Case Study: Building a Local Townsville Website That Google Sends Visitors To

Overview

Townsville Guide is an independent local visitor guide that I built and run myself. It helps visitors and locals find things to do, beaches, walks, food, events and practical local tips around Townsville.

The challenge was competition. Searches like 'things to do in Townsville' are dominated by big travel websites with huge budgets. I wanted to see how far a well-built local site, written from first-hand knowledge, could get.

What I Built

• Clear sections for things to do, beaches, nature and walks, food and drink, events, suburbs, history and local tips
• Practical local guides, such as stinger season safety, written from first-hand local knowledge
• An events page that's kept up to date
• An AI guide that answers visitors' questions about Townsville
• Clear page titles, descriptions and breadcrumbs, so Google understands every page

The Result

Here's what Google Search Console showed for the 28 days to early October 2026, compared with the 28 days before:

It now appears in the top 10 of Google for searches like 'stinger season townsville' and 'riverway'. The traffic is still growing, and it's the same approach I use for local business websites.

You can see it for yourself at townsvilleguide.com.au.