Is Speedway Part of Indianapolis? What to Put on Your Pages

Unigov merged the city with most of the county. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis says the 1970 reorganization grew the consolidated city from 82 to 402 square miles. Its population went from about 480,000 to 740,000.

One compromise kept some suburbs out. Incorporated Marion County municipalities with more than 5,000 people were excluded, which reduced opposition from the larger suburbs, according to the Encyclopedia's excluded cities entry. That rule singled out Beech Grove, Lawrence and the town of Speedway. Southport annexed enough land just before Unigov took effect to meet the population bar.

Population figures show how much of the county the city covers. The Census estimate for the consolidated city was 910,638 in July 2025, according to STATS Indiana. Marion County had 992,196 residents that year, IU's analysis shows. The county figure is larger because it also counts the excluded cities.

Each one runs its own local government. Their residents still follow countywide ordinances, receive countywide services and pay countywide taxes, the Encyclopedia notes. They vote for the Unigov mayor and the City-County Council, plus their own officials.

• Speedway. The town of Speedway sits about seven miles northwest of Monument Circle. It was laid out in 1912 for the founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which still gives the town an economic boost, especially in May and August. The 4.2-square-mile town keeps its own police and fire departments, library and water company. A Main Street redevelopment realigned 16th Street and Georgetown and Crawfordsville roads.
• Beech Grove. Beech Grove sits about six miles southeast of downtown. Its streets were named for cities on the Big Four Railroad, such as Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit. Amtrak still runs the railroad shops there, with over 500 jobs. The city has its own mayor, council, police and fire departments and school system.
• Lawrence. Lawrence sits about 10 miles northeast of the Circle and began near Pendleton Pike. Fort Benjamin Harrison was annexed into it in 1970, despite objections from the Army. It has a mayor, city council, police and fire departments, a water company and a parks department.
• Southport. Southport is a small city bounded by Buck Creek, Stop 11 Road, McFarland Road and Madison Avenue. The 2020 census counted 2,123 residents, and most of them work outside the city. It kept its own mayor, city council and police department.

These are real towns with their own services. A Speedway family calls Speedway police and sends kids to schools run under the town council, so the name is part of how they describe home.

Google pays attention to that kind of match. Its local ranking help page says Google ranks local listings mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance means how closely a profile fits what someone typed, so a page and profile that name the town give that match something to work with.

Customers read the page too. If a Beech Grove homeowner sees only Indianapolis on your service page, they may not know whether you cover their street.

“If your crew works in Speedway, say Speedway on the page. A page that only says Indianapolis leaves people there guessing whether you'll come out.”

Jeff Clerisier, founder of Trojan Digital Marketing

The same goes for the other three. Name all four wherever you list your coverage.

Name each town you actually serve. Put the four names in plain text on your main service page, with a line about how you work in each. If you serve all of Marion County, say so, then list Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport and Speedway by name.

A separate town page is worth building once you have Speedway-specific things to say. Google's spam policies define doorway abuse as pages made to rank for many closely related searches. One of its examples is a group of city pages that each send visitors to one destination.

So a Speedway page should carry Speedway details, like jobs near Main Street or how you schedule around the busy weeks in May and August. The quality review for multi-location service pages shows what makes each city page worth reading. If you're still choosing which towns to cover, prioritize your Indianapolis service areas by travel time and capacity first.

Your Business Profile keeps its own list. Google's service area help page says a profile can have up to 20 service areas, chosen by city, postal code or another area. It also rules out drawing the area as a radius around your shop.

List each excluded city you serve, by name or by postal code. Google asks you to be as specific and accurate as possible, and to keep the whole area within roughly a two-hour drive of where you're based.

Google's instruction for businesses that don't serve customers at their address is to take the address off the profile. The post on showing or hiding your address on Google covers that choice, and service area business SEO explains how coverage pages fit with it.

Pick one way to write your city and use it everywhere. Your website, profile and directory listings should all show the same name, street and ZIP code. If you're inside Speedway, Beech Grove, Lawrence or Southport, put the town's name in your address block or right beside it.

Do the same in your markup. Google's local business structured data guide lists address as a required property and asks you to include as many address properties as possible. Its examples put the city in the addressLocality field, so that value should match the city on your profile.

The Lawrence business guide shows how one excluded city's ZIP codes and landmarks read on a page. Assistants read the same listings, which is why our SEO and AEO work checks that every source names your town the same way.

1. Search your trade plus each town name, such as plumber Speedway or electrician Southport, and note where you show up.
2. Open your main service page and check that all four town names appear in plain text.
3. Open your Business Profile and compare its service areas with the towns you actually drive to.
4. Check that your site, profile and main listings write your city the same way.
5. Look at your markup and confirm the addressLocality value matches the city on your profile.
6. Write down what you changed and the date, then search again next month.

Janet S. wrote this Facebook recommendation after asking us about SEO.

“Had some questions about SEO and how to get my business showing up better online. I got some helpful information and a better idea of what I needed to work on.”

Janet S., Facebook recommendation

Is Speedway part of Indianapolis?

No. Speedway is a town in Marion County that sits outside the consolidated city of Indianapolis. When Unigov took effect on January 1, 1970, it left out Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport and Speedway. Their residents pay countywide taxes and vote for the Unigov mayor, but each place keeps its own local government.

Should my service page say Speedway or Indianapolis?

If you serve Speedway, say Speedway. Put the town's name in plain text on your service page, list it in your Business Profile service areas and write your address the same way everywhere. Use Indianapolis too if you work across the county, since the consolidated city covers most of Marion County.

Can I add Beech Grove or Lawrence to my Google Business Profile?

Yes, if you really serve them. Google allows up to 20 service areas, picked by city, postal code or another area. It asks you to be as specific and accurate as possible. You can't set a radius around your business, and the whole area should stay within roughly a two-hour drive of your base.

Do I need a separate page for each excluded city?

Only once you have something real to say about that town. Google's spam policies list city pages that all funnel visitors to one place as an example of doorway abuse. One strong service page that names all four towns is a safer start than four thin copies. Add a town page when you have real jobs, details or directions there.

Our page on Indianapolis SEO for service pages and local search covers how we build service pages around the towns you really serve. Tell us which towns your crews cover through the contact page. The first strategy call is free, and during business hours we aim to reply within five minutes.