That’s where service area pages (SAPs) step in. They help service area businesses (SABs) appear for those region-specific searches without a brick-and-mortar location. SAPs act like local landing pages, spotlighting a business’s offerings in targeted cities, neighborhoods, or zip codes. BrightLocal’s Local SEO Handbook will guide you through the nuances of creating effective service area pages for local businesses that serve areas, not standalone locations.

We’ve tailored this resource for small-to-medium businesses eager to improve their presence in local search and appear more frequently in Google’s local results. Let’s get started with the basics: why do these pages even matter for service area businesses in the first place?

What Are Service Area Pages (SAPs)?

A service area page, or SAP, is a specific page on your website highlighting services for a defined geographic area. For instance, a plumber might craft a page titled “Emergency Plumbing in San Diego” to speak directly to residents in San Diego. Or an HVAC business might have “AC Repair in Scottsdale” to show users that it can travel there. Each SAP is a mini local landing page with details that address the unique needs of that location’s homeowners or businesses.

SAPs vs. Location Pages

Location pages often focus on an address where customers walk in, like a restaurant or a retail shop. SAPs, on the other hand, target professionals who drive out to serve customers. The plumber or HVAC expert may have a home-based headquarters or a small office, yet they travel all around a region. While both page types revolve around local searches, SAPs revolve around how a traveling business supports a region, not how a customer visits a store.

Why Service Area Pages Matter

No Physical Storefront, but Still Local

Many local businesses serve their customers at their homes, their businesses, or elsewhere. They go to their customers, not the other way around. There’s no busy store where the customer visits a check-out counter. These businesses drive to the site and complete the job there.

Traditional local SEO advice heavily features location pages meant for brick-and-mortar shops, but that concept isn’t a perfect fit for mobile teams. SAPs help to bridge that gap, giving businesses a digital foothold in the areas they cover without the need to list a physical building for each region.

Google’s Approach to SABs

Google treats SABs differently in Google Business Profiles (GBP). A service area business listing might hide the physical address and mention a service area radius, while a sit-down restaurant openly displays its physical address. SAPs give search engines the clarity they crave, showcasing the exact local content relevant to each region. That helps Google connect user searches like “emergency plumbing in Mesa” to the right business.

Building Topical Authority

Well organized SAPs expand a company’s local footprint beyond just having a GBP for potential customers to find in Google Maps or a local pack that pops up during a Google search.

Think of an HVAC provider that services four cities around Dallas. Without separate pages, the website might struggle to appear for searches in Fort Worth, Arlington, or Garland. With dedicated pages for each service area, the site signals to Google that it’s an authority in all these localities. This approach is particularly helpful for home service businesses that want more calls from users across different towns.

A Boost in Local Rankings

SABs often wonder why they don’t rank in the local 3-pack for certain cities, even if they do a lot of work there. Google’s local pack tends to favor businesses with addresses in that city, so if you’re an HVAC company based in Irving, you might not show up in the pack for Dallas queries.

Strong SAPs can potentially increase your visibility in organic results beneath that local pack. Combined with best practices for Google Business Profile, these pages improve your presence across multiple local searches.

Google Business Profile for Service Area Businesses

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Who Needs SAPs?

Not every business needs a physical storefront to succeed, but every service-based business needs visibility in local search results. Service area pages are designed to help businesses that travel to customers or provide services at multiple locations without a fixed address.

Home Service Businesses

Businesses that travel to residential or commercial locations to perform installations, repairs, and maintenance services, such:

• Plumbers: Responding to emergency pipe bursts, leaks, and installations in different neighborhoods.
• Electricians: Wiring new homes, troubleshooting electrical issues, and upgrading panels on-site.
• Roofers: Handling roof inspections, storm damage repairs, and full replacements across multiple cities.
• HVAC technicians: Providing heating and cooling solutions tailored to local climate conditions.

Local SEO Tips for HVAC Businesses

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Mobile Businesses

Professionals who operate on a mobile basis bring their services directly to customers, like:

• Locksmiths: Offering emergency lockout services, key duplication, and security upgrades on location.
• Mobile car detailing: Cleaning and restoring vehicles at customers’s homes, workplaces, or parking lots.
• Pet groomers: Serving pet owners who prefer at-home grooming services over salon visits.

Professional Services

Consultants and specialists who serve multiple locations without maintaining physical offices in each one, such as:

• Real estate agents: Representing buyers and sellers across different cities or neighborhoods.
• Mortgage brokers: Assisting clients with financing options tailored to their location and market conditions.
• Business consultants: Working with small businesses and startups in multiple metro areas.

Local SEO for Real Estate Businesses

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Event-Based Businesses

Businesses that travel to venues, private properties, or event spaces for bookings and client engagements, like:

• Caterers: Providing custom menus and food services for weddings, corporate events, and private parties.
• Photographers: Capturing special moments at various locations, from engagement shoots to business headshots.
• Wedding planners: Coordinating logistics, vendors, and venues across different cities.

SAPs aren’t just about expanding search visibility. They help businesses establish credibility in multiple markets. Potential customers who see a business actively serving their area are more likely to reach out and book services. Without SAPs, service-based businesses risk losing potential customers who rely on local search to find reliable providers.

Google’s Perspective on Service Areas

Google’s guidelines for SAB listings mention radius-based coverage or city-by-city coverage for GBP profiles. They discourage listing addresses if customers do not visit that address. Creating SAPs that reflect your actual coverage areas complements those guidelines and clarifies your presence to both search engines and real people.

Why Service Area Pages Are Essential for Local SEO

A single office location won’t always help you rank for outlying areas. If a plumber in Chicago also serves nearby suburbs like Naperville, Oak Park, and Evanston, dedicated SAPs for those suburbs might let them tap into the local queries posted by homeowners outside city limits.

This strategy doesn’t violate Google’s rules when done correctly. It positions your brand as relevant for each specific suburb.

Heightened Relevance for Targeted Searches

Consumers often type queries like “AC repair near me.” If your site only references an address in Downtown Denver, the family in Boulder might not see you in their search results. SAPs with localized wording—like “AC Repair Services in Boulder”—help search engines connect the dots. You’ll start to show up for that narrower phrase and improve your presence for distinct neighborhoods, too.

Enhanced User Experience and Conversions

A homeowner wants to see that you know the local area. SAPs can mention local building codes or typical weather patterns, which fosters trust and helps visitors feel you truly serve them, not random addresses three hours away.

You can also highlight local reviews from their community, making the page feel specifically tailored to them. This approach increases your chances of turning a site visitor into a paying customer.

Standing Your Ground Against Directories

Search results for plumbers or HVAC pros often feature Yelp, HomeAdvisor, or Angi directories. Building well optimized SAPs on your domain can help you outrank these massive directories, so potential leads call you or fill out a form on your site, and not someone else’s platform. That means you capture direct leads rather than competing with ten other pros in the same directory listing.

How to Structure a High-Performing Service Area Page

Now, let’s walk you through creating a user-friendly and search-friendly SAP step by step. These tips will help to keep your pages purposeful and give you an idea of what to do when creating service area pages, no matter your business niche.

