Behind the Scenes: Technical SEO for Local Landing Pages

For businesses with multiple brick-and-mortar locations, the biggest challenge lies in blending a strong, unified brand identity with the nuances of each local market. That’s where local SEO comes into play, ensuring visibility in search results and driving in-store visits.

In a recent post, we explored tips and techniques for crafting compelling content for local landing pages. Now, we’re shifting gears to the technical side—diving into the behind-the-scenes optimizations that can turn location pages into powerful engines for search visibility and customer engagement.

The Vital Importance of Local Landing Pages

Local landing pages pursue a clear goal: to highlight exactly where a business operates, what it offers, and when customers can access its products or services. Given their ability to generate visibility and demonstrate relevance, local landing pages are as invaluable for local SEO as listings in the most important online directories and social media networks; especially for companies with multiple locations.

Content SEO vs. Technical SEO

Content SEO focuses primarily on responding effectively to search intent. Taking Google as an example, it’s about positioning your company in terms of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). And for local content SEO, you should connect your products or services to each and every individual location, demonstrating value to nearby customers while maintaining a consistent brand design and identity.

By contrast, technical SEO largely takes place behind the scenes and places usability and functionality at its heart. While these measures may appear less visible to consumers, they impact both human users and search engines. Why? Because Google also assesses usability when ranking content, underscoring the importance of accessible, user-friendly design.

Given the inextricable links between them, an effective SEO strategy should address both content-oriented and technical aspects; so digital marketers cannot afford to neglect either side of SEO. All the same, dividing the topic into these two sub-areas simplifies exploring and understanding specific SEO activities.

Technical SEO for Local Pages: A Practical Guide

Digital marketers must respond to constant changes in user behavior and ongoing adjustments to search engine algorithms, making SEO an ongoing assignment.

Despite these shifting sands, a number of technical factors remain invariably relevant for consistently effective technical SEO. The following points provide a solid foundation for developing a more exhaustive technical SEO checklist.

#1 Set Your Brand Apart with Outstanding UX

In web design, user experience (UX) encompasses every aspect of a user’s interaction with a website. In addition to visually appealing and accessible layouts, it also includes a host of technical measures.

Let’s start with page design. Many companies focus heavily on their website’s home page, seeing it as the flagship for their brand. However, in the age of local search, SERPs direct many users to local landing pages, skipping the home page entirely; so don’t forget to devote appropriate attention to their design and content.

In practice, that means consistently high-quality visuals and placing key page elements “above the fold” – that is, making them immediately visible without scrolling. Grab users’ attention by displaying key information about your location and services, and adding clickable calls to action (CTAs), before they need to scroll.

In recent years, Google has moved towards a “mobile-first” approach, changing gears to “mobile-only” indexing in 2024 as part of their response to the shift from desktop to mobile. That means Google looks at the mobile version of your content for indexing and ranking, which makes functional, responsive, mobile-optimized web design more vital than ever for high search rankings.

#2 Create a Clear Site Structure

A parent-and-child structure is the most effective solution, organizing your site like folders on your desktop. On-page breadcrumbs can also assist users in finding their bearings, while building and submitting an XML sitemap to Google streamlines its crawling.

By enabling users to navigate to the information they need, you demonstrate competence and consideration for your customers. And, by making your content “crawlable”, search engine robots can index your content without issues, which ultimately boosts visibility through search rankings.

Watch out for pages published on your website that are not backlinked or integrated into your sitemap; also known as orphan pages. Search engines cannot index these pages, so they cannot rank in SERPs—wasting your time and effort. Schedule regular audits to identify orphan pages and either fix or remove them.

Pagination also supports crawlability: it organizes subsets of results, such as numerous blog posts or product categories, into different pages as an alternative to endless scroll. Pagination is more convenient for users and makes content more accessible for crawlers.

Finally, HTTPS is a core ranking signal for Google. Make sure your entire website has relevant SSL/TLS certificates for HTTPS encryption.

#3 Take Advantage of Schema Markup

Schema markup is a structured data format that makes it easier for search engines to parse key information about your website. Making that effort also opens the door to rich snippets, Google’s enhanced SERP entries; and you can check whether your content supports this feature with Google’s Rich Results Test.

#4 Win the Loading Speed Race

Technological advances have raised users’ expectations: one survey by Google found that over half of users abandon their visit if a website takes over three seconds to load. While that bounce rate can prove disastrous, thankfully, solutions do exist.

Check your site’s loading speed with Google PageSpeed Insights. This tool analyzes key parameters and pinpoints potential performance issues. For example, large files and complex page elements always take longer to load. So, in the first instance, you can start by compressing images and minifying your site’s code.

#5 Don’t Just Copy-and-Paste

Duplicating content across all of your local landing pages and simply changing the store address is a sure-fire way to hurt your search engine rankings. You should strive to connect with local customers by demonstrating how your brand offers value in each specific, local context.

By contrast, consistent page design supports navigation, builds your brand’s online identity, and does not lead to penalties by major search engines. So, feel free to develop an overarching framework – just make sure to craft unique, relevant content for each local page.

Key Takeaways for Local Page SEO

That’s a lot of information to take in. Let’s distill these wide-ranging recommendations into three key messages:

Local landing pages hold vast potential to enhance your online visibility.

A consistent structure can boost these pages, but duplicating content verbatim is a no-go. Instead, offer genuine value by embedding each landing page in its local context.

A logical site architecture allows users and crawlers to navigate your website.

This creates a positive impression on users and, when detailed in a sitemap, boosts your visibility. Choose a scalable hierarchy that can accommodate future growth.

User experience and crawlable design are two different but closely linked facets.

Fundamentally, you should focus on structuring your content around accessibility for all, consistent functionality, and grabbing attention whenever possible.

How to Manage Local Landing Pages at Scale

Technical SEO is a multifaceted undertaking comprising numerous ongoing tasks. In truth, digital marketers sometimes struggle to see the wood for the trees. From backlink checkers and XML sitemaps to speed tests, checking all the boxes can feel overwhelming.

Counter that complexity by adopting a systematic approach: a schedule of regular technical audits and content checks enables you to cover all of your key concerns. Establishing a routine means you never lose sight of the fundamentals and can implement metrics to monitor your progress.

Double Down on Your Local Presence with Uberall’s Local Pages

When deployed and managed effectively, local landing pages serve as a credible, accessible doorway to your company. Yet, balancing the competing demands of search-engine-optimized content, unerring data accuracy, and optimized functionality can prove challenging.

Uberall Locator & Local Pages enables you to build, manage, and update local pages quickly and easily. Its intuitive user interface removes the need for coding expertise, while integrated technical SEO features optimize loading speeds. Plus, its suite of powerful analytics assists with monitoring and tailoring your local landing pages’ performance.

Looking to help your stores forge connections with local customers? Book an Uberall demo today to do just that.