Service-area vs. location pages: which do you need?

How you handle local pages depends on your business model. A shop customers visit is different from a plumber who travels to them — and Google treats them differently too.

Location-based businesses

If customers come to you (a clinic, a restaurant, a shop), your physical location matters. Focus on your address, your Google Business Profile, and pages for each actual location you operate.

Service-area businesses

If you go to customers (trades, mobile services), you serve an area rather than a storefront. Create genuinely useful pages for the areas you cover, and set your service area correctly in your Business Profile.

Either way: be genuine

Whichever model fits, the rule holds — make each area page truly useful, not a thin duplicate. Relevance and honesty win local search.