Publisher Guide: SEO and Sites

How to build a local home services site

This guide is the build plan for a local home services website that sends visitors to Summit home improvement offers. By the end you will be able to set up the site structure, write each page type to a template, place calls to action with tracking links, add structured data that tells the truth about who you are, and run a launch check before you ask Google to crawl the site.

Published 5 October 2026. How we write and check guides: editorial standards.

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Decide what the site is

Before you register a domain, write one sentence that describes the site honestly, for example: "A guide for homeowners in Columbus who are planning a roof replacement, with a way to connect with local roofers." That sentence sets the name, the About page and the calls to action. It also keeps the site from looking like a contractor it is not.

If you are still choosing the service and market, start with rank and rent for home improvement leads. For how site traffic fits with Summit, see SEO and rank-and-rent sites.

A site name and domain that describe a guide or resource, not a made-up contractor company.
No invented street address, license number or staff names.
One service per site, matched to one Summit offer.
An approved Summit publisher account and the tracking link for that offer.

Step 1: Lay out the site structure

Keep the structure shallow and logical, so visitors and crawlers can reach every page in a few clicks. Google's URL structure best practices recommend simple, readable URLs that use words people understand.

Page types for a local home services site
Page type	Example URL	Purpose
Home	/	Says who the site is for, what it covers and how the visitor can get connected with a provider
Service guide	/roof-replacement/	The main page on the service, its process and how to plan it
Topic pages	/roof-replacement/metal-vs-shingle/	Answers one question in depth
Area page	/columbus/	Local detail: climate, housing, permits, what is different here
About	/about/	Who runs the site and how it makes money
Privacy and contact	/privacy/, /contact/	How the site handles data and how to reach you

Link pages to each other in plain text. Google says in its link best practices that it can generally only crawl a link that is an anchor element with an href attribute, so avoid menus that work only with scripts.

Step 2: Write each page to a template

A repeatable template keeps quality steady and makes each page clearly useful on its own.

01
Clear title and heading
One heading that names the topic and, where useful, the place. Google's title link guidance asks for descriptive, concise title text and warns against keyword stuffing.
02
Answer first
Open with a short, direct answer to the question the page covers, then add detail below.
03
Local detail
Add facts a reader in that area would care about, such as weather, typical home age or the local permit office, with links to official sources where you state facts.
04
Call to action
End each main section with a button that says what happens next and links through your tracking link.

Write for the homeowner, not the search engine. Google's SEO starter guide puts the focus on content that is easy to read, well organized and useful. Avoid publishing near-copies of the same page for many towns. Rank and rent for home improvement leads explains where that crosses into Google spam policies.

Step 3: Place calls to action and tracking links

The site does not collect leads itself. Every call to action sends the visitor to the Summit lander through your tracking link, and the lander captures consent and routes the lead to buyers.

Use button text that describes the next step honestly, for example "See if local window installers can help".
Give each page, and each placement on a long page, its own sub ID value, such as "home-hero" or "metal-vs-shingle-end".
Add rel="sponsored" to tracking links, as Google's guidance on qualifying outbound links asks for paid or advertising links.
Add a short disclosure near the first call to action: the site connects homeowners with independent providers and may be paid when a request is completed.
Do not add a form of your own, and do not copy or recreate the consent wording from the Summit lander on your pages.

Leads are reported by tracking link. Ask during onboarding which other tracking options apply to your account. The tracking links and sub IDs guide covers naming.

Building a local home services site? Apply as a publisher and tell us the service and market.

Apply as a publisher

Step 4: Add structured data that tells the truth

Structured data helps Google understand a page. Google's introduction to structured data explains the formats, and its general rules expect markup to describe what is actually on the page.

Organization: describe your own company, the one that runs the site, using Google's Organization markup.
Article or similar: describe guide pages as content, with the real author or publisher.
Not LocalBusiness for a business you are not. Google's local business markup feeds business details into Search and Maps results. Do not mark up the site as a roofing company with an address it does not have.

Step 5: Write the About page and disclosures

Google's guide to creating helpful, reliable, people-first content suggests making it clear who created content and why. On a lead gen site, the About page is where you do that.

Name the person or company that runs the site, with a real way to contact you.
Say what the site covers and which area it serves.
Explain the business model in one or two plain sentences: the site helps homeowners connect with independent service providers, and the site owner may be paid when a request is completed.
Say that the site does not perform the work and does not employ the providers.
Explain how you research and update the guides, and when pages were last reviewed.

Repeat the short form of the disclosure near the first call to action on each main page. Visitors should know before they click that they are leaving your site for a request form.

Step 6: Launch check

Pages meet Google's technical requirements: Googlebot is not blocked, pages return a working status, and content is indexable.
The site loads over HTTPS and works on a phone.
An XML sitemap lists the pages you want found. See Google's sitemaps overview.
The site is verified in Search Console and the sitemap is submitted. See how to use Search Console.
Every call to action opens the right Summit lander with the right sub ID.
About, privacy and contact pages are live and accurate.
No page claims to be a contractor, shows a fake address or uses another business's name or logo.

After launch, watch Search Console for pages that are not indexed and fix the cause rather than adding more pages. Compare pages by sold leads in your Summit reports. See reading your publisher reports.

Common mistakes

A contractor-style brand. A name, logo and address that suggest you do the work misleads visitors.
A homemade lead form. Leads for Summit offers must submit on the Summit lander.
LocalBusiness markup for the site. Markup should describe the real business behind the site.
Scripted navigation. Links Google cannot follow leave pages undiscovered.
No sub IDs per page. You cannot tell which page produces sold leads.

Frequently asked questions

What platform should I build the site on?

Any platform that produces fast, crawlable HTML pages with clean URLs and lets you edit titles, links and structured data. The structure and content matter more than the platform.

Do I need a privacy policy if I do not collect leads?

Your site may still use analytics or cookies, and visitors expect to know who runs it. Publish a privacy page that accurately describes what your site does. This is not legal advice.

Can I show a phone number on the site?

Not for Summit offers. Route visitors through your tracking link to the Summit lander, where consent is captured.

How many pages should the site launch with?

Enough to cover the service properly: a home page, a main service guide, a handful of topic pages that answer real homeowner questions, an area page with real local detail, and the About, privacy and contact pages. Add more as you learn which questions visitors bring.

Should I add FAQ markup?

You can mark up questions and answers that appear on the page. Check Google's structured data documentation for which types can show as rich results, and do not mark up content that is not visible.