Symptoms
- Search Console lists many pages as crawled but not indexed
- Most location pages get no clicks at all
- The pages are the same text with a different city name
- Only the home page and one or two location pages rank
Why it happens
Location pages can work very well. They fail when they are copies. If a hundred pages say the same thing with a different town name, Google picks one or two and ignores the rest.
AI makes it easy to produce these pages in bulk, with slightly reworded text. Rewording is not the same as being useful to someone in that town.
Try this first
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Check which pages are indexed
In Search Console, open the Pages report and look at the “Crawled, currently not indexed” and “Duplicate” groups. Note which location pages are in them.
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Cut down to the places you really serve
Keep pages for areas where you actually work and can show proof. Remove or merge the rest, and redirect them to the nearest real page or to your service area page.
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Add real local details
Give each page things only that area has: jobs you did there with photos, local prices or travel fees, reviews from customers there, response times and local rules or permits.
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Link to the pages from a hub
Create one service area page that links to every location page. Link between nearby areas where it makes sense.
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Noindex weak pages for now
Pages you want to keep for visitors but cannot improve yet can be set to noindex until they have real content.
When to stop and call a person
Get help when you have dozens or hundreds of location pages, when they bring in most of your leads, or when you are planning to generate more. A content plan and a solid data setup make programmatic pages work instead of dragging the site down.
Questions people ask
How many location pages should I have?
As many as you can make truly useful. Ten strong pages beat a hundred thin ones.
Can I use AI to help write them?
Yes, for structure and drafts. The local facts, photos and reviews have to come from you.