Which town should you start with?
Your own, or the one that already sends you the most work. That is where the reviews, the photographs and the completed jobs are, so the proof is ready and the rankings move soonest. It is also where the Google Business Profile lives, which means the map pack is available to you there and nowhere else.
RB Electrical started in Halifax with a page for each service, and that single-town base is what has produced around two organic leads a week for five years.
What does adding a second town involve?
A location page with real content, and a reason for Google to believe it. The page needs jobs from that town, photographs taken there, the areas you cover from it and, ideally, reviews that mention it. Add the town to the service area on your Business Profile. Then earn a mention or two from that town: a supplier, a trade body, a local news story about a job.
Do that properly and the second town usually takes a few months to show. Do it as a copy of the first page and it may never show at all.
How do you rank in a bigger town like Leeds from a smaller one?
By being specific, because you will not beat the city on breadth. Leeds has established firms and big budgets on every general search, so a Halifax or Huddersfield business goes after the exact service and the exact part of the city it serves: EV charging in east Leeds, commercial flooring for retail fit-outs, brickwork for housebuilders at Swarcliffe. Bond Brickwork is visible for Leeds developments because its pages name them and show them from the air.
Narrow and proven beats broad and vague in a competitive town.
Should the towns be pages, or a separate site each?
Pages, on one site, almost always. The authority a website builds is shared across its pages, so every review, link and mention earned in Halifax also strengthens the Bradford page. Separate sites split that authority five ways and give you five thin things to maintain. The exception is a genuinely separate business in another town, with its own premises, staff and name.
How do you measure progress town by town?
Separately, with Search Console and a rank check filtered by the town in the query. Look at impressions and clicks for searches that include each place, the position of each location page, and the enquiries that name the town. A single county-wide number hides everything useful: Halifax can be climbing while Keighley has not started.
Review it monthly and move effort to whichever town is stuck.
How long does it take to rank across several towns?
Months for the first town and usually a year or more for the set, depending on the competition in each. A specific service in Keighley or Halifax can move quickly because few businesses are competing properly. Leeds is slower for the same service. Nobody can promise a position or a date, and anyone who does is guessing, so the honest answer is to measure each town and adjust.
