There’s nothing else as polarising in the SEO world right now as suburb-specific landing pages.
It seems like no matter who you ask, you’ll either hear that they are the best possible amplifier for your SEO or completely useless.
But which one is it? Are they legit, or just another trend?
Well, the answer is actually shrouded in quite a bit of confusion, misinterpretation and technical jargon that is causing the split opinion.
In this article, we’ll explain exactly what they are and how they work. And most importantly, will they work as a potential superpower for your business, or are they just another time-sink?
Understanding Suburb-Specific Pages In Detail
A suburb-specific landing page is – you guessed it – a page on your website listed specifically for a suburb in the city or region that you service.
For us, that might mean making a page called “Accountants Varsity Lakes”. But why choose a suburb as the page’s title instead of the city name, like “Accountants Gold Coast”?
Theoretically, a page titled “Varsity Lakes” will have a much higher chance of showing up for someone who is searching in Varsity Lakes for an accountant (or whatever your business is) rather than a page titled “Gold Coast”.
This is because of the way Google’s SEO works: it attempts to show users at a local level first.
Aka, any businesses closest to your search location first, before showing city-wide or region-wide businesses next.
Now, it’s important to note: your best bet would be to use both a suburb-specific page (like Varisty Lakes) in combination with a city-wide page (like Gold Coast) to reach maximum audiences.
Do They Actually Work?
The answer: yes!
…but with a few caveats.
A suburb-specific webpage will almost always succeed in improving your SEO ranking with Google. But the amount of improvement will vary depending on your industry, your location, and your SEO strategy.
The reason suburb pages have become so sensational and controversial is that some SEO experts swear by it, whilst others completely disregard it as outdated.
We like to think it definitely can still work, but again, it depends on your business circumstances, such as:
There Needs To Be A Minimum Number Of Searches
First and foremost, people actually need to be searching for a product or service in that suburb first, for a suburb page to rank for it. Examples include:
Accounting Varsity Lakes
Plumbers in Robina
Brisbane financial advisors
In order to get Google’s attention, you’d need at least a hundred people every month searching for your product or service.
This is because Google really doesn’t take notice of searches that are less than, say, fifty searches every month, and so won’t optimise for ranking any pages on these low search terms.
You can check an average monthly search by going to Google Keyword Planner. If it’s less than fifty per month, you may risk wasting your time and budget.
Local Services Only
Carrying on from this note, suburb pages really only shine best when used for a local service-based business. This includes but is not limited to:
- Plumbers
- Dentists
- Medical centres
- Painters
- Builders
- Electricians
This is because local service businesses are most likely to be searched for using terms that include their suburb, such as:
Accounting Varsity Lakes
Plumbers in Robina
Brisbane financial advisor
Moreover, people who search for these terms are extremely likely to also be living in and searching in the same suburb.
Think about it: if you need a plumber, you are going to want someone five minutes’ drive from you, not from the other side of your city. Whereas products rarely, if ever, require a suburb specification.
Only If You’re Taking Your SEO Seriously
Suburb-specific landing pages are not a silver bullet: they will not magically boost you to rank #1 overnight.
What they will do is support and enhance an already developed and diligent SEO strategy. If you’re not already spending multiple hours per week on SEO, then a suburb page is unlikely to make too much difference to your SEO.
Indeed, there are probably less time-intensive SEO strategies (such as optimising your Google My Business Profile) that could deliver far greater ranking improvements for your business website.
So, What Are Your Best Practices?
What should you look for when making a suburb page? You should ensure that:
- The page title is named after your target suburb
- The target suburb is mentioned around three to five times on your page
- Add some content (like copywriting, vidoes or pictures) that is unique to that suburb on your page
- Add a Google Maps link to the bottom of your page to show that you service that particular suburb
Now, How Do We Boost Your Business Finances?
If you’re looking to improve your business across the board, then we think it’s a fair chance that you could benefit from a chartered accountant.
A local chartered accountant with over one hundred and fifty years of combined experience behind us.
Our team are professional, responsive and fully qualified to help you save on tax, payroll, and expenses come EOFY. Call us today for your meet and greet!