Tutorial guide

Swap the city name: a quick test for your city pages

Swap the city name on your city page. If it still reads fine, it's a template. Find real differences, or wait to build the page.

Swipe or tap Next · checked on 2026-10-04

At a glance

You needTwo of your city pages and your list of past jobs

TimeOne sitting for each pair of pages

CostNothing. A browser and a doc.

Works forAny business with a page for each town or area

The test · Part 1 of 9

Why a swapped city name gives a page away

Lots of city pages are one page copied many times with the town name changed. Same promises, same photos, same "proud to serve this wonderful community." Apparently every town is wonderful. To a customer in that town, it's a page that could be about anywhere.

Why it matters

Google's spam rules describe the worst version of this. They call it doorway abuse, and one example on their list is "Having multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page." Another rule, scaled content abuse, includes "Using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users."

Why it matters

Your page doesn't have to be spam to be weak. The swap test asks one simple thing: does this page tell a customer in this town something useful that the other page doesn't?

What this test is, and what it isn't

It's a quick editing check you can run in one sitting. It isn't a full account of how Google treats a page, and passing it doesn't promise rankings. It catches pages that say nothing.

The test · Part 2 of 9 · step 1 of 6

The swap test, step by step

Pick two city pages for nearby towns

Choose two towns close together. Those are the pages most likely to be copies of each other. Only have one city page? Compare it with your main services page instead.

The steps · step 2 of 6

Copy page A into a doc

Open the first page in your browser. Select the main text (skip the menu and the footer), copy it, and paste it into a new doc. Name the doc "SWAP TEST" so nobody mistakes it for the real page.

The steps · step 3 of 6

Swap the city name

Where: Google Docs: Edit → Find and replace. Other word processors have the same tool.

Type town A in the find box and town B in the replace box. Click Replace all. Do it again for anything else that names the town: the county, a neighborhood, a ZIP code.

The steps · step 4 of 6

Read it as a customer in town B

Read the swapped page slowly. Mark every sentence that is now wrong for town B. A wrong sentence is good news. It means the page said something true about town A.

If nothing turned wrong, the page works for town B with no edits. That's the template in a Springfield hat.

The steps · step 5 of 6

Put the two real pages side by side

Now open both real pages next to each other. Go section by section and ask the question from the video: what does this tell a customer that the other page doesn't? Highlight anything that's only true for one town. Cross out anything that's on both pages with just the name changed.

The steps · step 6 of 6

Look at what's left

Is any of your highlighting one of the three real differences in the next section? If yes, that's what the page should lead with. If no, the page fails. Go to "When a page fails."

The test · Part 3 of 9

What counts as a real difference

Three things earn a city page its place. Each one has to be true. Leave out anything you can't back up.

Real differences only

Services you really offer there

What it looks likeWhat you do in this town, and what you don't. A crew based nearby. A service you only offer in this area.

Doesn't countYour full services list with the town name on top.

Real differences only

Real jobs you can show

What it looks likeWork you actually did in this town: what the job was, and photos the customer said you could use. Name the neighborhood, not the address.

Doesn't countStock photos. A job from another town. A made-up project.

Real differences only

A question people there actually ask

What it looks likeSomething customers from this town ask your office, with a straight answer. If it's about a local rule, like a permit, link the town's or county's official page.

Doesn't countA question you made up to fit a search term. A rule you guessed at.

Real differences only

Google's own list of questions for helpful pages backs up the second one, real jobs. It asks whether your content shows "first-hand expertise," like expertise "from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place." A job you really did in that town is exactly that.

Real differences only

Please don't fix it with town trivia

Adding the year the library was built makes the pages different. It doesn't make them useful. Nobody hires a roofer because of when the library was built. Same goes for the population, the weather or a list of parks.

Real differences only

Never fake the proof

Don't invent jobs, photos or reviews to make a page look local. In the US, the FTC's rule on fake reviews and testimonials has been in effect since October 21, 2024. The FTC's guidance says a business that puts testimonials on its own website is "disseminating them," and if they're fake or false, the business could be liable.

The test · Part 4 of 9

Where to find your real differences

Your job records. Sort past jobs by town. Your customer system (the CRM, the software where you track customers and jobs), your invoices or your calendar all work. Which jobs could you show, with the customer's OK?
Your office and your crew. Ask whoever answers the phone: "What do people from this town ask us that others don't?" Write the questions down word for word, without names.

Where to look

What people searched. If you use Google Search Console (Google's free tool that shows the searches your site showed up for), open the Performance report for Search results. Click the Pages tab, then click your city page's row. That filters the report to that page. Then click the Queries tab to see the searches it showed up for.

Official local pages. For a rule question, like permits, go to the town's or county's own website and link it. Don't guess.

