A guide to local SEO for multiple locations
Having multiple locations as a business means many things. More revenue, more custom, and more growth, all of which is great.
However, a comprehensive local SEO strategy that covers all of these areas is needed to maximise the benefits of multiple locations.
And while that sounds easy on the face of it, it is often trickier than first thought. The main reason is the amount of thought that has to go into optimising each location, simply copying and pasting one location’s SEO strategy just isn’t going to cut it.
In this guide, we’ll be leading you through all the relevant steps needed to create a successful, sustainable online presence for all the locations that matter to your business.
What is multi-location SEO and the benefits of optimising for multiple locations
Multi-location SEO is just local SEO, at scale.
Large companies such as fast food chains or retail companies are both great examples of multi-location SEO. They will have several separate campaigns for each brick-and-mortar store they own and will optimise so that the closest store to you appears on your search results page.
Making sure you have a presence online for local terms and phrases is beneficial in many ways. By doing it you tell Google that you have multiple presences in a particular area.
And, if you optimise appropriately, it will mean that your store in place X will appear when someone in that area searches for a relevant keyword. Conversely, it will also stop people who don’t live in those areas from getting in touch with you and being disappointed to find out you can’t help, stopping any negative reviews and harming reputations.
Multi-location SEO also just gives you greater control over the information that is online about your stores or the areas in which you operate. You can control the opening and closing times displayed and include pictures and updates from separate locations.
How to optimise for multiple locations
Being thorough and applying the same level of effort is one of the main ways a brand can be successful at having a successful organic search presence for multiple locations.
Understanding the nuance of each location and appreciating the need to apply subtle differences to each campaign will see you rewarded by search engines.
Below are five essential things to remember when carrying out search engine optimisation for several locations.
Utilise Google My Business profiles
A Google My Business (GMB) account is like an online storefront for your business so having one for each location that your business operates in is one of the first things you should do.
Claiming each site you have, or location that you operate can be done quickly, and for free – making it a no-brainer!
By having multiple GMB profiles you can control the content on each one to reflect real life.
Make sure each one is as accurate as possible and ensure they are consistent too. Have the same brand name, website link, phone number etc.
Ensure consistent names, addresses, and phone numbers (NAP)
Speaking of consistency, your NAP(s) should be completely accurate and consistent.
So, if you have one store that closes at 3 pm and another that shuts at 5 pm, make sure that is reflected on their relevant pieces of content – be it a GMB profile or bespoke landing page. Search engines like consistency and accuracy, and will reward it!
Make it as easy as possible for:
- People to get in touch with the relevant store or person in that area
- Search engines to rank your business for local search terms
Create optimised location-specific landing pages
On your site itself, make sure you have dedicated location-specific pages on there. Not only will it send signals to search engines that you’ve invested time into advertising in that local area but it also allows you to create content that specifically targets that area.
By tailoring content to your audiences you’re able to show audiences that you are authentic and know the local area, all of which helps to build that trust element of a site, something that’s more important than ever thanks to the E-E-A-T guidelines.
Write content specific to each location
When building out your online presence, think about the terms audiences in that area will be searching for and create locally relevant content that reflects it.
Including the location name and its surrounding areas, as well as terms such as ‘near you’ and ‘in [LOCATION]’ will make it clear what your page is about.
Let’s say you’re a landscape gardener who operates in specific areas in Greater Manchester such as Oldham, Bury, and Rochdale. You want to create three separate pages that target those areas, including industry keywords such as ‘landscape gardener Oldham’ or ‘gardening services Bury’.
However, don’t overdo it! Include place names and locations where it is natural to do so. Adding them into sentences in a way that doesn’t look organic will make your page look spammy.
Build backlinks from local websites
Backlinks are the online equivalent of endorsements. They show to Google that other established sites trust your site.
So, once you’ve created your landing pages that are filled with rich, localised content, work to attain links from websites in that local area such as directories.
Doing this will help boost your online profile in that area.
Utilise structured data
Structured data gives search engines important bits of extra info, like reviews, addresses, business names, and contact details.
By using this, you display how relevant you are to a user’s search and outline to Google exactly what your business is. You’ll have more chance of appearing in all the right local searches that target the place you want to rank for.
Another bonus is you increase your chances of appearing as a rich snippet in the SERPs, improving your visibility and share of voice on the web.
Top tips and things to avoid
- Encourage local reviews: authentic reviews from people who live in that area are a fantastic signal to send to future customers and search engines. Engaging with these reviews also builds relationships with your customers and shows that you care about their satisfaction.
- Use a single domain: as mentioned, search engines like order and structure so having one domain that has relevant location-based URLs that sit under it is far more organised than several websites targeting locations.
- Stay up to date with algorithm changes: this applies to any type of SEO campaign as well as this one. Learning about algorithm changes and core updates and adapting to them if necessary is an important step in ensuring sustained success.
- Monitor performance: like any campaign, analysing how well you’re doing puts you in good stead for making future changes. If there are any gaps or downfalls in your strategy, this can be found through tracking your performance and can be rectified as soon as possible.
- Fast-track content with AI: it might be tempting to just ask AI to scale up your multi-location presence by writing content for you but that would be a huge error. Recent Core Updates by Google have severely punished sites that have created unhelpful, spammy content. It takes longer but the long-term benefits of writing the content yourself cannot be underestimated.
- Stuff keywords into your content: another black hat SEO technique, overusing localised keywords just looks like spam to search engines. On top of that, it’s not helpful to the user, once they see that this page is servicing a certain area, there is no need to keep repeating it.
- Fake it!: don’t operate in that area? Don’t target it! False claims about operating in a local area lead to negative reviews and poor rankings. Virtual offices also cannot be used for GMB profiles, you must prove to search engines that you physically operate in that area.
- Ignore negative reviews: ignoring negative reviews can create a bad impression of how you deal with customer satisfaction and it won’t make the review magically go away. Face it head-on by addressing the problem and offering the customer some sort of solution.
Be the go-to person in your local area!
Optimising your website for multiple locations can unlock huge areas of business growth, as long as it’s done right.
If you still have questions feel free to speak to our team today.
FAQs
Answered by Claire-Marie Wilder
Will local SEO prevent my business from getting leads further afield?
If you are set up for local SEO, you will be showing to Google and your audience that you are an expert in your area. This shouldn’t prevent you from getting traffic from further afield, but if you find that this isn’t the case, then setting up other location pages/ a national page could help with ranking.
What do other search engines offer similar to GMB?Bing Places for Business is a good additional online profile for your business. This is similar to GMB where you can display opening hours, contact details, and star ratings.
Why am I ranking so high for one location and not the other?
You will need optimised pages and content for each location in order to rank there. Writing blogs specific to an area and internal linking to a location page is a good way to demonstrate authority on your site. You need to also consider competitor activity and which are has the most keyword difficulty.
