West Yorkshire is compact by Yorkshire standards — Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax sit within a relatively small area with good connections between them. That makes it the one part of the region where genuinely county-level coverage is plausible, rather than a claim that falls apart on inspection.
Leeds absorbs the attention and the competition
Leeds is one of the largest financial and professional services centres outside London, and its search results reflect that. Legal, accountancy and financial services in particular are properly contested there.
Bradford, by contrast, has a population approaching half a million and markedly less competition. It is one of the clearest examples in England of a large city whose local search results are under-served, and businesses that name Bradford rather than defaulting to Leeds frequently find the ground much easier.
The textile towns have their own character
Huddersfield, Halifax, Dewsbury and the Calder Valley retain distinct identities and a manufacturing base that supports a real business-to-business economy — engineering, textiles, specialist manufacturing. That work is won on capability rather than proximity, and the map pack contributes little to it.
Wakefield and the logistics corridor
Wakefield's position on the M1 and M62 has made it a substantial distribution centre, with the warehousing and haulage economy that follows. As elsewhere, that is business-to-business and capability-led.
Where we would focus
If you serve the whole county, a county page is defensible here in a way it is not in North Yorkshire. If you are choosing where to compete, Bradford, Wakefield and Halifax offer considerably better odds than Leeds for the same effort.