Target a Specific Area

No cookie-cutter approach. One big slip-up is to copy a single city page and swap out the name for “Memphis,” “Nashville,” or “Knoxville.” That’s stale and frowned upon. Speak about genuine local elements.

Let’s say your plumbing page for Midtown Memphis includes a few sentences about older historic homes that often have galvanized pipes. Or your HVAC page for a suburban Nashville community references typical humidity concerns with that local climate. This approach keeps the content unique while showcasing your familiarity with that area.

SEO-Friendly Page Title and Meta Description

Titles should incorporate the primary keyword, region name, and a unique highlight. For instance, “Dependable Plumbing Services in Eugene, OR | 24-Hour Emergency Help.” That pattern covers your main service (plumbing) plus the city (Eugene), plus a quick pitch or CTA (24-Hour Emergency Help).

Meta descriptions should be short, direct, and enticing. Something like: “Need fast repairs for your Eugene home? Our licensed plumbers handle drain cleaning, water heater installs, and more. Call us anytime.”

Engaging Header with Location Mention

Your header might say: “Reliable HVAC Tune-Ups in Pensacola – Quick Response & Fair Prices.” Keep it direct, include the location, and reflect a quick benefit. Lower-level headings (H2, H3) can be used for subtopics like “Top AC Problems in Pensacola” or “Why Pensacola Homeowners Trust Us.” This structure makes your content scannable and more welcoming to search engines.

Localized Content and City-Specific Insight

Here’s where you include neighborhood references, local events, or geographic quirks. For example, an HVAC page could mention the typical humidity levels in Mobile that stress AC systems. Or a plumber’s page for Colorado Springs might discuss freeze-thaw cycles in winter. This type of local detail signals authenticity to your audience and Google.

Services Offered in That Area

People might ask, “Does this plumber handle gas line repairs, or is that not part of their skill set?” Or “Does this HVAC tech handle commercial rooftop units, or only residential?” List all services you offer in that region. Here are some examples:

• Plumbing examples:
  • Drain cleaning
  • Leak detection
  • Sewer line replacement

• HVAC examples:
  • AC installation
  • Furnace repair
  • Indoor air quality audits

Separate them into short bullet points so visitors can quickly spot the needed service.

Google Map Embed

An embedded map illustrates the radius you serve or outline the neighborhoods you cover. Some prefer to embed a map showing the general region or your main office with an overlay of the broader service territory. Google’s guidelines for SABs allow for a pinned map if you have an office, but if you operate from a private residence, you might show just a wide coverage area.

Customer Reviews and Testimonials from That Area

Nothing beats actual feedback from a neighbor. Insert short quotes from a local satisfied client. If your plumber page is for Glendale, maybe you can quote “Sarah in Glendale,” who praises your quick response on a Saturday night. The more local the mention, the stronger the trust. Photos of local homes or a short mention of a well-known Glendale landmark can add flavor. This is also an ideal spot to show star ratings or badges (like a 4.8/5 rating from local homeowners).

Internal Links and Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

Direct users deeper into your site. If your site has a main “Residential HVAC Services” page or a “Commercial Plumbing Services” page, link it here. Provide a link to your Google Business Profile for that region if it exists. Wrap up the page with a direct CTA. “Request Your Free Quote in Glendale Today” or “Call Now for Fast AC Repairs in Pensacola.” Make it easy and compelling.

FAQs Section

Folks often have questions about pricing, scheduling, or service details. Adding a short FAQ block not only helps SEO but it boosts conversions. You might see queries such as:

• “How soon can you reach my home in Glendale?”
• “Do you offer same-day plumbing for broken pipes?”
• “Can you handle older AC systems in downtown Pensacola?”

Address them in plain language. That helps anxious customers get quick answers and fosters a sense of trust.

Schema Markup for Local SEO

Schema helps search engines interpret your page more accurately. You can integrate LocalBusiness or Service markup for your service area page by specifying your business name, phone number, and location details. This isn’t always mandatory but can supply extra clarity, potentially boosting the page’s search performance. If you have multiple SAPs, consistent schema usage across them can unify your local SEO signals.

Schema for Local SEO + Templates

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Common Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Service Area Pages

Thin or Duplicate Content

One of the worst pitfalls is a set of pages that swap out city names but keep everything else identical. Imagine a scenario where your site has 15 near-identical plumbing pages, each saying, “We fix water heaters in [City], call us!” That pattern gets flagged by Google’s quality systems as unhelpful. Each city or region page must feature distinct content, references to local conditions, local rules, or unique case studies. If the page is just filler text, it does more harm than good.

Keyword Stuffing

Have you ever read a page that says, “Need a plumber in Austin? Our plumber in Austin is the top plumber in Austin who can fix anything in Austin.” That’s unnatural and spammy. Instead, use the city name in headings, once or twice in the body, and maybe once in the CTA. Pepper in synonyms or references to neighborhoods. That approach flows better for the reader and avoids looking forced.

Overloading with Service Areas

Some businesses try to create hundreds of pages for every neighborhood in a large metro or 30 near-duplicate pages for every zip code in a 10-mile zone. This approach can produce “doorway pages,” which Google discourages. Stick to your main coverage zones that bring real business. If you truly serve a wide region, group some areas logically rather than listing each tiny corner with a separate page. Quality trumps quantity every time.

Missing Trust Signals

Few things scare away a homeowner faster than a generic page with no proof that you’re reliable. If you’re an HVAC brand licensed and insured in the state, mention it. If the local chamber of commerce recognizes your plumbing services, note that membership. Show relevant badges or partnerships. Then, add testimonials from real clients. People want proof that you’re a legitimate business, not a random fly-by-night outfit.

How to Measure the Success of Your Service Area Pages

Google Search Console (GSC) Performance

Check how your SAPs perform by looking at queries containing that city or region name. If your plumber page for Glendale references “emergency plumbing Glendale,” see if GSC data shows impressions and clicks for that phrase. Monitor the average position, click-through rate, and total clicks. A rising graph suggests your SAP is resonating with local queries.

GA4 Engagement Metrics

Open GA4 and see user behavior on each SAP. Are they sticking around or bouncing? Did they fill out a contact form or click a phone number link? This info tells you how well the content is holding visitors’ attention. If the time on the page is high and the bounce rate is low, that’s a promising sign that the page is helpful.

GBP Insights

If you have a dedicated GBP listing that targets a certain region (some businesses manage multiple listings if they truly have distinct offices, though many SABs only have one), see if impressions or calls from that territory are climbing. This approach helps you see whether better local SEO translates into real leads.

Local SERP Rankings

Some rely on rank-tracking tools such as BrightLocal or Semrush to monitor positions for local keywords. You can track “water heater repair Glendale,” “drain cleaning Glendale,” and “AC repair Glendale,” and see how your SAP pages climb over time. While ranking alone isn’t the end goal, it’s a sign you’re capturing more local interest.

