A lot of East Midlands business owners have been given the same piece of advice: make a page for every town. One for Nottingham, one for Beeston, one for West Bridgford, one for Derby, one for Loughborough. Same text, new place name, job done.
I am Harry Ashton. Hashton is a Nottinghamshire web studio, and I get asked about this more than almost anything else. My answer is usually the same. One strong service page that genuinely helps people will do more for you than five thin town pages, and Google has now said so in plain writing.
Fewer, better pages are easier to write, easier to keep up to date, and easier for search to trust. Photo: Sami Abdullah / Pexels.
What Google actually said
Google’s official guide to optimising for generative AI features in Search says that creating separate content for every possible variation of how people might search, done mainly to manipulate rankings or AI responses, breaks its scaled content abuse spam policy. It also calls this an ineffective long-term strategy, because a high number of pages does not make a site higher quality or more relevant.
The same guide explains query fan-out. When someone asks AI Mode or an AI Overview a question, Google’s model runs several related searches at once to gather more results. Its example is a question about a weedy lawn turning into searches about herbicides, chemical-free weeding, and prevention. Some people have read that as a reason to build a page for every possible fan-out search. Google is saying the opposite: its systems can understand that a page is relevant even when the words do not match exactly.
Why town pages became the default advice
Years ago, matching the exact words in a search mattered more than it does now. If someone typed “plumber Long Eaton” and you had a page with “Plumber Long Eaton” in the title, you had a decent chance. So agencies and page builders started stamping out location pages in bulk, often with a template that swapped the town name and nothing else.
The trouble is that those pages say nothing new. A visitor in Arnold reads the same three paragraphs as a visitor in Ilkeston. There is no local detail, no proof you have worked there, and nothing that would make someone choose you. That is exactly the kind of page Google’s guide describes as commodity content: easy to produce, easy to copy, and adding little for the reader.
What one strong service page looks like
A strong service page answers the real questions a customer has before they get in touch. It does the job that five thin pages were pretending to do. For most local firms it includes:
- what you do, in plain words, in the first couple of sentences,
- the areas you cover, listed honestly, such as “Nottingham, Derby and the towns in between”,
- how the job works, from first contact to finished work,
- what it usually costs, or what affects the price,
- real examples or photos of work you have done,
- the follow-up questions people ask once they are interested.
That last point matters for AI search. When Google fans a question out into several related searches, a page that already answers the follow-ups is more useful than a page that only repeats a town name. I went through those follow-up questions in detail in the follow-up questions your service page should answer.
When a second location page is worth it
A separate location page is justified when there is something genuinely different to say. It is not about the keyword. It is about whether a person in that place needs different information.
Good reasons for a real location page:
- you have a separate office, workshop, or showroom in that town that people can visit,
- the offer is different there, such as different services, opening hours, or a different team,
- you have real local work to show, like named projects, photos, and reviews from customers there,
- there are local rules or conditions that change the job, such as conservation areas or council requirements you deal with often.
Weak reasons:
- someone said you need a page per town to rank,
- a tool showed a keyword with the town name in it,
- a competitor has twenty of them,
- it is quick to duplicate a page and change one word.
If you cannot write at least a few paragraphs that only make sense for that one place, the page probably should not exist yet.
A quick checklist for your own site
Open your site and look at your location or area pages side by side. Then ask:
- If I swapped the town names between two pages, would anyone notice?
- Does each page show work, photos, or reviews from that specific area?
- Is the main service page better than any of the town pages, or worse?
- Would a customer reading this page feel they had learned something they could not get elsewhere?
- Am I keeping all of these pages up to date, or have some been left since launch?
If the honest answers point to thin pages, the usual fix is to merge them. Fold the useful bits into one strong service page, list the areas you cover clearly, and redirect the old town URLs to it with a permanent redirect so anyone with an old link still lands somewhere useful. Keep a location page only where you can make it genuinely different.
What this looks like across the East Midlands
Nottingham, Derby and Leicester are close enough that many local firms serve all three. That is a strength, not a reason to triple your pages. Say it clearly on your service page, back it up with real jobs, and make sure your Google Business Profile shows the same areas.
I have written about what tends to go wrong in each city: what gets a business found in Nottingham, why a template often falls short in Derby, and the mistakes I see from Leicester firms. The common thread is the same. Search rewards pages that help people, not pages that exist to catch a phrase.
Questions owners ask me
Will deleting my town pages hurt my rankings?
It can cause a short wobble while Google catches up, so do it carefully. Merge the useful content into your main page first, then redirect each old URL to it. Pages that brought in little or no real enquiries are rarely a big loss.
Do I need a page for each search phrase people use?
No. Google’s guide says its AI systems understand synonyms and the general meaning of a search, so you do not need to capture every variation. Write for the person, and cover the questions they actually ask.
Is this different for AI Overviews and AI Mode?
Not really. Google says its AI features are built on its normal Search ranking and quality systems, so the same rules apply. A helpful, well-organised page is what both ordinary results and AI answers draw on.
What about service-area businesses with no office?
That is most trades I work with. One clear service page listing your areas, plus a Google Business Profile set up as a service-area business, is usually the right starting point. Add a location page later only if you build up real work and reviews in a particular town.
Five thin pages feel like progress because you can count them. One page that answers the real questions is what actually gets people to get in touch.
If you run a business in Nottingham, Derby or Leicester and you are not sure whether your area pages are helping or hurting, I will look through them with you and tell you what to keep, merge, or drop. Start at Hashton or email contact@hashton.agency.