Mastering Local SEO for Multi-Location Businesses: A Comprehensive Guide

Businesses with multiple locations face a critical challenge – how to reach local customers across different areas?

Local SEO can benefit single-location businesses, but what about businesses catering to multiple geographic locations?

This is where Local SEO for Multiple locations businesses comes in!

Multi-location SEO is not about duplicating your existing local SEO strategy and following it for all locations.

It’s about creating a nuanced approach that resonates with each local audience.

Whether you’re a growing restaurant chain, a retail business, or a service provider with multiple branches, understanding and implementing effective multi-location SEO strategies is crucial for your business’s visibility and success.

In this blog, you’ll learn about what muli-location SEO is, its importance, and the best tips to grow your business presence for different locations.

Keep reading!

What is Multi-Location SEO and Why Does It Matter?

Multi-location SEO is the process of optimizing a business’s organic online presence to rank effectively across different cities or regions. 

Unlike single-location local SEO, this requires a robust strategy to cater to diverse local audiences.

Generally, Google prioritizes location-specific queries and shows 3 results in the local pack.

A recent report found that 44% of individuals click on Google 3-pack results, and 80% of local searchers convert. 

Getting featured within the 3 results increases the chances of attracting more visitors and improving conversions.

Imagine you run a Daycare business in Texas. To secure your spot in the Google-3 pack, optimize your website following the best Local SEO practices.

If your Daycare is doing well and you’re expanding your services to Oklahoma and Dallas or starting a new branch in different parts of Texas, now you should optimize your website with multi-location SEO. This means customizing content, keywords, and service offerings for each location to address their unique needs.

When done right, it builds your presence across various markets, enhancing customer engagement and driving conversions.

11 Local SEO Tips for Multiple Location Businesses

Now you know what multi-location SEO is and its importance. Let’s now look into the top tips for doing it right.

1. Creating and Optimizing Location-Specific Pages

Location-specific pages are valuable for multi-location SEO.

A common mistake most businesses make while creating location-specific pages is using the same content and optimizing it with different keywords.

This is a big blunder because Google penalizes websites for using duplicate content.

So, when creating location-specific pages, ensure the content reflects the distinctive features of the areas and how your business helps the local users.

Here are a few things you should follow while creating location-specific pages:

Creating high-quality, locally focused content will boost user experience, visibility, and ranking for location-specific searches.

Optimize your content, meta title, description, and URL with location-specific keywords.

Let’s take the same example used earlier, Daycare in Texas, Oklahoma, and Dallas, and perform keyword research. Here are the best keywords we got for 3 locations:

These keywords have got some good volume with low keyword difficulty. So, it will be easy to rank for these keywords and drive potential customers.

2. Structuring Your Website for Multi-Location SEO Success

Keep your website’s structure in mind while creating new pages for different locations.

A clear and logical site structure is crucial for the success of Local SEO for multiple locations.

Your website needs four key sections that work together:

Start with your homepage – your digital storefront shows who you are and what you stand for. 

Next, come your service pages that clearly explain what you offer. 

Then, include state-level pages that focus on regional services. 

Finally, create city pages that speak directly to local communities with specific, relevant information.

Think of it as moving from broad to specific, ensuring visitors quickly find what they need.

This is how a perfect structure should look: www.example.com/service/state/city. 

If you operate your business across various locations in a particular city, your structure should look like this: www.example.com/service/city/place.

If you’re offering a single service at multiple locations, follow this structure: www.example.com/location.

This logical order helps the search engine crawl, index, and rank pages for relevant queries and locations. Plus, It also helps users find relevant content, improving their experience.

Here is an example of it:

This is a Daycare operating in three different locations in Texas. This page is dedicated to its location on Mansion Road. Since its domain name says it all, it is specifically for Texas Kids.

3. Building Depth of Concept for SEO Authority

Creating content addressing your audience’s pain, needs, desires, and about your services builds authority.

Since you cater to different geographical locations, each audience’s needs, pain points, and desires differ.

Find and address them through your content.

Keyword research can help you find some queries. 

I have found some queries for Daycare businesses in Texas, Oklahoma, and Dallas through keyword research.

Before you choose a keyword, Check the intent of it and create content.

Competitor analysis is another great way to find topics your audience is interested in. It will give you more information about the keywords people use to land on their websites, the topics on which they create content, and so on.

Use the information and create:

Such content demonstrates expertise, builds trust, and signals relevance to search engines.

Depth of concept is not just about quantity. It’s about creating meaningful content that resonates with search engines and users.

4. Internal Linking: The Key to Multi-Location SEO

Internal linking is crucial for effectively guiding users and search engines through your site. 

Linking from key pages, such as homepages or service pages, to location-specific content helps businesses distribute link equity and emphasize the importance of specific pages. 

Imagine you’re providing winter roofing service. Linking your service page to a city-specific service page reinforces the connection, passes the link juice, boosts page authority (PA), and helps improve ranking. 

Effective internal linking helps search engine crawlers crawl through your website, understand the relationships between pages, and ensure proper indexing and relevance.