Drive More Leads and Visibility with Optimized Service Area Pages

Service area pages aren’t a quick content or local SEO hack. They’re a genuine strategy for building local authority. As you plan or refine your SAPs, ask yourself: “Would a homeowner or business in this city find this page truly helpful?” If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track. Keep each page unique, highlight relevant information, and track your progress using GSC, GA4, and rank-monitoring tools. Over time, you’ll see more site visitors, calls, and local leads booking your service area business.

That’s the power of optimized service area pages. They draw in the right people and show them you’re the local pro they can trust. Put these tips into practice, and watch your business thrive in every corner of your region.

This article is from our Agency Growth Handbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter four of ‘Part Two: Processes and Workflows’.

Content marketing has come a long way from the days of simple blog posts and social media updates. Today, it’s about delivering a seamless, data-driven experience that resonates with an audience—and the right technology is what makes it all possible. Whether you’re scaling up your agency’s content strategy, aiming for more efficient processes, or just trying to keep up with the demands of the digital world, finding the right tools is crucial.

But let’s be real: managing large-scale content projects gets messy fast. Without the right technology and tools, you’re looking at bottlenecks, missed deadlines, and all the headaches of misaligned workflows. That’s where leveraging the right tools comes in. They’re here to handle repetitive tasks, reduce errors, and free your team to do what they do best: create meaningful content that connects with its target audience.

If you’re looking for an article on shoving a few prompts into an AI and generating some quick content, this isn’t the guide you’re looking for.

In this guide, we’re diving into how technology can help you tackle these challenges head-on. We’ll walk you through essential tools—from content management systems to collaboration platforms and analytics dashboards—that can take your content strategy to the next level. So, if you’re ready to build a more efficient, agile, and impactful content operation, let’s get started with the foundational tools every content team should have in their toolkit.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

Content management systems (CMS) are the backbone of any successful content strategy, providing the infrastructure to create, manage, and publish content efficiently. A CMS helps centralize your client’s content and streamlines your workflows, enabling your team to focus on creating impactful pieces that engage your audience. Whether managing a blog, website, or multi-channel campaign for a client, using the right CMS can make all the difference in your content’s reach and effectiveness.

When working with clients, it’s essential to consider how access to their CMS will impact your team’s ability to execute content strategies efficiently. In many cases, agencies may not have direct access to the client’s CMS, or access may be limited to a single point person on the client’s team. This can create bottlenecks if that individual is unavailable or if content needs to be updated urgently.

It’s also common for clients to prefer uploading content themselves, which means extra coordination is needed to ensure accuracy and timing. Establish clear communication with your clients from the start to navigate these situations. Discuss access levels early on and set up workflows that account for these limitations, such as providing detailed content briefs or setting up approval processes that help ensure a smooth handoff, even if you’re not managing the CMS directly.

Benefits of Using a CMS

A CMS brings a handful of benefits to content teams and clients alike, from enhanced organization to improved collaboration. With the right CMS, your team can produce high-quality content more efficiently for clients, making it easier to meet deadlines and stay aligned with content goals. Here’s how a CMS helps your team work smarter, not harder:

• Streamlined Content Management: A CMS centralizes content storage, making it easy to organize and retrieve articles, images, and other assets. This saves time, reduces clutter, and ensures that everything you need is just a few clicks away.
• Enhanced Collaboration: With a CMS, multiple users can work on content simultaneously, tracking changes in real-time. This not only enhances teamwork but also ensures content consistency across the board.
• Efficient Publishing Workflows: A CMS automates publishing schedules, allowing you to plan and post content on various channels with minimal manual intervention. This is essential for ensuring timely content delivery, especially when juggling multiple campaigns.
• Scalability for Growing Teams and Content Needs: As your content needs grow, so can your CMS. Many platforms are built to handle increased content volume and complexity, making it easier to scale up without losing efficiency.

Popular CMS Options

There are many CMS platforms available, each with its own strengths. With so many options out there, choosing one that aligns with your team’s technical abilities and the complexity of your content needs is essential. When working with clients, it’s essential to consider that you may be navigating their chosen CMS, which is not one your team is familiar with. However, recommending user-friendly platforms, known for their intuitive interfaces and flexible permissions, can make collaboration smoother and ensure that your team and the client can efficiently manage content updates without unnecessary delays.

Here’s a quick look at some of the most popular options and when to use them:

Consider whether open-source or proprietary CMS solutions best fit your team’s or your client’s needs when choosing between these options. Open-source options like WordPress and Drupal offer flexibility and community support, while proprietary CMS platforms like Wix often come with dedicated customer support and additional features.

Considerations for Selecting a CMS

Selecting the right CMS means understanding your team’s and your client’s needs and the platform’s capabilities. It’s not just about the features but also about how the CMS integrates into your team’s workflow and scales with your business or your client’s business as it grows. Here are some key factors to keep in mind:

• Ease of Use: A CMS should be intuitive enough for all team members and clients to use, regardless of technical skill level. Platforms with user-friendly interfaces can help speed up adoption and ensure everyone is on the same page.
• Scalability: Look for a CMS that can grow with your and your client’s business. Your platform should accommodate increasing content demands, allowing you to expand seamlessly without switching systems.
• Integration Capabilities: Ensure the CMS integrates well with your and your client’s existing tools, from analytics platforms to social media schedulers. This connectivity helps create a unified content ecosystem, minimizing manual work.
• Cost: Budget is always a consideration. Weigh the CMS’s features against its cost, factoring in potential expenses for plugins, upgrades, and technical support.
• User Support and Community Resources: If your team lacks in-house tech expertise, consider a CMS with robust support and active user communities. Having access to forums, tutorials, and customer support can make a big difference, especially for smaller teams.

Choosing the right CMS can empower your content team and your clients, simplifying day-to-day tasks and enhancing collaboration. With the right platform in place, everyone will be equipped to produce and manage content that meets an audience’s needs and supports growth goals.

Content Collaboration Tools

For content teams, especially those spread across multiple locations or managing various clients, seamless collaboration is essential. Without the right tools, it’s easy to lose track of updates, miss deadlines, or experience inconsistencies in content quality. Content collaboration tools bring your team together, fostering better communication, task management, and file sharing, all in one place. By utilizing these tools, your team can work more efficiently, ensuring that projects stay on track and content meets your quality standards.

Key Features to Look for in Collaboration Tools

The right collaboration tool will streamline your team’s workflow, reducing friction and keeping everyone aligned on goals. Here are some essential features to look for when selecting a tool to support your content team:

• Real-Time Communication: Effective collaboration depends on timely communication. Tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams allow for instant messaging, video calls, and group chats, ensuring everyone can stay updated and connected, even across different time zones.
• Task Management: To keep projects organized and on schedule, choose tools that offer task assignment and progress tracking, such as Trello or Asana. These tools provide clear visibility into who’s working on what, helping prevent overlaps and missed deadlines.
• File Sharing and Document Collaboration: Seamless document sharing is critical for content teams. Platforms like Google Drive and Dropbox allow multiple users to edit and comment on documents simultaneously, facilitating real-time collaboration and reducing back-and-forth email chains.
• Project Management Integration: Look for tools that integrate with project management systems to create a unified workflow. For instance, Asana and Trello integrate well with platforms like Slack and Google Workspace, making it easier to manage projects, track updates, and store files all in one place.
• Security and Compliance: Content often involves sensitive information, so it’s essential to choose collaboration tools that prioritize security. Tools with robust encryption, access controls, and compliance with data protection standards ensure that your content and client information remain safe.

