Copywriting for Local SEO
Without compelling content that is optimised both for keyword + location for both Google and AI platforms, your local SEO strategy will not work.
Pages cost £65 for a keyword + location.
Without compelling content that is optimised both for keyword + location for both Google and AI platforms, your local SEO strategy will not work.
Pages cost £65 for a keyword + location.
As Google becomes more effective at using AI, it has a better sense of which local content is uninspiring and which deserves to be ranked #1. Google tells exactly what they expect on their webpage here.
However, Google does not use search engine optimisation to sell its products. Google does not have to write copy in 15 different ways to describe the same service.
Focus on people-first content
I’d be very surprised if anyone at Google ever wrote content with a keyword in mind. Google’s content only needs to inform the user of what Google is trying to communicate. FAQs
Our copywriters have a much harder task
Vanilla Circus Ltd has two in-house copywriters, Martha and Libby. Our copywriters have degrees in English. As you can imagine, their attention to detail and creative ability in understanding how to sell products are exceptional.
Local SEO content pages are, in fact, landing pages where we want the user to enter the website via these pages and then click on a link to our product or service section, where they can make a purchase. The copy need to be persuasive enough so that the user does not bounce and carries on to the next page, but also believable enough that the user believes that the company is based in the location they have typed into Google.
We cannot use AI content or pages that are exactly the same with only the location changed. The pages will have a degree of duplication as, fundamentally, they are selling the same products and services, just in a slightly different location and using a slightly different keyword. While it is true the local SEO content does not have to be a work of art, VCM Ltd has become an expert in balancing the quality of the content and the cost to the client.
If the page does not rank on the first page of Google, then the content has failed. An essential part of writing Geo-targeted content is that the copy is acceptable to Google. You will have read on most digital marketing company websites that quality content is KING. But it is not. It is optimisation, no traffic no sales. Google are aware you are gaming them. If you are prepared to play the game and offer a quality of local SEO content that is superior the competitors, then this represents the bare minimum.
Example Divorce Solicitor + Surrey
The questions to ask are these:
This is missing the point.
The question is how Google defines Divorce Solicitor + Surrey as a search query not how people define three separate words.
It then ranks pages that answer a query far higher than simple factual pages. See here.
The last three assumptions help not only with our content and tone of voice but also with the design of the webpage.
To do this the user or reader needs to experience an emotional change.
If they come to the webpage and we fail to interest them or to validate their feelings and needs then it is likely we are going to fail.
In the example of divorce solicitor Surrey, we know that the client will be interested in several things.
And lastly to seal the deal and get the user into action…
These criteria really are the same regardless of your selling legal services or office stationery . There needs to be an element of trust and belief in whatever you are selling and providing you can deliver it.
Where local SEO differs from normal search optimisation is that there needs to be an element of location.
After all we have no interest in clients in Edinburgh if we have to meet them face-to-face.
A simple way of doing this is to add a Google map.
Another way of doing this is to include sentences that say for example many of our clients come from Guildford, Weybridge and Walton on Thames.
All of those areas are the beginning of defining Surrey but as we don’t sell ‘Surrey’ we are only located in Surrey the important part of the page in our example is of course divorce and solicitor.
The next step of the process is to submit the page to Google via Google search console. This means that the page will be indexed far sooner than if we just leave this up to Google.
Then we have to study Google’s key ranking tools to see where the page ranks for “divorce solicitor + Surrey”.
As the search query is probably quite competitive, we may have to write other pages that lurk to target keywords like the cost of getting divorced in Surrey, how long is the process of getting divorced in Surrey, which law courts deal with divorce in Surrey, et cetera.
Company founded
Clients Trust Us
Keywords
Industry Leader
What are your primary services, and which ones are the priority for local leads?
Which locations do you want to target (towns, areas, postcodes)?
Do you have one location or multiple branches?
What makes you different from other local competitors (USP, pricing, guarantees, awards, years in business)?
Who is your ideal local customer?
What actions should the new pages drive (calls, quote forms, booking, directions, WhatsApp)?
Which existing pages perform best/worst.
Do you have Google Business Profile links, NAP details (Name/Address/Phone), and service areas to standardise?
What keywords and services should each page target (service + location, “near me”, emergency, same-day, etc.)?
Which nearby competitors do you consider your main competitors
Do you have customer reviews/testimonials we can use?
Can we add locally relevant proof (case studies, before/after photos, local projects, local clients)?
What brand voice should the copy match (formal, friendly, premium, straight-talking)?
What compliance rules apply (financial/medical/legal disclaimers)?
We add all meta and schema markup recommendations (LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ) and internal linking suggestions