The fix · Part 5 of 9

When a page fails

A fail isn't a disaster. It just means the page has nothing to say yet. You have three honest options:

Fix it, merge it, or wait

Fix it. You found real differences. Rewrite the page so they come first: what you do there, a job you can show, the question people ask. Cut the copied paragraphs.
Merge it. You do work in the town but have nothing specific to say yet. List the town on one service-area page (a single page with every town you cover) instead of giving it a page of its own.

Fix it, merge it, or wait

Wait. You haven't done work there yet. Don't build the page. Come back when you have real jobs to show.

"We want to show up in both cities" isn't a difference. It's a wish. Do more homework before you make the next batch of pages.

Fix it, merge it, or wait

Taking a page down?

Ask whoever runs your website to send the old address to your service-area page with a permanent redirect. (A redirect sends anyone who opens the old link to the new page. The permanent kind is called a 301.) Google's docs list "You removed a page and you want to send users to a new page" as a reason to use one.

Copy and use · Part 6 of 9

Copy this: the swap-test checklist

Print it or paste it into a note. Run it once for each pair of pages.

Copy this

The swap-test checklist · Part 1 of 2 · Copy copies all 27 lines

CITY PAGE SWAP TEST
Page A: ____________________
Page B: ____________________

THE SWAP
[ ] Copied page A into a doc
[ ] Swapped town A for town B
    (county, ZIP, neighborhood too)
[ ] Sentences now WRONG for B: __

SIDE BY SIDE
[ ] Highlighted what's only true
    for one town
[ ] Crossed out what's on both

Copy this

The swap-test checklist · Part 2 of 2 · Copy copies all 27 lines

REAL DIFFERENCES (true, provable)
[ ] Services we really offer there
[ ] Real jobs we can show (with OK)
[ ] A question people there ask
    (rules: link the official page)

NOT DIFFERENCES
[ ] No town trivia
[ ] No made-up jobs or reviews

DECISION
[ ] Fix it  [ ] Merge it  [ ] Wait

Copy and use · Part 7 of 9

Do it with Claude or ChatGPT

Paste this into Claude or ChatGPT, then paste the text of your two pages where it says to. It runs the swap test with you and asks you for the real differences. It's told not to make them up. Leave out customer names, addresses and phone numbers.

Copy this prompt

The swap-test prompt · lines 1-11 of 24. Copy all copies the whole prompt; read it in full on the page.

Please help me run a "swap test" on two city pages from my business website. A city page is a page for one town we serve.

My business: [what you do, e.g. roofing]
Town A: [name]
Town B: [name]

PAGE A TEXT:
[paste the main text of page A]

PAGE B TEXT:
[paste the main text of page B]

Copy this prompt

Check what comes back. Anything it says about a town, a job or a rule should match your records or an official page. If it filled a gap with a guess, cut it.

Copy and use · Part 8 of 9

Example (made up)

Everything here is made up: a fictional company and fictional towns.

Maple Street Roofing has a page for Springfield and a page for Shelbyville. Both open the same way:

Maple Street Roofing is proud to serve the wonderful community of Springfield with quality roofing you can trust.

Example

Swap Springfield for Shelbyville and it still reads fine. Nothing turns wrong. That's a fail. Side by side, the only difference is a paragraph about the Springfield library. That's trivia, so it gets crossed out.

Example

Then the owner checks the job list and asks the office manager what callers ask:

Services there

SpringfieldRepairs and full replacements. The crew is based here.

ShelbyvilleRepairs only, for now.

Example

Jobs they can show

SpringfieldReplacements on older homes, with photos the owners OK'd

ShelbyvilleNone yet

A question people ask

Springfield"Can you match the shingles on an older house?"

Shelbyville"Do you come out this far for a small leak?"

Example

Springfield gets fixed. The page now opens with what's true there:

Most of our Springfield work is full replacements on older homes, and our crew is based here. A question we hear a lot: can you match the shingles on an older house? Here's how we handle it.

Example

Shelbyville gets merged. It has a real question but no jobs to show. So it goes on the service-area page with one honest line, "Repairs only, for now," and an answer to the small-leak question. It can get its own page when there's real work to show.

Copy and use · Part 9 of 9

Mistakes to avoid

Fixing it with trivia. Different isn't the same as useful.
Changing words instead of facts. Saying "proud to serve" a new way on every page still says nothing. Asking AI to "make each page unique" usually does just that.
Faking the proof. No borrowed photos, no jobs from another town, no made-up reviews.

Mistakes

Showing a customer's address. The neighborhood is enough. Ask before you use anyone's photos or name.
Building pages for towns you've never worked in. Wait until you have something to say.

Checked on 2026-10-04 against · 1 of 1

The official docs behind every claim

What each page backs up is listed at the end of the full guide.

The end

Tell me something useful about the job there

Swap the name, read it as a customer, and keep only what's true for that town. If there's nothing yet, wait. I already know the city name. I typed it.

Want help setting this up? Receipts Group builds these systems.

Open the full guide as a page (every file in full, plus the table of contents).