Getting found regionally means having a suitable page for every geographic level on which customers search: the location itself, the surrounding towns, the district or region and the canton. Depending on the industry, searchers type different things: "dentist Kreuzlingen", "joinery Thurgau" or "electrician near me". A website covers this with the Google Business Profile, a location page, a few region pages with real content and blog posts. Dozens of nearly identical location pages count as doorway pages to Google and do harm.
An electrician in Amriswil is not only searched for with "electrician Amriswil". Customers type "electrician Thurgau", "electrician Oberthurgau", "electrician Romanshorn" or simply "electrician near me". Each of these searches is its own search space. If you only mention your own town name on your website, you miss the others. If you copy a separate page for every town, you run into trouble with Google. This page shows the way between the two.
How searchers enter locations
Switzerland is made up of small areas. Many people commute across municipal and cantonal borders and think in regions that appear on no administrative map: Oberthurgau, Zürcher Oberland, Rheintal, Fürstenland. Search queries follow this way of thinking.
| Level | Typical search | When it dominates |
|---|---|---|
| Town | "dentist Kreuzlingen" | Everyday services, short distances: health, hairdresser, garage, restaurant |
| Neighbouring town | "dentist Konstanz" from Kreuzlingen | Border towns, agglomerations |
| Region or district | "joinery Oberthurgau", "painter Zürcher Unterland" | Trades with a service radius of 20 to 40 kilometres |
| Canton | "trustee Thurgau", "architect St. Gallen" | Consulting, planning, property, offers with a cantonal connection |
| Agglomeration | "removals Zurich" from Dietikon | All industries around the big cities |
| No location | "electrician near me", "pizzeria" | Mobile search, Google uses the device's location |
You don't need to guess which level matters for you. The Google Search Console lists the actual search queries for which your website appears. Filter by town names, region names and canton names and you'll see where you already get impressions and where you don't. Instructions for this are under Setting up and reading Search Console.
Which page covers which search space
Every level needs a place on the website where it appears credibly. For most SMEs, the assignment looks like this:
| Search space | Responsible page | What needs to be on it |
|---|---|---|
| Town | Google Business Profile and homepage | Address, opening hours, services, photos of the location |
| Neighbouring towns | Location page or "service area" section | List of towns served, travel times, references with location details |
| Region or district | A region page with real content | Projects from the region, special features, contact people |
| Canton | Service page with a cantonal angle or blog posts | Cantonal rules, funding programmes, authorities, prices |
| No location | Google Business Profile | Correct category, up to date details, reviews |
The business profile is the foundation. It determines the map listing for searches with and without a place name. You can find out how to set it up correctly under Optimise your Google Business Profile. The page Local SEO for SMEs gives you an overview of all local measures.
Examples from Thurgau and St. Gallen
This website's own regional pages show what that looks like in practice. The page SEO in Thurgau targets businesses in the canton and addresses its structure: many small municipalities, proximity to Konstanz, commuter flows to Winterthur and Zurich. The page SEO in Eastern Switzerland covers the region across cantonal borders, because customers from Wil, Gossau and Weinfelden think of it as one region. The page SEO optimisation in St. Gallen serves the city and its surrounding area.
Three pages, three search areas, three different sets of content. None of them is a copy of another. That is exactly the benchmark: every region page must contain something that only applies to that region.
A constructed example for a joinery in Bürglen TG: a location page featuring the workshop and showroom in Bürglen, with a catchment area of Weinfelden, Amriswil, Bischofszell and Frauenfeld. A region page called "Joinery in Oberthurgau" with reference kitchens from Romanshorn and Arbon. Blog posts about fitted wardrobes in older buildings, with examples from old town houses in Frauenfeld. Not a single post needs "Joinery Thurgau" in the title, yet the business still appears for searches at every level.
Where doorway pages begin
Google explicitly names doorway pages as a violation in its spam policies: pages created for similar search queries that all funnel users to the same destination without offering any value of their own. The classic example in Switzerland: "Painter Frauenfeld", "Painter Weinfelden", "Painter Amriswil" as twenty pages with identical text, where only the place name has been swapped.
The line is not drawn by the number of pages, but by the content. Three questions help you decide:
- Would a customer from this place learn something on the page that is missing from the main page?
- Is there a genuine reference project, a contact person or a special feature for this place?
- Could you read the page aloud to someone without it feeling embarrassing?
If the answer to any of these is no, the place belongs in the catchment area list on the location page, not on a page of its own. The page Blog for multiple locations covers what applies to businesses with several genuine locations.
Consistency across all sources
Regional visibility does not come from your own website alone. Google cross-checks your company name, address and phone number against directories such as local.ch and search.ch. If the spelling differs, for example "Bürglen" here and "Bürglen TG" there, trust in the location drops. You can find out which entries matter under Business directories in Switzerland.
What to do with this
- Check Search Console to see which geographic levels people are currently searching for you at.
- Maintain your business profile as the foundation for place and surrounding area.
- Describe your catchment area honestly on a location page.
- Build no more than a handful of region pages, each with its own content.
- Let the canton and region come up naturally in blog posts, through funding programmes, authorities and examples.
Regional visibility is not a trick with place names. It comes from describing the region the way customers actually experience it.
Frequently asked questions
Should I create a separate page for every place in my catchment area?
Only if you have something unique to say about that place: reference projects, special features, directions, customers you look after there. Twenty pages that differ only in the place name will be classed by Google as doorway pages. It is better to have a few substantial region pages plus blog posts where places come up naturally.
How important is the canton as a search term?
That depends on the industry. For services with a wide radius such as trust services, architecture or real estate, many people search with the canton, for example "Trustee Thurgau". For everyday services such as hairdressers or garages, the place name dominates. Search Console shows you which level people actually use to search for you.
Does the agglomeration count as its own search area?
Yes, especially around Zurich, Basel, Bern, St. Gallen and Winterthur. Someone based in Dübendorf is often searched for under "Zurich". The answer is not to claim Zurich as your location, but to describe your catchment area honestly: location Dübendorf, service area Zurich region.
What does adding a place name to a blog post achieve?
It makes a general expert post findable on a regional level. A post about heat pump costs will rank for searches like "Heat pump costs Thurgau" if it includes specific references to cantonal funding and examples from your own region. Contrived-looking lists of places tacked onto the end of the text, on the other hand, achieve nothing.