Chances are, your enterprise brand does one thing really well — but it’s not all you do. Often, brands offer a diverse selection of products and services. And although it may be possible to mention them all on a local landing page, only one set of meta tags, schema, and block copy can optimize these topical keywords.
This can limit SEO opportunities to rank specialty keywords higher in search engines. After all, Google wants to see that web pages are relevant to each given query. How can you demonstrate relevance to different product and service types from a single local page? Perhaps you’re a retailer but have branched out into grocery offerings as well. You could be a healthcare facility with multiple specializations under one roof, or a department store with a photo shop and pharmacy, as well.
Specialty pages are an innovative local marketing strategy that can help each of your locations rank higher and gain visibility in search, winning more conversions to in-person traffic. Let’s start with discussing how they work and what they entail.
What is a Specialty Page?
A specialty page is a local landing page entirely devoted to a single product or service line. As with all local pages, it includes the full name, address, phone number, and other key business information for that location. But the main body content, photos, local reviews, meta tags, and schema is optimized for a specialty keyword.
A specialty page creates the opportunity to rank high organically for a specific niche phrase while still providing the user a fully local experience. Having specialty pages for different business offerings can help individual locations appear for those products and services.
For example, if you were a home renovation brand and you wanted to rank higher in search for your painting supplies and services, you could use a specialty page. A specialty page dedicated to the paint department would allow you to have a description specific to that service, share photos to help customers understand what to expect, gather customer reviews about the consultation process and the products, etc.
In some cases, each of your business units might have different hours. You want to make sure that people find accurate information on Google, including whether they can access the location, product, or service at the moment they are searching.
In our home renovation business example, if it has an emergency plumbing and heating division, people may not be able to access the retail store 24 hours a day. Perhaps it has emergency services on call 24 hours a day. In that case, you want to have a separate local page to explain what is available and when.
Specialty Pages help you niche down and get specific so:
- Google can quickly understand why your page is relevant to a specific query
- Customers can understand exactly why you are a good option for them without having to sift through unrelated information
- Rank for easier to achieve long-tail keywords your customers are searching for
Rio SEO offers specialty pages to help clients increase visibility in specialty niche categories. Many clients have seen organic traffic gains from 5% to 10%+ year-over-year, along with increases in conversions (clicks for directions and store phone calls). One of our clients, which is a major pet retailer, has seen even more dramatic results for organic traffic for their specialty pages.
Specialty Pages in Action: A National Pet Retailer Example
This pet retailer has more than 1,000 locations across the United States and prioritizes its local marketing presence to ensure its products and services are seen in search. However, it offers a number of services that require individualized attention to improve its ranking.
For example, the retailer wanted to optimize their local landing page for “dog grooming near me,” but also in-store vet services, dog training services, and more. To maximize potential conversion opportunities, Rio SEO recommended the retailer create specialty pages for each of these services.
Since implementing specialty pages in the fall of 2015, the brand has seen the following results:
- YoY increases in mobile organic sessions
- YoY increases in desktop organic sessions
- Increases in on-page actions taken
- Improvements in quality of web page traffic
- Improvements in local marketing metrics from 2019 to 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic:
Comparing February 2019 to February 2021, each of their specialty pages has seen organic search traffic increase: aquatics (+68%), dog training (+66%), dog grooming (+64%), and vaccinations (+61%).
By including additional CTAs on their specialty pages, the pet retailer increased interest in its services and conversions to new business.
Overall, the pet retailer has enjoyed consistent increases in their organic traffic YoY since their specialty pages were implemented in 2015 and continued feedback and advice from their dedicated Account Director at Rio SEO. Learn more in the complete case study.
Specialty Pages in Action: O’Reilly Auto Parts
National car brand O’Reilly Auto Parts has employed specialty pages for its marketing strategy.
The brand wanted to highlight its battery testing service. As you can see in this screenshot from its website, the business provides general information about car batteries, common warning signs of a dying battery, how to care for a battery, and the battery test process at O’Reilly’s. Throughout the page, the local O’Reilly’s location is mentioned so the customer understands that the brand offers this service nearby.
Managing Specialty Pages at Scale
We understand it can be difficult for enterprise brands trying to manage the local presence of hundreds or even thousands of locations. Rio SEO can help develop and manage specialty pages at scale, ensuring that specialty pages aren’t competing against your brand’s regular pages in local search.
Show Google that your locations are indeed the best answer for local consumer queries and it will, in turn, recommend you as the best solution to searchers.