John Mueller explained in Google Search Central SEO Office Hours on Dec. 4 that websites with many local landing pages that are enriched by unnecessary general information could be considered doorway pages. So we asked ourselves, what information belongs on local landing pages and what doesn’t?
Large amount of information leads to devaluation
According to Google, adding information to local landing pages does not bring any benefits – quite the opposite. Too much or automatically generated information can lead to devaluation by Google.
It can be observed that landing pages for certain cities and regions are provided with additional information about respective localities. For example, how high the population is and what sights there are in the respective city.
An example: moving companies in Toronto and Vancouver
A participant asked in the Google Search Central SEO Office Hours whether a moving company offering moves from Toronto to Vancouver should create two different landing pages: one for people moving from Toronto to Vancouver and one for people moving from Vancouver to Toronto.
In each case, information would be displayed about the city to which they were moving and whether there was a risk of duplicate content.
Mueller made it clear that in each case it is a question of finding the right balance between added user value and simply filling pages with information from a database. If, for example, pure information from Wikipedia was offered for the respective pages, this would not necessarily result in good pages. Mueller went on to explain that the main point was to create a few pages, rather than many pages with little to no content.
User intent should be considered
Furthermore, it is still important to consider the user intent of the searcher. Mueller doubts that a user searching for a moving company wants to find information about the respective city.
Caution is also needed here: If Google comes to the conclusion that the data was created automatically, devaluations may result. Website operators should therefore concentrate on a few, but stronger pages.
So, in summary, when creating local landing pages, create actual added value for the user. For example, special offers or ratings and reviews from local customers can be helpful.
