Intent and strategy, control 8 of 12
I-08 Use real operational evidence for location pages
Location pages must reflect genuine service and useful local differences. A city-name substitution does not establish local value or a physical office.
- Priority
- Gate. A FAIL stops publish or launch.
- Hard gate
- Yes. A FAIL stops publication, whatever the score.
- Change class
- EVIDENCE_REQUIRED: Authoritative facts must be supplied.
- Quality bucket
- Intent and user-task fit
Why it matters
Visitors who land on a page that only swaps one city name for another learn nothing about whether you can actually serve them. Google's spam policies treat such doorway pages as spam, and thin copies give AI answer engines nothing distinct to cite. The rule keeps location pages tied to real operations so each one earns its place.
Evidence to review
- Service logs, verified area list and unique local facts for the proposed page.
How to implement
- Confirm the area through operational records.
- State real lead times, service conditions, examples or local constraints where available.
- Use one honest coverage page when separate locations add no value.
- Keep website service coverage distinct from Business Profile eligibility.
- A location name, common contact number or shared service description is not by itself proof of doorway abuse. Assess genuine local utility and the overall destination journey.
How UltimateSEO checks this
Automated. A check in the scan sets PASS or FAIL for this control, and reports UNKNOWN or BLOCKED when its input is missing.
States used: PASS, FAIL, UNKNOWN, NOT_APPLICABLE or BLOCKED. UNKNOWN is never shown as a pass. How states work.
Sources
Part of The UltimateSEO Framework v4.3, catalogue dated 2026-10-14. Evidence states, control states and the publish gate are explained on the hub.