include:

• Optimizing URLs and images
• Including location-specific information
• Using original photos of the area
• Highlighting local charities and organizations
• Including logos and details about local professional organizations 
• Including the address and embedding Google Maps 

By strategically implementing multiple local SEO landing pages, businesses can significantly improve their online visibility, attract more targeted traffic, and drive growth in their local market.

However, keep in mind that every landing page you have on your website must be effective in terms of SEO as well as valuable and relevant to your target audience. So, let's consider what makes for effective landing pages.

What Makes an Effective Local SEO Landing Page?

There are three basic elements for a solid landing page: content, structure, and lead generation and conversion. Each component has certain requirements that work together with all the others to create an optimised and effective landing page for local SEO.

Content

Clear and Compelling Headline

• Immediate Value Proposition: A concise, attention-grabbing headline that clearly communicates what the page offers.

Engaging Visuals

• High-Quality Imagery or Videos: Visual content that supports the message, showcases the product/service, and engages visitors.

Persuasive Copywriting

• Compelling Copy: Clear, concise, and persuasive language that highlights benefits, solves problems, and guides visitors towards the desired action (CTA).
• Benefits-Oriented Content: Focus on how the product/service benefits the user rather than just its features.

Strong Call-to-Action (CTA)

• Clear and Visible CTA: A prominently placed CTA button with compelling text that prompts visitors to take action.
• One Clear Action: Avoid confusion by focusing on a single primary CTA.

Structure

Trust Indicators

• Testimonials and Reviews: Genuine testimonials or reviews that build trust and credibility.
• Trust Badges or Certifications: Logos or symbols that reassure visitors about security, privacy, or industry affiliations.

Minimal Distractions

• Keep it Simple: Avoid clutter and distractions on your landing page. Focus on delivering a clear message and making it easy for visitors to take the desired action.
• Focused Messaging: Keep the content focused on the intended conversion goal without overwhelming the visitor.

Mobile Optimization

• Responsive Design: Ensure the page looks and functions well on various devices, especially mobile phones.

Loading Speed

• Fast Load Times: Quick loading to prevent visitors from bouncing off due to slow page speed.

Lead Generation/Conversion

SEO Best Practices

• Keyword Optimization: Align content with relevant keywords for better search engine visibility.

Exit or Secondary CTAs

• Backup Options: Offer secondary CTAs for visitors not ready for the primary action, like subscribing to a newsletter or exploring related content.

Clear Value Proposition

• Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Clearly communicate what sets your product/service apart from competitors.

Find Landing Page Help With Affordable Local SEO Marketing

A well-built local SEO strategy can be an effective way to boost your business. But achieving your marketing objectives using a content-based strategy does take time and it won't happen with a few blog posts or other great content.

The reality of SEO is that people will typically see your content for a while before they engage with you.

The good news is that you don't have to figure all this out alone. In fact, one of the best investments you can make with your marketing budget is to partner with a solid firm like Petaluma-based BroadVision Marketing. We are your local partner for your local marketing needs. 

Click on the button below to learn more about how BroadVision Marketing can help you so you can make an informed decision, or call BroadVision Marketing at 707-799-1238.