LocalPins Documentation

LocalPins is a WordPress plugin for local service businesses. It creates a structured system for logging completed jobs from the field, publishing them as SEO-optimized pages, and distributing them to connected social and business profile accounts — with human review at every step.

How the system works

The core workflow is linear. A field technician submits a completed job through the mobile field app. The submission enters a review queue. An admin reviews, edits if needed, and approves. On approval a pin page is published — and if social distribution is configured, the job is queued for posting to connected platforms.

Requirements

Installation

Initial Setup Checklist

Complete these steps before sending techs into the field.

Field App

The field app is a mobile-optimized web page that technicians use to submit completed jobs. It runs in any mobile browser — no installation required.

Accessing the field app

The field app URL is:

https://[your-site]/[base-slug]/submit/

Share this URL with technicians. They will be prompted for their name and the API password set in Settings → API Keys.

Submission fields

Review Queue

All field submissions go into the review queue (Local Pins → Review Queue) and remain private until approved. The queue shows all pending submissions with photos, location, and generated content.

Approving a single pin

Click any pending submission to open the edit screen. Review all fields, make edits as needed, and click Approve. The pin page is created immediately.

Bulk approving

Select multiple submissions using the checkboxes. Use Bulk Actions → Approve. All selected pins publish in one action.

Editing before approval

Any field can be edited before approval — service type, street address, customer type, job notes, and generated written content. Edits are reflected in the published pin page.

Pin Pages

A pin page is created automatically when a submission is approved. Pages follow this URL structure:

https://[site]/[base-slug]/[city]/[service]/[street]/

// Example
https://peakconstruction.biz/projects/hudson/new-construction/union-street/

Page section order

Business Info

Go to Local Pins → Settings → Business Info. These fields appear throughout pin pages, schema markup, and social post captions.

Cities & Services

Go to Local Pins → Settings → Cities & Services. Enter one city per line and one service per line. These lists populate the dropdowns in the field app.

City URLs

Go to Local Pins → Settings → City URLs. This tab has three sections.

City Page URLs

Map each city to its service area page on the website. Used in breadcrumb links and the "View all [city] jobs" link on pin pages.

City + Service URLs

Map specific service + city combinations to dedicated landing pages. Used in the "Learn more: [Service] in [City]" link on pin pages.

Sitewide Service URLs

Map services to their main service category pages. Falls back to this when no city-specific URL is set.

Importing via Excel

All three types can be imported in one Excel file using four columns: city, service, url, label. Leave city blank for sitewide service URLs. Leave service blank for city-only URLs.

SEO Settings

LocalPins outputs a JSON-LD @graph block on every pin page containing Service, BreadcrumbList, and optionally Review schema nodes. These are compatible with Yoast SEO and do not conflict with existing site schema.

Social Distribution Overview

Social distribution requires the DataPins Social plugin installed separately. Once active, a Social menu appears under Local Pins with Settings and Social Queue submenus.

Each platform is configured as a Location in Social Settings → Locations tab. A location defines which platform to post to, which posting mode to use, and which caption template to apply.

Setting Up Google Business Profile

GBP posting is handled through a relay on localpins.co. Google credentials are stored on localpins.co — they are never stored on the client site. The client authorizes with one click.

Social Queue

Go to Local Pins → Social Queue. The queue shows every post entry across all platforms — status, platform, scheduled time, and available actions.

Queue maintenance

At the bottom of the Social Queue page, the Queue Maintenance section provides two cleanup tools: Clear cancelled & failed entries removes all non-active rows. Clear stale entries removes rows for pins that have been deleted from the main plugin.

Posting Modes

Each location in Social Settings can be set to one of three posting modes. The mode can be overridden per pin in the pin edit screen.

Testimonials

Testimonials are added per pin in the pin edit screen (Local Pins → All Pins → edit a pin → scroll to the Testimonial section).

If the Review Quote field is left blank, the testimonial section does not appear on the pin page. All other sections are unaffected.

FAQ Manager

Go to Local Pins → FAQ Manager. FAQs are organized into pools by service type and city combination. Each pool is a set of questions and answers that will appear on matching pin pages.

Creating a FAQ pool

Written Content

Each pin page includes a written description of the job, generated from the job notes, location data, service type, and customer context submitted through the field app. Content goes through the review queue before publishing. Admins can edit, replace, or supplement it before approval.

Excel Import

Go to Local Pins → Import Jobs. Bulk job submissions can be imported from an Excel file. Imported pins go into the review queue and are not published until approved.

Excel file format

Download the template from the Import Jobs page. Columns:

service_type    // Must match a service in Settings exactly
city            // Must match a city in Settings exactly
street          // Street name of the job location
customer_type   // Optional
job_notes       // Optional — description of the work
job_date        // Optional — YYYY-MM-DD format

City URL import

City URLs can be imported via Settings → City URLs → Import. Use columns: city, service, url, label. Leave city blank for sitewide service URLs.

URL Management

Changing the base slug

The base slug is the first segment of every pin page URL (e.g. /projects/). Set in Settings → Advanced → Base URL Slug. Changing it automatically creates 301 redirects from the old slug to the new one.

Old slug redirects

Settings → Advanced → Old Slug Redirect Tool lets you manually add legacy URL patterns that redirect to the current slug. Useful when migrating from another URL structure.

Slug repair

Settings → Tools → slug repair identifies and corrects pin pages with malformed or duplicate slugs. Run this after bulk imports or service renames.

Analytics

Go to Local Pins → Analytics. The dashboard tracks views and referrers for published pin pages. No external analytics service required for basic tracking.

Advanced Settings

Go to Local Pins → Settings → Advanced.

Rate limit allowlist

The field app enforces a rate limit on submissions per IP address per hour. Add office IP addresses to the allowlist to exempt them. Supports exact IPs and CIDR notation. One entry per line.