The essentials
- The principle: local content mentions a specific place, answers a question local people ask, and exists both on the site and on the Google listing.
- The eight formats: local pages, service pages, completed jobs, Google posts, FAQs, local guides, news and partnerships, geolocated photos.
- A sustainable frequency: one completed job a month on the site, one post a week on the listing, one local page a quarter.
- To avoid: "town" pages duplicated by changing only the name of the town.
The aim of local SEO rests on relevance and prominence; both are worked on with content. But "doing content" doesn't mean publishing generic articles: locally, what counts is mentioning real places, concrete services and identifiable people. Here are the eight formats that produce results, with their role and their frequency.
The eight formats, and what each brings
| Format | Where | What it brings | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| A page per location or per town | Site | Ranking in the organic results on "trade + town"; strengthens the linked listing | One a quarter, on the towns where you have customers |
| A page per service | Site | Captures the specific queries ("drain unblocking") the listing doesn't cover | Once, then an annual update |
| A completed job or case study | Site + listing | Proof, localised photos, natural keywords (the neighbourhood, the type of property) | One a month |
| A Google Business Profile post | Listing | An activity signal, the current offer, visible in the listing | One a week |
| A local FAQ | Site + listing (Q&A) | Answers recurring questions (parking, lead times, area); feeds the AI engines | Once, enriched as customer questions come in |
| A local guide | Site | Attracts links and visits from the area ("renovation grants in Loire-Atlantique") | Two to four a year |
| Local news and partnerships | Site + social | Local links and citations (press, associations, events) | As opportunities arise |
| Geolocated photos and videos | Listing + site | Listing freshness, visual proof, consistency with the place | Five photos a month |
Local pages: the foundation on the site
A local page describes a location or a town served with its own content: the address or the area, the services actually offered there, jobs completed on site, reviews from customers in that town, the team, access and parking, a map. The page must be able to stand on its own: if you remove the town's name and nothing specific remains, it is a duplicate page Google will ignore. The detailed structure is in structuring your local pages.
Limit yourself to the towns where you have customers and completed jobs: five solid pages beat thirty empty ones. Link each page to the matching Google listing and vice versa.
Completed jobs: the most profitable content
A completed job published every month accumulates every useful signal: photos of the job or the service, taken on site; a place (neighbourhood, town) mentioned naturally; the type of service in its own precise words; an associated customer review. A typical structure: the context and the customer's request, what was done, the result, before/after photos, a testimonial. Publish it on the site (a projects page or the blog), summarise it as a post on the listing with a photo, share it on social media. Three uses from one piece of work.
Google posts: keeping the listing alive
Posts have no proven direct effect on ranking, but they keep the listing alive, take up space in the panel and feed conversion: the offer of the month, a new arrival, a completed job, an event, exceptional hours. One post a week, 100 to 300 characters, a photo, a button (call, book, learn more). How to organise it is described in posting regularly on your listing ; for several locations, see the bulk publishing tools.
FAQs and guides: the content AI reuses
The questions your customers ask on the phone ("do you come out on Saturdays?", "do you need planning permission for a pergola in Nantes?") deserve a written answer: on the site in a FAQ section, and in the listing's Questions & Answers, which you can populate yourself. Those short, factual answers are what Google's AI Overviews and assistants like ChatGPT reuse for local recommendations; see structuring your pages for AI.
Local guides (grants, regulations, neighbourhood comparisons, a calendar of local events) take longer to produce but attract links from local sites, which strengthens prominence; see local link building.
A realistic calendar for a small business
- Month 1: complete service pages, a location page, a 10-question FAQ, 20 photos on the listing.
- Every week: one post on the listing, reused on social media.
- Every month: one completed job on the site, five new photos, responses to reviews and questions.
- Every quarter: a local page or a guide, one local partnership action (an association, an event, the press).
Measure the effect in Search Console (impressions on queries containing a town name), in the listing's statistics and through rank tracking; the metrics are in the local SEO KPIs.
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's AI Writer brings these metrics together in a single dashboard, compares them over time and tells you which actions come first. You can try it free, with no card, from the Pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a blog for local SEO?
Not necessarily. A projects page updated every month and a solid FAQ do better than a blog of generic articles. Create a blog only if you can publish useful local guides there that will attract links and visits from your area.
How many local pages should you create?
As many as there are towns or neighbourhoods where you genuinely have customers, completed jobs and something specific to say; in practice between 3 and 15 for a small business. Beyond that the content becomes duplicated and Google stops indexing the pages.
Do Google posts improve ranking?
No direct effect has been demonstrated. They improve conversion (offers and new arrivals visible in the listing) and signal an active listing. Ranking depends mostly on the category, the reviews, the consistency of your information and the site's authority.
Can you use AI to write local content?
Yes, to structure it and speed things up, provided you inject real elements: photos, places, figures, testimonials. A generated text with no local element is indistinguishable from a competitor's and adds nothing. Reread and localise every piece before publishing.