Key takeaways
- Google's spam policies name city pages that funnel to one page as doorway abuse.
- Each location page needs facts only that location has: staff, photos, reviews, services and directions.
- One Business Profile per real location, linked to its own page.
- LocalBusiness schema on each location page, matching its profile.
What turns a location page into a doorway?
Google's spam policies describe doorway abuse as pages created to rank for similar searches that lead users to less useful content. One example they give is multiple pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page. Location pages that only swap the city name fit that pattern closely.
The definition is in Google's spam policies. The fix is not fewer pages, it is better ones.
What makes each location page different?
Facts that belong to that location only: the address and a map, hours, the manager and team with photos, services or products offered there, parking and directions from local landmarks, reviews from that location, local events or partners, and photos of the actual building. If a location has nothing unique to say, it may not need its own page yet.
- A short intro written for that city, not a template sentence.
- Embedded reviews from that location's profile.
- A real photo of the storefront and team.
- Links to nearby locations and to the services available there.
Business Profiles and schema
Each real location should have one Business Profile that follows Google's guidelines, linking to its own location page, not the home page. Mark up each page with LocalBusiness structured data, using the same name, address, phone and hours as the profile. Our schema guide has the details.
How do you scale content across dozens of locations?
Build one template with required local fields, then collect the facts from each location manager with a short form: team, photos, services, parking, local partners and common questions. Publish only when the fields are filled. Review a few locations every month instead of rewriting everything at once, and track rankings and calls per location.
The same approach works for service businesses that cover many towns, as in our home services playbook. Franchise programs are on white label franchise SEO, part of our white label SEO services.
Frequently asked questions
Are location pages bad for SEO?
No. Pages for real locations with unique content are useful. Copy-paste city pages are the problem.
Should every location have its own Business Profile?
Yes, each real location that meets Google's guidelines should have one, linked to its own page.
Can a service-area business create city pages?
Only where it has real work, reviews or photos to show in that area.
How many words should a location page have?
There is no target. It needs enough unique facts to help someone choose that location.
Who should provide location content?
The location manager, through a short form, then an editor turns it into the page.
About the author
Juan José Giraldo is a senior SEO specialist with 5+ years of experience. He works on technical and local SEO for 600+ US car dealerships and supervises the SEO of 18 US e-commerce stores. He runs White Label SEO LATAM from Medellín, Colombia, and delivers white label SEO for agencies in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Read more · LinkedIn.