At Wolf IQ, we build websites for many local service companies—think doctors, surgeons, plumbers, and other trades.

One of the most common questions we get is, "Do I really need dedicated location pages for each suburb I serve?"

Yes - you do. But it's the 'why' that truly matters.

Understanding the strategy behind location pages is how you can build them to outrank competitors in your local market.

Why a Single "Areas We Serve" Page Fails

When Google or an AI model indexes a website, it isn't suggesting the entire site in search results; it’s suggesting a specific web page. Remember, a website is just a collection of individual pages. So, when someone searches for "North Sydney doctor," Google wants to serve the single best page that answers that exact query.

One of the biggest mistakes business owners and marketing leaders make is creating a single "Areas We Serve" page that lists 50 different suburbs. To a search engine, that's just a list of text. It has no depth, no unique value, and it doesn't specifically answer a user's need for a service in their specific area.

If you want to rank for "plumber in Bondi," you need a page that is explicitly about providing plumbing services in Bondi—not a general page that just happens to mention Bondi in a list.

We saw this firsthand with Johnny Gio's Pizza, a site we rebuilt last year. They didn't want to just rank for the generic term "pizza." To succeed, we had to rebuild their site architecture to support local stores in each suburb they served.

The results were incredible. They've seen huge success in their organic keyword rankings because they now rank for specific, high-intent searches like "pizza in Jannali" or "pizza in Leichhardt." By creating dedicated pathways for locals, they captured a massive audience across their entire network instead of just competing for generic terms on their home page.

Three Keys to Building High-Ranking Location Pages

If you run a local business and want to compete effectively in specific suburbs, you need to create dedicated pages for each one. Here are the three most important things to get right.

1. Nail Your URL Structure

A clean, logical URL structure is crucial. It provides an immediate signal to search engines about the page's purpose. The ideal format should look like this:

yourwebsite.com/locations/north-sydney

When Google crawls a URL like this, it can immediately understand the geographic intent of the page. This simple step, known as URL taxonomy, lays a powerful foundation for your local SEO efforts.

2. Create Unique, Localized Content

This is where so many businesses go wrong. Some SEO agencies might tell you to duplicate a page 100 times and just swap out the suburb name. Do not do this.

Google calls these "doorway pages," and it can penalize your site for them. Instead, you need to add unique, local context to every page. Talk about nearby landmarks or mention problems specific to that area. For example, a plumber working in a suburb with older homes could write:

"We specialize in repairing and replacing the old cast-iron pipes commonly found in [Suburb Name]'s beautiful heritage homes."

This demonstrates genuine local expertise and provides relevant, valuable content that search engines can identify as highly relevant to people searching in that suburb.

3. Embed Local Trust Signals

Finally, you need to do everything you can to prove you have a real presence in the area. Trust signals are critical for both users and search engines.

Things like embedding a Google Map directly on that location page or including testimonials specifically from customers in that suburb go a long way.

But creating unique pages for hundreds of suburbs isn't practical for most businesses.

The best approach is to be strategic. Focus on major regional areas or suburbs with high search volume. For example, instead of creating a page for every single suburb on Sydney's Northern Beaches, you could start with a comprehensive regional page like "Doctor Northern Beaches."

Building out these specific, high-value location pages takes time and effort, but the payoff is enormous.

We've seen it over and over again: businesses that invest in a granular local strategy consistently out-compete rivals who take a more generic approach.