# Site title or brand includes local identifier

- **Pattern:** `ab-001778` (`marketing-local-seo.local-signals.brand-local-identifier`)
- **Severity:** medium
- **Lifecycle:** active
- **Last modified:** 2026-04-18
- **Canonical URL:** https://auditbuffet.com/patterns/ab-001778
- **License:** CC-BY-4.0 — attribute to AuditBuffet Pattern Catalog (https://auditbuffet.com/patterns/ab-001778)

## Why it matters

A generic brand title like `Quality Plumbing Services` competes with national chains for every query and gives Google no signal that the business is local. Including the city in the root layout title and Open Graph title — `Springfield Plumbing` — claims the geo modifier in the SERP snippet, the browser tab, and every social share card. The findability taxon applies: the title tag is the single strongest on-page ranking signal for local queries, and leaving it generic forfeits that lever entirely.

## Severity rationale

Medium because the title tag drives click-through on every SERP and social share, and a generic title costs ranking on every local query.

## Remediation

Add the city to the default title and title template in `app/layout.tsx` so every page inherits the local identifier. Mirror the change in `openGraph.title` and the header logo's alt text.

```ts
export const metadata = {
  title: {
    default: "Springfield Plumbing",
    template: "%s | Springfield Plumbing",
  },
}
```

## Detection

- **ID:** `brand-local-identifier`
- **Severity:** `medium`
- **What to look for:** Check the site's default title tag (root layout `title` or `metadata.title`), Open Graph title, and any persistent header branding elements (logo alt text, site name in nav). Look for the city name, state, or a recognizable local identifier as part of the brand name or site title pattern.
- **Pass criteria:** Count all brand/title locations (root layout title, OG title, header, logo alt text). The root layout title or the default Open Graph title includes the city/region in at least 1 prominent brand location, OR the header branding consistently includes a local identifier.
- **Fail criteria:** The default site title and header branding contain no geographic reference — the brand reads as national or generic with no location signal.
- **Skip (N/A) when:** The business's legal brand name includes the city and this is reflected consistently (this is a pass, not a skip), or whole-audit N/A rule applies.
- **Detail on fail:** `"Root layout title is 'Quality Plumbing Services' with no city reference. Default site branding contains no local identifier."` or `"Header logo alt text and site title do not include city name or local identifier"`
- **Remediation:** Add the city to your title template in `app/layout.tsx`:

  ```ts
  export const metadata = { title: { default: "Springfield Plumbing", template: "%s | Springfield Plumbing" } }
  ```

Taxons: findability

HTML version: https://auditbuffet.com/patterns/ab-001778