Our strategy for boosting local SEO for our multi-location business involves writing testimonials for local businesses in exchange for them posting these on their websites with a backlink to us. This approach is well-received, as most businesses agree, leading to many local backlinks. This significantly enhances our local search rankings and has proven to be an effective method for achieving local SEO success and a high link acquisition rate.
One specific advice I would give to multi-location businesses is to put joint effort on both their Google Business Profiles and their website. This combined approach strengthens your local SEO presence. Each location needs to have a separate GBP. For each location, prioritize GBP optimization and regular maintenance. Regularly update NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information across your GBP listings and website and make sure they match. Regularly post updates, respond to reviews promptly, and encourage new ones. Website-wise, clearly mention your service areas on the Contact page and create local service pages for all your branches. Optimize them with relevant keywords (service type + location), take care of NAP consistency & working hours, and include calls to action, service details, your credentials, testimonials from satisfied clients in that area, and describe previous projects that you completed in that area. Writing blog posts for your local audience is also beneficial. Use these posts to internally link to your local service pages, but make sure they are relevant and narrowly focused on your local audience's needs.
Start simple by creating and optimizing Google My Business profiles for each location. You'll want to have accurate and consistent information which at the minimum includes business name, address, phone number, and operating hours. Going beyond the basics, add location-specific descriptions that highlight unique aspects or services offered at each site if there are any. Ideally, you'd also be encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews on the specific location's profile as this will significantly help boost local search rankings for those locations. Regularly update the profiles with relevant posts, offers, and events specific to those locations.
Create content silos and structure each silo’s URL differently from the main website. For example, if your main website is www.airbrushes.com, then location A’s silo can be www.airbrushes.com/locationA. This format will preserve existing links and maintain their authority while differentiating the location. Silos will act like separate mini-websites for your main website and will each target a specific location. Each silo should serve a different location to cater to the interests and needs of that local audience. They will keep your content organized and optimized for your other business locations. Search engines understand local signals, e.g., area-specific contact information, keywords, and addresses. Therefore, separate silos for each location will reinforce these signals and boost your local SEO as search engines ‘see’ your business’s geographic relevance. Don’t forget to update the silos regularly.
If your business is in two or three locations, then similar local SEO strategies apply as for a single location. But what if you're targeting hundreds or even thousands of locations? We were presented with this challenge when optimizing a Swiss German real estate site. In an ideal world, we'd have liked the site to rank first for local keywords in every town or city in the country. Instead, we chose to prioritize SEO for the locations with the highest populations and search volumes. We optimized internal links by pointing the majority to major conurbations. For incoming links, we focused 30% on the home page and the rest on landing pages with the highest potential. We also adapted guest posts to each site, so if we identified a site about Geneva, say, we'd focus on property in Geneva for that article. This resulted in an increase in traffic from 50k to 270k over 2.5 years, more than double the traffic increase compared to other countries which adopted different link building strategies. We also discovered that the site ranked for many smaller towns due to the increased authority of the website as a whole.
Ensure each location has its own landing page. All too often I see brands putting all of their locations on a single contact page with only phone numbers and addresses. By making each location into a single landing page, the meta tags can be hyper focused on the geographic area/town name and then local landmarks, businesses, events, travel information, or other local topics can be utilized within the content on the webpage to make it more relevant to a local search query. Frequently asked questions can also be used for each location to expand on the word count as well as provide more targeted answers to user's searches in search engines.
So when it comes to local SEO, as with any multi service or multi location business, great SEO always starts with granularity. If you start out with a one page website where you need it to rank for multiple locations, you're already five steps behind. So as well as obviously setting up your Google my business, I would say the one specific tip for me would be to have unique landing pages for unique locations that allows you to do specific keyword research for each page. And in that keyword research, you can then focus on those locations. We've actually tested this with a website called Rain Garden Design, a garden design website who target over 10 locations in just in the Surrey county alone. And it it means that she can now tailor her messaging, tailor her keyword research to those specific areas. It's proved very successful so far, with multiple page one rankings across different locations, which we wouldn't have been able to achieve if we were only using one page to try and talk target all those locations. So my one tip is specific design specific landing pages for specific locations and optimise accordingly.
