Area Pages That Are Not Just the Town Name Swapped
You serve twelve towns and rank in the one your office sits in. The obvious fix is the one Google stopped rewarding a decade ago.
Why duplicated area pages never rank
One page copied fifteen times with the name changed is recognised instantly. Most never get indexed, and the rest sit at the bottom.
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You serve several areas
Real coverage, real customers in each, and one page listing all the towns at the bottom.
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The template gets duplicated
Fifteen near-identical pages with the place name swapped. Google treats them as one page and indexes almost none.
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Each page earns its place
Built from what you actually know about each area, with shared boilerplate kept small and internal links that signal which matter.
You serve twelve towns and you have one page mentioning all of them in a list at the bottom.
So you rank in the town your office sits in and nowhere else, while competitors with a real page for each area take the rest.
The fix is obvious and almost everybody does it badly, because the obvious way to do it is the way Google has been discounting for over a decade.
The Honest Version: Swapping the Town Name Does Not Work
The template approach is the problem
Write one page, duplicate it fifteen times, change the place name in each. It takes an afternoon and it has not worked since roughly 2012.
Google recognises it immediately. The pages get treated as near-duplicates, most are never indexed, and the few that are sit at the bottom doing nothing.
Why people keep doing it
Because the alternative is genuinely harder. Fifteen real pages means fifteen sets of local knowledge, and most businesses do not want to write that.
The honest consequence
If you are not prepared to make each page genuinely different, you are better off with three excellent area pages than fifteen thin ones. Fewer, better, is the version that works.
I would rather build you four pages that rank than fifteen that dilute each other and drag the whole site down.
What Makes an Area Page Genuinely Different
This is the part people ask about most, because the difference is not obvious until you see it.
The market differs, so the page should
Two towns fifteen miles apart often have different housing stock, different typical jobs, different price expectations and different competitors. A roofer in a Victorian terrace area does different work from one in a 1990s estate.
Write what you actually know about the place
Which streets and estates you work in. The problems that come up there specifically. Response times from where you are based. Jobs you have completed nearby, described honestly.
And the parts that repeat should be small
Your pricing, guarantees and process can be identical across pages. That is normal boilerplate. What must differ is the part that makes the page about that place rather than about your business generally.
If you cannot write three hundred genuinely local words about a town, that is a strong signal you should not have a page for it.
Why Most Area Pages Fail
All of these are common and all are avoidable.
Identical content with the name swapped
Recognised instantly and discounted. The single most common failure.
Places you do not actually serve
Pages for towns you would never travel to. Google notices the mismatch with your profile and it damages trust.
No local detail at all
Generic service copy with a town name in the heading. Nothing about the page says the writer knows the area.
Orphaned from the rest of the site
Fifteen pages linked only from a footer list. Nothing signals which matter, so none of them do.
Contradicting your Business Profile
Claiming areas your listing does not cover. The two should agree, and where they do not the weaker signal wins.
Built and never touched again
Area pages published in one batch and abandoned. Competitors who maintain theirs overtake them steadily.
What You Can Check Yourself First
1. Read two of your own area pages side by side
If you can swap the place names and neither reads oddly, Google is treating them as the same page. That is the whole test and it takes two minutes.
2. Check whether they are indexed at all
Search site:yourdomain.com with a town name. If your area pages are not in the index, they are not competing and duplication is the likely reason.
3. Ask where your customers actually come from
Look at your last fifty jobs and list the areas. Build pages for those, in that order. Most businesses guess at this and build pages for places they rarely serve.
4. Count the internal links
If your area pages are only reachable from a footer list, nothing on your site says they matter. That alone is often why they never rank.
How I Build Them
1. Pick fewer areas than you want
Based on where your work actually comes from and where you can realistically compete. Starting with four real pages beats fifteen thin ones and you can always add more.
2. Interview you for the local detail
The genuine differences between areas are in your head, not on the internet. Twenty minutes of questions produces material no competitor can copy, because they have not done the work.
3. Write each one properly
Shared boilerplate where it belongs, genuinely different content where it matters, and enough specificity that a local reader recognises their area.
4. Link them like they matter
From relevant service pages and content, not only from a footer list, so your own site signals which areas you are serious about.
When Not to Build These
You only serve one town. Then one strong page beats several weak ones and there is nothing to build.
You cannot supply the local detail. If you will not answer questions about the areas, the pages will be generic, and generic area pages actively harm the site.
Customers do not care where you are. If location is irrelevant to what you sell, this is the wrong strategy entirely.
Price and Turnaround
Scope |
Price |
Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
Up to 4 area pages |
$499 |
1 – 2 weeks |
5 to 10 area pages |
$899 |
2 – 4 weeks |
Larger programmes |
From $1,499 |
4 – 8 weeks |
Includes the interview, the writing and the internal linking. I will push back if you ask for more areas than you can genuinely support with real content.
Common Questions
How many area pages should I have?
As many as you can make genuinely different. For most businesses that is four to eight, not thirty.
Can I not just use a template?
You can, and Google has been discounting that for over a decade. Templated area pages usually do not get indexed at all.
How long should each page be?
Long enough to say something real about the area. Usually 600 to 1,000 words, of which several hundred should be genuinely local.
Should the URL include the town?
Yes, generally. It is a clear signal and it reads well to visitors too.
Will these rank in the map pack?
No. Map rankings come from your Business Profile. Area pages support organic rankings, which is a separate result on the same page.
What about areas I want to expand into?
Build those last and be honest on the page. Claiming a presence you do not have shows, and it undermines the pages that are genuine.
Do I need one for every service in every town?
Almost never. That multiplies into hundreds of thin pages fast. Start with areas, add service depth only where the demand justifies it.
Where do your last fifty jobs come from?
List the areas in order of volume. I will tell you free how many pages are worth building and which to start with.
Or email info@shazzseo.com