Local content: proving to Google that your park belongs to its place.
An address in the footer says where you are. Pages about the fair, the trailhead, and the taco place say it in a way that cannot be faked.
IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Local content is writing about your area: the events, the landmarks, the seasonal happenings, the practical advice a local would give. It reinforces geographic relevance, which is a local ranking signal beyond the address, and it answers the searches guests make while planning: "things to do near [town]," "[event] camping," "fishing near [lake]." It also earns links, because the event, the trail group, and the restaurant notice when a park writes about them. Write what a good camphost would say at the counter, one topic per page.
What to write about
- Events guests come for. The rodeo, the bluegrass weekend, the balloon festival, the fishing derby. What it is, when, how far, and that you book up for it.
- Landmarks and attractions with the park's angle: the drive from your gate, the parking situation for a truck, the time of day to go.
- Practical area advice. Where to buy propane, the grocery run, the dump station in town, which gas station fits a big rig, where the good cell signal is.
- Nature by season. When the river runs high, when the aspens turn, when the elk are on the flats.
- The businesses you recommend, by name, with why. The same list that goes on the back of your printed map.
What one looks like
An area page for the fishing derby weekend, in outline. Title: "The Twin Lakes Fishing Derby: Camping, Parking, and What to Know." First paragraph: the derby is the second weekend of June, the park is 12 minutes from the launch, and it books out by April. Then: launch times, where a truck and trailer can park, the weigh-in location, the two restaurants that stay open late that weekend, and the park's rule about cleaning fish. A photo from last year. A note that the derby's own site links to this page as a place to stay, which it does because the park asked. Four hundred words, republished with the new date each spring.
How it helps ranking
Google's local algorithm looks for signals that a business is genuinely of a place. A site that mentions the county, the river, the highway, the nearby towns, and the local events in natural context reads as local. It also creates pages that rank for area searches, which bring guests who have not picked a park yet. And local pages get linked: the event posts your page, the chamber shares it, the outfitter links to "where to stay." Those links are the next page.
What it looks like when it is missing
A site that could be anywhere. The word "Idaho" appears once, in the footer. Guests searching "things to do near Twin Falls with an RV" find a travel blog that mentions a competitor. The park knows everything about the area and none of it is written down.
What it costs a park
The planning searches, which happen before the park search, and the local links that would have come from being the park that wrote about the fair. A park with ten area pages has a set of rankings and relationships a competitor with none cannot buy.
How to check your own
- Read your site and count how many local place names appear outside the footer.
- Search "things to do near [your town]" and "[local event] RV camping." See who ranks.
- Ask the office what guests ask about the area. Each answer is a page.
What we do about it
The Marketing band includes one area page a month, written from a call with the park about what guests asked and what is coming up. The area page on the site lists the park's recommendations by name, which is the same list that appears on the printed map from RV Park Map, so the website and the guide say the same thing.
Questions about this.
What is local content for a campground website?
Pages about the park's area: events, landmarks, practical advice, seasonal nature, and recommended businesses, written from what the park actually knows.
Does writing about local events help SEO?
Yes. It reinforces that the park belongs to its place, ranks for the planning searches guests make, and earns links from the events and businesses mentioned.
Should I write about competitors' towns?
No. Write about your own area from your park's vantage point. Pages about places you are not become near-duplicate town pages, which Google marks down.
How often should a park publish local content?
One area page a month is plenty, timed to what is coming up: the event next month, the season about to turn.
Want this done for your park?
This is the ongoing work in the Marketing band. Tell us about your park and we will say what we would build first. SEO for parks starts at $250 a month.
Part of the RV park SEO guide, section: What grows a park site. Previous: Seasonal content: publish what guests search, when they search it. Next: Consistency: a steady drip beats a burst and then silence.