When do we write local pages for a city or region?
Broadcastwell measures and fixes whether AI search engines name B2B software companies.
Run the free checkWe write local pages for a city or region only when we hold local evidence for that place: a local address, a local customer we may name, or a local source we can cite. An editor rejects any city or regional draft without at least one of the three. This is our editorial rule, dated 9 November 2026, and it applies to every page we build for a client and for ourselves.
Updated 11 November 2026.
A page that swaps one city name for another tells a buyer nothing new about that city. Google's spam policies, last updated 28 August 2026, list "Having multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page" as an example of doorway abuse. Our rule is stricter than avoiding that pattern: the page must carry evidence that belongs to the place.
The rule
- Evidence first. Before drafting, the writer records at least one piece of acceptable local evidence for the named city or region, with its source and the date it was checked.
- Evidence on the page. The draft states that evidence in its first section, so a reader sees why the page exists.
- Editor's decision. An editor other than the writer checks the evidence against its source. If it is missing or fails a check below, the editor rejects the draft with a rejection reason. A rejected draft is not published.
- No thin pages. We do not publish a thin page for a place while evidence is gathered. The page waits until the evidence exists.
Acceptable local evidence
| Evidence type | What qualifies | How the editor checks it |
|---|---|---|
| A local address | A street address in the named city or region from which the business serves customers, shown on the client's own site | The address appears on the client's site and resolves to the named place |
| A local customer we may name | A customer based in the named place who has given written permission to be named on this page | The written permission is on file, dated, and covers this page |
| A local source we can cite | A public source specific to the named place: a license, permit or registration with a local authority, a public contract award, or coverage in local press | The source is public, carries a date, and names both the business and the place |
One item of evidence is the minimum. A page for a region needs evidence that covers that region, not one town inside it, unless the page is written about that town.
What does not count as local evidence
- A claim to serve an area, with nothing behind it.
- Population figures, landmarks, weather or history of the place.
- A list of nearby towns or postal codes.
- A mailing address used only to receive post.
- A customer named without written permission, or a review we cannot attribute.
- A source that does not name the place, or that we cannot link and date.
Rejection reasons
An editor records one reason for each rejection, so the writer knows what to fix.
| Code | Rejection reason |
|---|---|
| L1 | No local evidence recorded for the named place. |
| L2 | The evidence is real but belongs to a different city or region. |
| L3 | A customer is named without written permission for this page. |
| L4 | The local source is not public, has no date, or does not name the business. |
| L5 | The draft repeats another local page with only the place name changed: more than a fifth of its six-word sequences match. |
| L6 | The draft claims more than the evidence supports, such as serving a whole region from one address. |
How the rule fits the rest of our work
Facts on a local page follow our guide to keeping product facts consistent. Every page we build starts from a content brief, and a local page's brief carries its evidence in the "Facts the page must state" field. The same approval step applies as in our service model: a named approver on the client's side checks the facts before anything goes live. A vendor that builds pages for you can be asked to publish a rule like this one; our RFP guide lists the questions to ask.
Sources
- Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search, section "Doorway abuse", last updated 28 August 2026, read 9 November 2026.
- Broadcastwell editorial rule for local pages, adopted 9 November 2026.
We publish one city page under this rule: Bloomington, Indiana, where our own street address is the local evidence.
Related: our operating framework and our release notes.