City pages for a service business: how to do them without spamming Google

If you serve several towns, it is tempting to make a page for each one. Done well, those pages help. Done badly, they look like spam to Google and to people.

What Google objects to

Google's spam policies describe "doorway pages": many near-identical pages made to rank for slightly different searches, which lead visitors to the same place. A set of pages that swap only the city name ("Plumber in Laguna Niguel", "Plumber in Lake Forest", "Plumber in Dana Point") with the same paragraph under each is the classic example.

Google can ignore such pages, and in bad cases it can hurt the rest of your site.

When a city page is worth making

Make one only if all of these are true:

• You really do work in that city, regularly.
• You have something true and specific to say about it.
• A homeowner there would find it useful, not just a search engine.

What to put on a good city page

• Real jobs you have done there, described in a sentence or two, with permission and without street addresses or names. "Replaced an aging panel in a 1980s home near the lake" is more helpful than "we serve all your electrical needs".
• Local particulars that matter for the trade. Older homes with outdated wiring, water pressure quirks, permit offices, HOA habits. Only write what you know to be true.
• Your response area and hours for that city. If you can usually get there the same day, say so. If not, don't.
• A link back to your main service pages, so the visitor can see everything you do.

If you cannot fill a page with things like these, do not publish it. List the city on one "areas we serve" page instead.

How many is too many

There is no magic number. A better question is whether each page would still make sense if Google did not exist. A page that exists only because a keyword tool suggested the city name is the kind to skip.

Keep it honest and current

Review your area pages once or twice a year. Remove cities you no longer serve. Update photos and notes. An old page that promises coverage you have dropped annoys customers.

The short version

Fewer, truer pages beat many thin ones. Write each one as if you were explaining your service to a neighbor in that town.