Have a location page on the site for each store location. Don't make pages just for SEO sake, it has to be visible on the site and accessible on the menu or footer of the site. Each page to have contact details, location address and store info to rank for the main keyword in each location.
An underrated yet extremely useful technique that multi-location businesses can leverage for local SEO is Google Posts within Google My Business listings. Each business location should have its own GMB profile, and through it, you can create posts with location-specific content and offers. Similar to social media postings, these posts are visible in your business's Knowledge Panel, increasing your company visibility, local relevance, and direct engagement with potential customers. This simple, yet powerful tactic can position your multiple location business prominence in local markets.
Founder & CEO at PRLab
Answered 2 years ago
One effective local SEO tactic for a multi-location business is creating separate SEO-optimized location pages for each office. As a PR agency with four different offices across the world, we developed individual pages for each location, ensuring they were optimized with local keywords and relevant content. We also implemented structured data to enhance search engine understanding and created a main location page that links to all four. This strategy improved our visibility in local searches and drove more traffic to each office’s page.
For a multi-location business, one highly effective local SEO tactic is to optimize each of your Google My Business (GMB) profiles separately. This means creating distinct and detailed GMB listings for each location, ensuring all profiles feature accurate and up-to-date contact details, addresses, and descriptions unique to their respective areas. This approach enhances each location's local search performance and visibility. In Sao Paulo, I spearheaded the expansion of a diagnostic imaging company by setting up a separate GMB profile for each new branch, highlighting local services and engaging community-specific content. This led to a 50% increase in local search traffic within the first six months for each new location. Regularly updating these profiles with relevant promotions and responding promptly to customer reviews can signifucantly improve your local SEO standing. Additionally, leveraging localized keyword strategies is crucial. Perform keyword research for each location to discover what locals are searching for. Integrate these keywords naturally into each location-specific page on your website. When expanding a dental service chain into multiple cities, I used geo-targeted keywords and saw a 20% uptick in organic traffic per location within four months. Implement these steps, and you'll see improvements in your local SEO for each of your business locations.
Create a separate, optimized Google My Business profile for each location and a separate landing page for each location within your site. Ensure each profile includes accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information, localized keywords, and consistent branding. This helps improve visibility in local searches and drives traffic to each individual location.
One effective local SEO strategy we've implemented at our company for multi-location businesses is to create hyper-local content tailored to each location. It's not just about stuffing location-based keywords into your content, but truly understanding and integrating into the local community. For instance, if your business has locations in different cities, you should consider creating dedicated service pages for each location that discuss local issues, events, or news related to your industry. These pages should feature unique content that resonates with the local audience, helps in building local backlinks, and enhances your visibility in local search results. It's about making each location appear as a native to its particular community, which significantly boosts trust and relevance in the eyes of both consumers and search engines.
One impactful tip for leveraging local SEO tactics for a multi-location business is to create location-specific content that resonates with the local community. When I was handling a multi-location digital marketing company, we saw significant results by tailoring blog posts and landing pages for each business location. For instance, we would write about local events, news, or even community issues pertinent to the local audiences. When our Georgia branch covered a major community event, we noticed a 15% spike in local search traffic over the next month. This approach helped us not only rank higher in local searches but also establish a deeper connection with the community. Additionally, maintaining consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) across all online directories and local mentions was crucial. We ensured our business details were consistent across Yelp, Google My Business, and local chamber of commerce sites. This consistency boosted our local search credibility and prevented any potential mix-ups for customers searching for our services. By ensuring all these elements were in place, each location experienced a marked improvement in local search visibility and customer engagement.