Using the right collaboration tools improves team efficiency and enhances content quality by promoting consistency and accountability. When your team has the resources to communicate effectively and manage tasks seamlessly, it allows them to focus more on creativity and less on logistical headaches.

Content Analytics and Reporting Tools

Data-driven decision-making is at the heart of effective content marketing. By analyzing key metrics, you gain insights into what resonates with your audience, allowing you to refine strategies and improve performance over time. Content analytics and reporting tools provide the data you need to make informed choices, helping you understand which pieces drive engagement, conversions, and overall business goals. With these tools, you can track content performance, identify trends, and ensure your content remains aligned with audience interests and company objectives.

GA4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers a comprehensive view of user behavior, allowing you to track website performance across multiple touchpoints. GA4’s capabilities include tracking page views, user engagement, and conversion events, providing a robust data set for understanding how visitors interact with your content. Key metrics to track include sessions, bounce rate, and conversion rate, which offer insight into how well your content engages visitors and drives desired actions.

SEO Tools

SEO tools like Ahrefs and Semrush are essential for tracking keyword performance, backlink profiles, and competitor strategies. For teams focused on local SEO, BrightLocal’s rank-tracking tool is perfect for monitoring the impact of location-specific content. While not a keyword research tool, it offers valuable insights into how your content performs in local search results, helping you track visibility and improve local rankings.

These tools allow you to monitor your site’s search engine rankings, optimize relevant keywords, and identify areas for improvement. Key metrics to focus on include organic traffic, keyword rankings, and backlink quality, which provide a clear picture of your content’s SEO health and visibility in search results.

Social Media Analytics

Tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social are invaluable for tracking social media engagement. These platforms let you monitor likes, shares, comments, and overall reach across various social channels, helping you understand what content resonates with your social audience. Key metrics to track include engagement rate, follower growth, and social reach, which show how effectively your content engages and expands your audience on social media.

Content Optimization Tools

Content marketing tools like ContentHarmony and Clearscope provide insights into user interaction with your content, helping you optimize for relevance and user experience. These platforms analyze how well your content aligns with search intent, suggest improvements, and provide keyword recommendations. Key metrics to track include content score, readability, and topic relevance, which indicate how well your content is optimized for users and search engines.

Reporting Dashboards

Custom reporting dashboards consolidate data from multiple sources, offering a real-time overview of key performance indicators (KPIs). Platforms like Google Looker Studio allow you to create customized dashboards that visualize metrics relevant to your content strategy, from engagement to conversion. Key metrics to track can include traffic trends, goal completions, and ROI, giving stakeholders a clear view of how content contributes to broader business objectives.

Looker Studio Dashboards for Local SEO

Learn More

Integrating Content Analytics Tools into Your Workflow

To fully leverage analytics, making data review an integral part of your content planning and optimization processes is crucial to your workflow. Start by scheduling regular analytics check-ins to review key metrics, identify trends, and adjust your content strategy as needed. By aligning your content goals with the data, you ensure your team consistently moves toward desired outcomes.

Best Practices for Leveraging Technology in Content Marketing

Integrating technology into your content strategy can dramatically improve your team’s efficiency, creativity, and output. However, with the wide range of tools available, it’s essential to follow best practices to ensure you’re getting the most out of your technology investments.

By strategically selecting and using content tools, providing adequate training, and regularly assessing their impact, your team can streamline workflows and optimize content performance without sacrificing creativity. Below, we explore key best practices to help you effectively harness technology’s power in your content marketing efforts.

Integrating Content Technology and Tools

Selecting tools that integrate well with each other creates a seamless content management ecosystem. When your CMS, analytics, collaboration, and project management tools are connected, it reduces friction and improves workflow efficiency. For example, choosing tools that allow data to flow smoothly from your CMS to your analytics platform makes tracking performance and making quick adjustments easy.

An integrated system also makes it easier for your team to work within a unified framework, simplifying everything from content creation and publishing to tracking and optimizing. Aim to build a cohesive toolkit where data flows easily, enabling you to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time creating impactful content.

Training and Adoption

Even the most powerful tools are only as effective as those using them. Invest in thorough training and onboarding for your team to fully leverage new technology. This ensures that everyone is comfortable with the tools, understands their capabilities, and can use them to their full potential. Consider hosting hands-on training sessions, creating step-by-step guides, or offering ongoing support through internal workshops or documentation.

Encouraging tool adoption across your team is also crucial. Strategies like incentivizing early adopters, recognizing power users, and assigning “tool champions” who can provide guidance can help increase buy-in. When everyone is on the same page, it fosters a culture of efficiency, consistency, and confidence in using the technology available.

Regularly Reviewing Content Tools

As your content strategy evolves, so should your toolkit. Regularly reviewing the tools and platforms you use ensures they meet your team’s needs and remain aligned with your content goals. Set aside time every quarter or semi-annually to assess the ROI of each tool, considering aspects like cost, usability, and feature updates.

Keeping an eye on emerging technologies and trends in content marketing is also essential. Many tools regularly roll out new features that can enhance your workflow, so staying informed helps your team remain competitive. By conducting these periodic reviews, you can avoid tech bloat, reduce unnecessary expenses, and ensure your toolkit evolves with your content strategy.

Balancing Automation with Human Creativity

While automation can handle repetitive tasks and increase productivity, it’s vital to maintain a human touch in your content. Tools can help with scheduling, analytics, and optimization, but creativity should always be at the core of content creation. Avoid over-relying on automation to the point where it stifles originality or dilutes your brand voice.

Automation is most effective when it frees your team from mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on storytelling, crafting unique perspectives, and connecting with your audience in meaningful ways. Aim to strike a balance that maximizes efficiency while ensuring your content remains authentic, engaging, and reflective of your brand’s personality.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Content Tools

Implementing new content tools often comes with both financial costs and time investments, so evaluating the return on investment (ROI) for each is necessary to get stakeholder buy-in. Consider factors like subscription fees, onboarding costs, and potential productivity gains. To assess a tool’s value, compare its benefits (such as improved workflow, time savings, or increased output quality) against its costs, both in terms of money and team resources.

Performing a cost-benefit analysis for your tools justifies the investment to stakeholders and helps you make informed decisions about which tools provide the most value. This analysis can guide you in determining whether a tool is indispensable, nice to have, or an unnecessary expense. The goal is to build a toolkit that maximizes productivity and delivers tangible benefits to your content strategy without overextending your budget.

Streamline, Optimize, and Thrive with Content Technology

If you’ve made it this far, you’re ready to elevate your content game. By leveraging the right technology, you’re setting up your content team for smoother processes, better collaboration, and results you can measure. Think of these tools as more than just features on a dashboard—they’re the fuel that keeps your content engine running efficiently so you can focus on what truly matters: creating engaging, authentic content that resonates with your audience.

