Estates panel 5
Search across Telford, Shrewsbury and the county
Shropshire covers a large rural area with a modest population spread between market towns. A firm in a Telford unit selling across it faces long distances and thin population in between. Local search behaves accordingly.
One trading area, two councils and two postcode families
Telford and Wrekin is a unitary authority. Shropshire Council covers the rest of the county from Oswestry down to Ludlow. Buyers never notice that boundary.
Directories, business support listings and local news coverage all split along it. A supplier list built for Telford and Wrekin will not carry a Shrewsbury firm, and the reverse holds just as firmly.
Postcodes divide the same way. TF covers Telford, Newport, Shifnal, Broseley and Much Wenlock. SY covers Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Ludlow and most of the rural county.
That split matters for anything relying on a list. Half of the records that could carry your name are on the other side of a line your customers do not see.
The hard limit
Proximity cannot be bought away
Google measures local distance from the searcher rather than from a town centre. A firm on Halesfield is close to Madeley and a long way from Oswestry. No amount of content changes that arithmetic.
The map pack therefore has a natural reach. Winning it across a whole county from a single unit is not realistic and nobody should sell you that.
Ordinary organic results carry no such limit. A capability page can rank county wide and further. Distance counts for far less outside the local pack.
The practical division of effort follows from that. Local work targets the borough you sit in and organic work targets the county and beyond.
What a location page has to earn
A page about Shrewsbury has to say something true about working in Shrewsbury. Delivery days, a named route, the sectors you serve there and the equipment you bring are all real detail.
A page repeating the town name twenty times says nothing at all. Search engines discounted that tactic years ago and readers spot it instantly.
The honest test is whether the page would still be useful with the town name removed. A page that collapses without it was never about the town.
Framing
Drive time beats town name
Buyers in a rural county think in minutes rather than in miles. A page stating that you cover Shrewsbury and Market Drayton on set days answers the question they actually have.
Coverage statements help the AI assistants too. A sentence naming the towns you genuinely serve is liftable. A map graphic is not.
Keep the list honest. Naming a town you never travel to produces enquiries you have to turn down and reviews you would rather not collect.
What not to build
One page per town is a trap
Twelve near identical town pages is the oldest local tactic there is. It creates thin pages that compete with one another and dilute the whole site.
Two or three genuinely different pages beat twelve templated ones. Write the pages you can fill with real detail and leave the rest alone.
Measuring position across a county
Checking your rank from your own office tells you almost nothing. You are standing next to your own pin and the result reflects that.
Positions need checking from several points instead. Telford town centre, Wellington, Newport and Shrewsbury together give four honest readings rather than one flattering one.
Organic position works differently again. Search Console reports an average across every impression. That figure already blends the county rather than reflecting one street.
Listings split at the county line
Business support bodies, chambers and local news all operate on one side of the boundary or the other. A firm on a Telford estate selling into Shrewsbury sits in both markets and usually appears in only one set of records.
Fixing that is slow and cheap. Claim the listings that exist on both sides and keep the address string identical in every one.
Consistency is the entire point of the exercise. A listing that helps is one that agrees with every other listing you hold.
The numbers that shape county reach
listings in a standard map pack MECHANISM
Three local results appear before the more places link, and proximity decides most of who fills them.
councils covering one trading area MECHANISM
Telford and Wrekin is unitary and Shropshire Council covers the rest. Directories, support schemes and news coverage all split along that line.
per month, retainer floor FIXED
County wide organic work sits inside the retainer rather than being priced separately.
Public consultation
Common questions about covering the county
Can one firm rank in Telford and Shrewsbury at the same time?
It can, rarely equally well. Proximity works against you in whichever town you are not based in. The realistic plan is to win the map pack where you sit and reach the other town through ordinary organic pages.
Should we open a second address to cover the county?
Only where you genuinely occupy it. A profile at an address you do not work from is a policy breach and gets listings suspended.
How many town pages are reasonable?
As many as you can fill with genuine detail and no more. Three strong pages beat twelve templated ones every time.
Does a Shrewsbury phone number help?
Marginally. One number used consistently everywhere is worth more than a second number appearing on half your listings.
Do buyers outside Shropshire care where we are?
Industrial buyers care about capability and lead time far more than about location. Location matters when it changes the delivery day. Say it in those terms rather than in county terms.
See what county wide work costs
The pricing page carries both published figures and the reasoning behind them. County work sits inside the monthly retainer rather than being quoted separately.
£600 a month is the floor. Month to month, no minimum term.