From the user’s perspective, it allows them to navigate easily and boosts the likelihood of conversions.

A well-structured internal linking strategy supports SEO efforts and strengthens your overall site structure.

5. Backlinking: The Gem for Improving Ranking

In general, Backlinks are a gem for SEO. 

It’s not an expectation for Local SEO for multiple locations.

After creating location-specific pages, build backlinks from relevant and authoritative source websites for each page. 

Here are a few ideas for building backlinks for your location-specific pages:

If you have trouble building backlinks for your local business, opt for our Powerful Link Building Service. Our seasoned SEO and outreach specialists will strengthen your backlink profile and improve your ranking while you’re expanding your business.

6. Optimizing Google Business Profiles (GBP) for Multi-Location Businesses

Google Business profiles are key for businesses to appear in local search results and map packs.

Over the years, Google has worked hard to improve Google Business Profiles, which now provide its users with a seamless experience and valuable data.

The new GBP dashboard shows everything from how your users find your profile to your audiences’ actions after seeing it.

Source: Digital Media Ninja

Open your Google Business Profile, create listings for each location, and optimize them with accurate and relevant details. 

To help you, we have created a dedicated article on Optimizing your Google Business Profile and Drive Visitors. Read it and follow the steps for each listing.

Customer reviews are crucial to ranking in the local-3 pack. The more positive reviews you get, the higher you can rank and gain more visibility. Collect as many positive reviews as possible from your customers for each location. Even if you get negative reviews, know how to handle them to stay at the top of the SERP.

7. The Role of NAP Citations and Local Directories

NAP citations include your business’s Name, Address, and Phone number. 

They play a vital role in local SEO. 

If it’s not consistent across the web, it can confuse search engines and harm rankings.

In fact, on our podcast show – How to Do Local SEO at Scale for Multi-Location Business – Andrew Shotland, founder of the Local SEO guide, said, “In my personal experience, what I’ve observed is that if your business is ranking in the top ten search results in the SERP, you don’t need to worry about NAP consistency. If it isn’t, then you probably need to get your NAP fixed.”

So, use accurate details for each location in your Google Business Profile.

It not only enhances your SEO effort but also improves customer trust and user experience.

Businesses should secure citations in reputable local and industry-specific directories like Yelp or Yellowpages.

Apart from these directories, when you list your business with industry-specific directories, ensure you choose quality ones. Listing your business in spammy directories can harm your visibility, ranking, and conversion. 

8. Keyword Strategy for Multi-Location SEO

Keyword research for multi-location SEO requires balancing national, state, and city-level terms.

Let’s assume you’re a law firm based in Brooklyn. When developing your keyword strategy, target keywords like “Attorney in Brooklyn,” “Divorce Attorney in Brooklyn, ““Best Law Firm in Brooklyn,” and more. 

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMrush to identify high-volume location-specific keywords that align with user intent. 

Ensure each location page targets unique and relevant keywords to avoid competition between pages. 

A tailored keyword strategy can maximize your visibility and attract high-quality and relevant traffic.

9. Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Multi-Location SEO

Some common mistakes businesses make while performing Local SEO for multiple locations are:

Using the same content for each location by tweaking just the heading and keyword for each page will lead to duplication. This confuses search engines when choosing the page to rank, affecting ranking.

Success comes from creating unique content for each location while maintaining a logical site structure and regularly checking performance.

10. Measuring Success 

Track your local SEO results for multiple locations using Google Analytics and Search Console to monitor location-specific traffic, rankings, and conversions. 

Monitor your click-through rates and local rankings to see what’s working and needs attention. 

Also, use your Google Business Profile analytics to track your customers’ actions – phone calls, clicked website links, directions, etc.

Moreover, the Google Business profile also reveals data such as what keywords your customers have used to find your business, what topics your competitors post content about, and more.

These details will be more helpful for you to optimize your strategy and improve your business performance.

11. Using Structured Data Effectively 

Structured data helps search engines understand your business better. Use schema markup to highlight key information for each location:

This is especially powerful for multi-location businesses like restaurant chains. When done right, it helps you appear in rich search results like map packs and knowledge panels, making your listings more appealing and clickable.

Take a look at the Google Business Profile of Glacier Brewhouse, Arizona. They have optimized their website with local schema markup, which shows reviews across the web, popular timings, menus, reservation options, current availability, and pricing.

This gives users a holistic view. Without entering the website, the user can gather all the information they need to decide.

The key is consistency. Match your structured data with your website information and online citations to boost your local search presence.

Conclusion

Mastering local SEO for multiple location businesses is a game-changer in today’s competitive landscape.

By implementing the strategies given above – from creating location-specific content to leveraging local schema markup – you’ll be well-positioned to capture local search traffic across all locations.

Remember, each location offers a unique opportunity to connect with local customers. Understanding their unique needs and implementing these strategies will help you grow your business, revenue, and profit.

Start implementing today and watch your business grow in every market.

If you need help pursuing your local SEO for multiple locations, reach out to our expert and relax. They will handle everything, from creating separate pages to optimizing your GBP profile to help you rank higher in the search results.