Now’s the time to look at your current content workflow. Where are the bottlenecks? What could be more streamlined? The tools we’ve covered are designed to help you tackle these challenges head-on, making sure your team spends less time on repetitive tasks and more time on the creative work that drives results. Start by picking one or two tools that make the most sense for your team and roll them out on a trial basis. This lets you test the waters and get real feedback without overwhelming your team with new processes right off the bat.

Integrating new technology doesn’t have to mean overhauling everything overnight. A pilot program allows you to experiment, adapt, and find out what works best before committing to a larger rollout. It’s all about finding a rhythm that suits your team and fits your strategy. The goal here isn’t to become a tech powerhouse overnight but to build a sustainable, efficient content strategy that grows with you.

So go ahead and embrace the tools that will make your life easier and your content better. With the right approach, you’ll be well on your way to turning insights into action and action into results that make a real impact.

This article is from our Agency Growth Handbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter one of ‘Part Two: Processes and Workflows‘.

The world of content marketing is changing at what feels like the speed of light. When you think you have figured out how to scale your content needs, a new AI tool or Google algorithm update arrives to throw a wrench in your workflow. While that’s one of the many things that makes our field exciting and dynamic, it continues to show us we’re not just writing for humans; we’re also navigating Google’s algorithms and adapting to AI advancements. 

Content marketing is a key part of a digital agency’s offering. This guide is designed to help you balance the constant changes while scaling your content output. It’s also valuable for in-house marketers managing content to help promote multiple locations.

From dominating local search results to crafting content that deeply connects with your audience, this guide provides resources for scaling up content production without compromising quality. It offers insights that can help you evaluate agency performance, set realistic expectations, and understand what high-quality, localized content looks like.

Ready to improve your content strategy and drive business growth? Let’s begin.

Setting Up Effective Content Workflows and Processes

Creating content consistently and at scale is a challenge, especially for busy marketing teams, no matter how big or small your clients—or their budgets—are. As an agency with standard operating procedures (SOPs) and workflows, you should already have some content processes ironed out.

Before we explore how to improve your workflows and processes, we recommend reviewing your content processes regularly to ensure we’re efficient in delivering quality content. Think of these tips below as a review of your processes. Consider each one and ask yourself: Does our current process, or the process we hope to build, account for this step in the content workflow?

Defining Clear Objectives and Goals for Content

Clear goals keep content projects on track. SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) give you a solid plan to follow. They help you focus your efforts and see if you’re making progress.

For instance, a SMART goal might be to increase organic traffic to a client’s website by 20% over six months by publishing three optimized blog posts weekly. Here’s how to break this down:

Aligning content objectives with broader client goals ensures that every piece of content contributes to our client’s overall growth strategy. This might involve increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or improving customer retention.

For example, suppose a client aims to enhance their presence in a specific area. In that case, content objectives include creating location-specific landing pages and blog posts highlighting local events and culture. Here’s how to implement this:

• Research Local Events and Culture: Use local news sites, community calendars, and social media groups to find relevant local events and cultural highlights.
• Create a Content Plan: Develop a schedule for when and how these topics will be covered in blog posts and landing pages.
• Engage with the Community: Reach out to local event organizers and cultural leaders for interviews or guest posts to add authenticity and depth to your content.

When defining goals, consider both short-term and long-term objectives. Short-term goals might focus on immediate improvements, such as increasing social media engagement. In contrast, long-term goals could be to establish the client as a thought leader in their industry. Regularly review and adjust these goals based on performance data to ensure they align with the client’s evolving business needs.

Building a Strong Content Team

A successful content team includes vital roles such as writers, editors, strategists, and more. Each member plays a critical role in the content creation workflow, and having a well-rounded team is essential for producing high-quality content every single time. This team is essential to scaling your content output.

Writers

Writers are responsible for generating content based on briefs and guidelines. They must have strong research skills, the ability to write in the brand’s voice, and an understanding of SEO best practices. Training should include familiarization with the client’s industry, target audience, and specific content objectives.

• How to Hire Writers: Look for candidates with a portfolio of published work, preferably in the relevant industry. Use writing tests to assess their skills and fit your brand’s voice.
• Training Writers: Provide comprehensive training on your style guide, SEO best practices, and content creation tools. Regular feedback sessions help writers continuously improve.

Editors

Editors ensure content quality, coherence, and adherence to brand voice. They check for grammar, spelling, punctuation errors, and overall readability and flow. Editors should be trained to maintain consistency in style and tone across all content pieces.

• How to Hire Editors: Look for candidates with strong editing experience and a keen eye for detail. Tests on editing sample content can help assess their capabilities.
• Training Editors: Offer training on your content standards, style guides, and editing tools. Encourage editors to stay updated on grammar and style trends.

Strategists

Strategists develop content plans aligned with client goals and SEO best practices. They conduct keyword research, analyze market trends, and create content calendars. Strategists also track content performance and make data-driven adjustments to strategies.

• How to Hire Strategists: Seek candidates with a content marketing and SEO background. Experience with analytics tools is crucial.
• Training Strategists: Provide training on your strategic objectives, content tools, and data analysis methods. Regular strategy meetings help keep them aligned with client goals.

When building a content team, it’s important to look for individuals skilled in their respective roles and able to collaborate effectively. Regular team meetings, workshops, and feedback sessions help maintain alignment and improve the overall quality of the content produced.

Solo Content Teams

A successful content team ideally includes writers, editors, and strategists. However, many agencies and small businesses may have just one “content person” wearing multiple hats trying to scale content. If you’re in this situation, don’t worry – you can still create great content.

For solo content creators, tools can help fill the gaps:

• Writing tools like Grammarly or the Hemingway App can assist with editing
• SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush can aid in strategy and keyword research
• AI writing assistants can help generate ideas or outlines

The hardest role to supplement is often the strategist. If you’re a solo content creator, consider investing time in strategy courses or seeking mentorship to develop these skills. Ultimately, a mix of human skills and smart use of tools can help you create quality content, even without a full team.

Creating a Content Calendar

A shared content calendar keeps everyone on the same page. It helps plan out when to create and publish different types of content. This way, you can balance making location pages, service pages, and blog posts to meet your client’s needs.

To develop a content calendar:

Choose the Right Tools

Numerous tools are available for managing content calendars and workflows, from simple spreadsheets to sophisticated project management platforms. The key is not which tool you choose but consistency in using it. Whether you opt for Trello, Google Calendar, Asana, or any other project management tool, the principle remains the same: create a system that allows you to track content pieces, assign tasks, set deadlines, and facilitate collaboration.

Choose a tool that fits your team’s needs and budget, then stick with it. The most important aspect is that your team uses the chosen tool consistently. This ensures clear communication, helps meet deadlines, and keeps your content strategy on track. The best tool is the one your team will use.

