Canterbury is a city of around fifty-five thousand residents that receives visitor numbers many times that, and has two universities on top. The result is a market where the resident population is the smallest of the three audiences competing for a business's attention, and where most local websites address only that one.
Visitors search differently
Someone planning a visit to the cathedral, the city walls or the Marlowe searches in a completely different register from a resident — they use phrases about parking, opening times, distance from the station, what else is nearby, and whether somewhere is worth the detour. Hospitality, retail and accommodation businesses that write for that reader outperform those writing generic local copy.
Two universities move the calendar twice
The University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church together bring a substantial student population, and demand in housing, food, transport, storage and services follows the academic year rather than the calendar one. The late-summer turnover is the concentrated annual opportunity.
Heritage constraints are severe
Canterbury has a UNESCO World Heritage site, extensive archaeology and a very large number of listed buildings, which makes construction and alteration genuinely complicated. For builders, architects, surveyors and specialist trades, explaining what is permitted, what requires consent and what archaeology means for groundworks is valuable content that almost nobody has written properly.
The rural catchment
Canterbury serves a wide area across east Kent — Whitstable, Herne Bay, Faversham, Sandwich and the villages between. Whitstable in particular has a distinct identity and its own visitor economy, and should be named rather than absorbed.
Competition is moderate
Difficulty here is a little higher than the rest of east Kent, reflecting the visitor economy and an active hospitality scene, but remains modest by national standards.