For multi-location businesses, focusing marketing efforts on specific geographic areas can be a powerful tactic to leverage local SEO. By tailoring content, website optimization, and online listings to cater to the unique needs and search preferences of customers in each targeted location, businesses can improve their visibility and relevance within those local markets. This approach allows enterprises to effectively reach and engage with the most relevant audience, driving increased website traffic, lead generation, and conversion rates. Additionally, it enables businesses to adapt their strategies and messaging to align with the distinct characteristics, preferences, and search behaviors of customers in different regions, ultimately enhancing their overall online presence and competitiveness.
This is a bit labor intensive, but what I find works best is to create separate and, more importantly, separately optimized landing pages for each location. This means each page needs to have one of your location names in the URL, title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and whatever else you have that can help you boost local relevance. I'd recommend focusing on location-specific keywords, address details, contact information, and embedded Google Maps at the very least, as all of these have good impact to improve local search visibility. If you have them, display customer reviews and testimonials specific to each location, and ensure each location has a consistent and up-to-date Google My Business profile.
Tips to Leverage Local SEO for a Multi-Location Business: One highly effective technique for optimizing local SEO for a multi-location business is to create dedicated landing pages for each location. This strategy helps ensure that each branch or office appears in local search results, improving visibility and attracting more local customers. Here’s how to implement this technique effectively: 1) Unique Content for Each Page: Create a unique landing page for each location, ensuring the content is tailored to the local audience. Avoid duplicating content across pages. 2) Include NAP Information: Clearly display the Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) for each location. Ensure this information is consistent with what’s listed on Google My Business (GMB) and other local directories. 3) Local Keywords: Incorporate local keywords naturally throughout the page. For example, use phrases like “best pizza in [Your Target City]” or “affordable plumbing services in [Your Business Neighborhood]”. 4) Customer Reviews and Testimonials: Feature local customer reviews and testimonials on each page to build trust and relevance. 5) Local Schema Markup: Implement local business schema markup to help search engines understand the specific details of each location. 6) Google My Business Integration: Ensure each location has a verified and optimized Google My Business listing that links back to the corresponding landing page. 7) Localized Content: Include information about local events, news, or community involvement related to each location to further enhance local relevance. 8) Visual Content: Add photos and videos that are specific to each location, such as store interiors, staff, and local landmarks.
One local SEO strategy I use for multi-location businesses is to create unique landing pages for each location. For example, if I have a restaurant chain across different locations, for each location, let’s say Seattle or New York or an Italian cuisine restaurant, I will design a different page like ‘Best pizza in Seattle’ or ‘Authentic Italian cuisine New York’. The exact name of each place, the address, phone number, working hours, and other content in the client’s native language, including reviews and holidays. Also, I check that each location has an active and synced Google My Business (GMB) account with all the updated and consistent data from the website. This includes uploading high-quality photos of the business, replying to the reviews, and last but not the least, incorporating relevant keywords that are location-based. With the usage of localized keyword and content, I can increase ranking in local search engine result page and subsequently increase traffic and potential customers to each location. For example, incorporating phrases like “Seattle pizza delivery” or “New York Italian restaurant” in the content could greatly enhance local search engine result positioning. This localized approach assists the search engines in identifying the geography of the specific location and as such, enhance local search performance of different search terms.
One specific tip for leveraging local SEO tactics for a multi-location business is to create individual landing pages for each location. By optimizing these pages with location-specific keywords, content, and contact information, you can improve your chances of ranking higher in local search results. This not only helps potential customers find the nearest location easily but also boosts your overall online visibility and credibility in each specific area. Remember, the more tailored and relevant your content is to each location, the better your chances of attracting local customers and driving more foot traffic to your business.
Once, while being employed by a national pizza chain with more than 500 outlets, I ensured that each of the outlets was correctly claimed and verified each time in Google My Business. This gave customers an opportunity to locate the nearest store by pulling their address, phone number and hours. These listings, if optimized and monitored, the average store was able to increase the “Request a Quote” leads by 12 percent in the first 3 months. It also made their map pack rankings more consistent as they were able to fully claim all the locations that they possibly can- before only around half of their locations would even appear for local searches. In this case, dedicating the time to handle local listings at scale was all that was needed to ensure customers find their nearest local store.