Managing content calendars effectively isn’t about the specific tool you choose—whether it’s Trello, Google Calendar, Asana, or even a simple spreadsheet—but about consistency in using it. Establish a system that tracks content pieces, assigns tasks, sets deadlines, and facilitates collaboration. Choose a tool that aligns with your team’s needs and budget, and stick with it to ensure clear communication, meet deadlines, and keep your content strategy on track.

When involving clients, the approach can vary. Some teams prefer to maintain an internal calendar and send updates to clients, while others might offer a shared calendar or view-only access to a project management tool. The key is balancing transparency with manageability, ensuring that your system works for your team and your clients without creating unnecessary complexity. Ultimately, the best tool is the one everyone will consistently use.

Determine Post Frequency

Decide how often to publish content based on client goals and available resources. For example, a client aiming to boost their local SEO might need frequent blog posts and regular updates to location pages. Assess the client’s goals and resources. A common frequency might be weekly blog posts, bi-monthly location page updates, and monthly service page reviews.

Allow Flexibility

Be prepared to adjust the calendar for timely topics or unexpected opportunities. Flexibility is crucial for capitalizing on current events, trending topics, and emerging opportunities. Allocate buffer days in your calendar for unplanned content. Regularly review and adjust your content calendar based on performance data and emerging trends.

A content calendar helps in planning and ensures that content is consistently produced and published, keeping the client’s website active and engaging for their audience. It also allows for better resource allocation and workload management within the team.

Developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

SOPs help maintain consistent content quality. SOPs ensure that everyone on your team is on the same page and that deliverable quality is the same across the board. With good SOPs, new team members can learn the ropes faster and start scaling your content needs more efficiently. Key components of effective SOPs include:

Detailed Style Guides

While having a comprehensive brand style guide is ideal, the reality for many local businesses is quite different. Few have fully developed branding materials, but we can still create consistent, on-brand content. At RicketyRoo, we’ve developed a process to bridge this gap:

1. We use detailed questionnaires to extract as much relevant information as possible from our clients about their brand voice, values, and preferences.
2. We then work within our internal style guide, adapting it to each client’s needs based on their responses.
3. We document the preferred tone, language style, and formatting rules gleaned from our interactions with the client, creating a lightweight but effective style guide for each.
4. We remain flexible, updating these guidelines as we learn more about the client’s brand and their needs evolve.

This approach maintains consistency across content pieces without a formal brand style guide. It’s about adaptability and working with what we have to create the best content for our local business clients.

Templates

Provide standardized formats for different types of content. Templates can streamline content creation by providing a clear structure for writers. This is especially useful for recurring content like blog posts, service, and location pages. Create templates for each content type, including headings, subheadings, and key sections. Ensure they are easy to use and adaptable for various topics.

Checklists

Ensure all necessary steps are followed in the content creation process. Checklists include keyword research, SEO optimization, internal linking, and proofreading. These serve as a quality control measure. Break down each stage of content creation into individual tasks. Use tools like Google Sheets to create interactive checklists that can be easily updated and shared.

Approval Workflows

Outline the steps for reviewing and approving content before publication. This might include initial drafts, revisions, final edits, and client approvals. Clear workflows help prevent bottlenecks and ensure timely publication. Define each stage of the approval process, assign responsibilities, and set deadlines. Consider using your existing project management system to track the progress of your workflow or invest in something for your specific scaling needs if what you’re currently using doesn’t fit your content workflow.

Here is a basic approval workflow to get started, where you can add or remove steps as needed:

1. Initial Review

   1. Responsibility: Internal Reviewer (e.g., editor, senior team member)
   2. Action: Conduct a thorough review focusing on content accuracy, adherence to brand guidelines, and overall quality.
   3. Feedback: Provide clear, actionable feedback.
   4. Deadline: Set a deadline for completing this review, typically within 2-3 days of receiving the draft.
2. Revisions
   1. Responsibility: Content Creator
   2. Action: Revise the content based on the feedback from the initial review.
   3. Deadline: Set a deadline for revisions, usually within 1-2 days of receiving feedback.
3. Second Review
   1. Responsibility: Internal Reviewer
   2. Action: Review the revised content to ensure all feedback was addressed and the content is ready for final approval.
   3. Approval or Further Revisions: Either approve the content to move forward or request additional revisions if necessary.
   4. Deadline: Complete this within 1-2 days of receiving the revised content.
4. Client Approval (if applicable)
   1. Responsibility: Client or External Stakeholder
   2. Action: Present the content to the client for their approval.
   3. Feedback or Approval: Clients provide feedback or approve the content as is.
   4. Deadline: Set a deadline for the client to review and provide feedback, typically allowing 3-5 days.
5. Final Edits
   1. Responsibility: Content Creator or Editor
   2. Action: Make any final adjustments based on the client’s feedback or internal review.
   3. Final Quality Check: Conduct a final quality check to ensure everything is ready for publication.
   4. Deadline: Complete final edits within 1-2 days of receiving the last round of feedback.
6. Final Approval
   1. Responsibility: Project Manager or Senior Team Member
   2. Action: Give the final approval for the content to be published.
   3. Sign-Off: This is the final checkpoint before publication.
   4. Deadline: Final approval should be given within a day of receiving the final version.
7. Post-Publication Review (Optional)
   1. Responsibility: Internal Reviewer or Project Manager
   2. Action: Review the published content for any issues or updates needed.
   3. Monitoring: Ensure the content performs as expected and address any issues that arise.

SOPs make content creation smoother, and help meet quality standards. They give the team a guide for best practices. This way, everyone can work more efficiently and consistently.

Ensuring High-Quality Content Production

Research and Ideation

Good content research encompasses market trends, keyword analysis, competitor insights, and client-specific information.

• For location pages, focus on local search trends and area-specific keywords. 
• For service pages, dive into industry-specific terminology and customer pain points.
• Blog posts require a broader approach, considering trending topics, evergreen content opportunities, and long-tail keywords.

Regardless of the content type, always start by asking your clients probing questions about their customers’ needs, challenges, and behaviors. This comprehensive approach ensures you’re not just creating content that ranks well and satisfies E-E-A-T but genuinely resonates with the target audience and addresses their needs. Your goal is to create content that truly stands out from the “sea of sameness” by being relevant and valuable to your client’s customers.

Why E-E-A-T Inspires Local Content Creation

Learn More

Market Analysis

To create truly resonant content, you must ask your clients the right questions about their customers. Use tools like Google Trends and industry reports, but also encourage clients to conduct customer surveys or interviews. Ask clients about their customers’ pain points, frequently asked questions, and purchasing decision factors.

Analyze this data to identify common themes and emerging trends. Combining broad market data and specific client insights helps you create targeted content that connects directly with your audience’s needs and interests.

Keyword Research

Effective keyword research is fundamental to content strategy. Use tools like Semrush or Ahrefs to identify terms customers use when searching for your client’s products or services. Begin with a broad list of potential keywords, then refine it based on search volume, competition, and relevance to your client’s business. Aim for a balanced mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords to cover various search intents.

Don’t just focus on high-volume keywords; consider the user’s journey and include terms relevant to different stages of the buying process. Also, consider semantic search and related queries to ensure your content comprehensively covers topics. Remember, keyword research isn’t just about finding terms to sprinkle through your content; it’s about understanding your audience’s language and needs, which should inform your entire content creation process.

Competitor Analysis

Competitive analysis is a crucial step in content strategy. Use tools like Semrush or Ahrefs to analyze competitor websites, identifying their top-performing content, keyword strategies, and backlink profiles. Look beyond just mimicking what works for competitors; instead, focus on finding gaps and opportunities for differentiation. This might involve creating more comprehensive guides, offering unique insights based on your client’s expertise, or addressing underserved aspects of customer needs. Pay attention to content formats as well – if competitors are succeeding with video content, for example, consider how to create even more engaging visual content. 

The goal isn’t just to match competitors but to surpass them by providing superior value to the audience. This approach helps your content stand out in crowded SERPs and positions your client as a thought leader in their industry.

Competitor Analysis for Local SEO

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Content Creation Best Practices

Knowing what your audience needs and struggles with helps you make better content. You can give them solutions and useful information. This matters for all types of content you create, such as:

• Location Pages: Focus on unique local angles, incorporating local landmarks, events, and cultural nuances to make the content relevant and engaging. Highlight local testimonials, case studies, and success stories to build trust and credibility. Research the local area to find unique selling points. Include detailed descriptions, high-quality images, and customer reviews. Use local keywords to improve SEO.
• Service Pages: Highlight the unique selling points of the client’s services, addressing common customer questions and pain points. Use clear, concise language to describe services and include call-to-action buttons to guide users toward conversion. Break down services into easily digestible sections. Include FAQs, benefits, and use cases. Use compelling visuals and CTAs to enhance user experience.
• Blog Posts: Use engaging storytelling techniques to offer insights, tips, and detailed information on relevant topics. Blog posts should be well-researched and include data, examples, and visuals to support the content. Aim to provide comprehensive and actionable information that positions the client as an authority in their field. Always start with a strong introduction to hook your reader. Use subheadings, bullet points, and visuals to break up the text. End with a clear call to action that encourages further engagement.

Avoiding the “sea of sameness” requires focusing on unique angles, incorporating personal insights, and engaging storytelling techniques. For example, instead of generic location pages, create detailed guides that offer real value to local customers. Personal anecdotes, case studies, and expert opinions can add depth and authenticity to the content.

Editing and Proofreading

Good editing makes your content clear, coherent, and professional. It helps readers understand your messaging better. Here are some tips for effective proofreading:

• Using Tools: Utilize tools like Grammarly for grammar and spell checks. These tools can help catch common errors and improve the overall quality of the content. Integrate Grammarly with your content creation tools. Regularly update the tool settings to align with your style guide.
• Reading Aloud: Catch awkward phrasing and errors. Reading the content aloud can highlight issues that might be missed when reading silently—schedule time to read content aloud during editing. Encourage editors to read slowly and clearly to catch all potential issues.
• Multiple Reviews: Have multiple team members review the content from different perspectives. Peer reviews can provide valuable feedback and help ensure the content is polished and professional. Create a system where at least two team members review content. Use collaborative tools like Google Docs to facilitate real-time feedback and editing.

Polishing your content isn’t just a final touch—it’s a crucial step to make or break your message. Think of editing and proofreading as the difference between serving a home-cooked meal and a five-star dining experience. Both might taste good, but one leaves a lasting impression.

Analytics and Reporting Tools

Tracking content performance is crucial, especially when juggling multiple roles or working solo. Tools like GA4, Google Search Console, and others, can help measure success and identify areas for improvement, aligning with your SMART goals:

• Using GA4: Set up tracking for key metrics that align with your Specific and Measurable goals. For example, if your goal is to increase engagement, monitor metrics like time on page and bounce rate. Build custom reports to track how individual content pieces perform against your Achievable targets. If you’re finding GA4 a bit much, you could create a Looker Studio dashboard to make it easier to digest.
• Using SEO Tools: Regularly check for SEO opportunities in tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to ensure your content is relevant to your audience’s search queries. Monitor your rankings for key terms and earned backlinks. Use these insights to adjust your strategy and workflow where needed, making them more Timely and responsive to current trends.
• Connecting to SMART Goals: Use these tools to set benchmarks for your Specific goals, Measure progress, ensure your goals remain Achievable, check the Relevance of your content, and adjust your strategy in a Timely manner.

Regularly reviewing this data allows for ongoing optimization of your content strategies. Whether you’re a solo content creator or part of a team, use these insights to identify what’s working, what’s not, and how to improve, always keeping your SMART goals in focus.

Getting Started with GA4 Local SEO

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Transform Your Agency’s Content Strategy

We’ve outlined key strategies for agencies and in-house marketers to scale content production effectively without compromising quality. From setting clear objectives and building strong content teams to developing robust workflows and leveraging analytics, these approaches provide a framework for creating high-quality, unique content that adheres to Google’s guidelines and resonates with target audiences. The emphasis on research, creativity, and content creation best practices underscores the importance of producing valuable content that stands out in the “sea of sameness” prevalent in search results.

By implementing these workflows and processes, agencies and in-house marketers can significantly enhance their content strategies and drive business growth. These techniques not only help in creating more effective content but also in maintaining consistency and efficiency across multiple locations or clients.

Whether you’re an agency looking to grow your content offerings or an in-house marketer managing multiple locations, adopting these strategies can improve search visibility, stronger audience connections, and, ultimately, better business outcomes. The key lies in balancing scalability with quality, ensuring that each content contributes meaningfully to the overall marketing objectives.

E-A-T quickly shows us the type of considerations we should make when creating content, even if it doesn’t matter for checking off boxes for SEO best practices. It gives us a glimpse of the things that are important to Google and what they look for, but beyond that, it really shows us what we should find important when crafting content for our local clients.

Local content is critical for our clients to connect with their potential customers. Unfortunately, they often don’t have the brand recognition that customers instantly trust. They have to earn it. One of the only ways to do that online is with the content on a website, blog, Google Business Profile, and more. If that content isn’t enough to convince that person to pick up the phone or fill out a contact form, what else does a local client need to do to earn that trust?

Whether something is a ranking factor or not, we should encourage our clients to put their best foot forward in all they do online. Of course, the better the content, the easier it is to rank and promote. But more importantly, the better the content, the more trust is built between our clients and their potential customers — that is the true goal of what we’re trying to accomplish as digital marketers with local content.

What is E-A-T?

E-A-T, or Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, is one part of how Google’s Search Quality Raters manually evaluate Google’s effectiveness in serving search results. E-A-T comes directly from the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines:

One of Google’s big goals is to serve the most relevant result for a query. By encouraging E-A-T in niches that directly impact someone’s well-being, Google, in theory, is fulfilling this goal with accurate information that doesn’t cause harm to the searcher.

E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor. We’re not sure if, when, or how Google might try to leverage it as a ranking factor, or if they will at all. That honestly doesn’t matter, as digital marketers working with local businesses and brands, our focus needs to produce quality content.

The Current State of Local Content

As we discuss the current state of local content, ask yourself these questions:

• How long did it take you to write the last piece of content on a client’s website?
• How long did it take you to research that piece of content?
• Did you pick your client’s brain or ask for feedback on your content brief?
• Was your client excited about what you wrote?

The sad state of affairs for local content creation is that we’re not taking enough time to research topics, leverage our client’s expertise, and write quality content. With local clients, often, we’re limited by hours, budget, or even buy-in that high-quality content is essential for success—and not just for improving rankings.

Look at local location pages as an example. The majority of location pages out there are often duplicate, low-quality content. Many are thin and filled with fluff. Even more, pages are built upon one another using the skyscraper technique gone wrong. When was the last time you saw a local location page that made you go, “Wow! This IS awesome.”

Instead of that “wow” moment, you’ll often find this type of content created, optimized, and leveraged for businesses online:

Service pages are another example. How many have you seen recently that honestly say something new about a product or service your client offers? How many have you seen address their potential customer’s pain points that aren’t just a rewritten version of a competitor page or post? Service pages are a prime example of how to use your client’s expertise and trustworthiness as a business to convince their potential customer to pick up the phone.

Most of the time, our clients don’t know what quality content is because they don’t know better. They see how little their competition is doing and feel that’s all they have to do to rank. We usually get away with doing the bare minimum when producing a local content piece, optimizing it, and watching it rank pretty well with little effort. But is this in the best interest of our clients and ensuring they’re being showcased as an authority in their field? Absolutely not.

Why E-A-T Matters for Local Content Creation

The Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines give us examples of what qualifies as YMYL topics. It’s not about what your client does. It’s what they share and how they do it. We’re sure any of us could find examples with our clients where E-A-T should be considered for producing the best possible piece of content. Here are some situations that Google calls “high E-A-T” content, where they recommend bringing in a subject matter expert to ensure things are accurately presented when you land somewhere online:

Instead of simply doing the bare minimum, we should encourage one another to set our standards higher, not just for our client’s trust but also for Google’s. It’s right there. Even though it’s not a ranking factor, it doesn’t mean we can’t aim higher when creating content for clients — no matter the niche.

You Don’t Have to Create All the Content, Just the Right Content

We’ve all worked with a local client who has 25+ location pages, a service page for every location, and 100+ blog posts that aren’t doing anything but holding a site back. Many of those clients’ websites are a hot mess because the content is thin, duplicated, spun, or has any number of issues with quality that not just Google but their potential customers are turned off by.

We need to stop churning out content for every location, service, query, etc. because it’s easy to throw up anything. Instead, we need to focus on the right content that meets the client’s goals: For example:

• If a client wants to focus on a particular market, is a location landing page necessary for every suburb in that core market?
• Could you rank a single page for multiple locations because the search volume is so low Google understands that people searching in the neighboring suburb would also see the main city as a result?
• How much effort are you putting into research to determine the right piece of content for the client?

We need to do much more research into the nuance of location and service pages to ensure we’re not creating more work down the line of consolidating, removing, redirecting, or simply bringing down a whole website’s authority because of the amount of thin content spread throughout a domain.

Every piece of content created for a local client needs to be hyper-focused on driving meaningful results. Just because a page ranks for something easy because there’s little to no search volume doesn’t mean it’s driving conversion.

Use E-A-T to Update Good, Existing Content First

One of the easiest ways to improve the quality of content on a client’s website is to look at what’s already there before moving to new content creation. Thinking from the E-A-T perspective, ask yourself the following about a local client’s content:

What content on the website would benefit from being written from an expert perspective?

Suppose a client has blog posts discussing how-tos, do-it-yourself guides, or sharing information to educate. In that case, these are good candidates for working with the client to get more information and leveraging their expertise to boost the quality of the post in question. 

• Ask your client their initial thoughts and ask specific questions during your content research phase.
• Ask them if they agree or disagree with particular points of the content.
• Ask for a quote to include or a personal story about the topic.

Asking your client questions directly in your deliverable or content brief is a quick way to point out what you need and why it’s relevant. Here’s an example of asking how a client is directly involved in an event through Google Docs:

These are ways to introduce expertise into existing content without relying on the client to write it themselves. You can weave in the feedback or rework parts of the content to make it more authoritative and trustworthy to the client’s audience.

What content on the website would benefit from being consolidated or merged into one page?

When it comes to sub-service pages or suburb location pages, these could be combined to capture the target keywords and create a more robust landing page for your client’s potential customers. Identifying low-performing location and sub-service pages is a quick opportunity to create a more fulfilling landing page for a service or area without re-inventing the wheel.

• Start with a list of location pages that are low-performing and determine if they border one another geographically.
• Do keyword research to determine how people are finding your client in those locations.
• Dive into the local SERPs to see what type of content is ranking and how Google understands the query intent. Suppose multiple locations show up for the same set of local queries, despite adding a city to the keyword. In that case, chances are you can merge the pages and rank for the entire area vs. having multiple suburb location pages.

The possibilities of how you use E-A-T to encourage local content improvements on a client’s website could be endless rabbit holes you go down.

As your clients get used to you picking their brains, they’ll also start looking at the content on their website differently and get excited about what it can do. They’ll also get excited to see how they can help during the process because instead of you simply writing it for them, they’ll feel like they’re part of the story process from start to finish.

Then Use E-A-T to Create Content That Leaves the Competition in the Dust

One of the most interesting tidbits to take away from YMYL niches is what Google says right here in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines:

Depending on how long your local client has been in business, they will have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips to share with you and with their clients — no matter the niche they’re competing in.

Unfortunately, in most cases, it’s up to us to pull that information out of them with thoughtful questions, follow-ups, and prodding. The gold mine in creating new local content is creating blog posts for the top and middle of the funnel before guiding them to the bottom of it.

Here are some tips on getting quality content ideas inspired by E-A-T from your clients:

• Ask your client about the most challenging issues they’ve faced with their customers. Then, you’re looking for what your client did to resolve the issue to write about.
• Get a list of the most common questions a client’s customers ask them. You’re looking for the pain points those customers have to write about the solutions.
• Leverage People Also Ask queries for the services you’re targeting for a client. Go over what you discover and ask your client to pick out the interesting questions. Your clients will often have an anecdote or something interesting to share about that question which will make what you write more unique.
• Check Google Trends for rising ideas and see what people are starting to talk about to increase topic coverage. Then, ask your client what they think about the trends to see what industry knowledge they can share about why those topics are rising.
• Browse Reddit for related subreddits in your client’s niche. You’re not looking for professional-based ones. Instead, you’re looking for ones where potential customers might be asking questions, seeking advice, or looking for guidance on issues they’ve encountered for inspiration.

E-A-T Inspired Local Content Creates Lasting Opportunities for Clients

Creating local content doesn’t have to be boring or the same old, same old. It can be challenging and exciting. Consider E-A-T and what its goals are meant to accomplish when crafting new content or updating existing content on your client websites. While it is not a ranking factor, we can use what we know about why it matters to create better content for our local clients. That content could mean the difference between being seen, earning trust, and driving business to your clients for years to come.