How to Do Local SEO for Multi-Location Businesses?

How is Local SEO for Multiple Locations Performed?

Optimizing for multiple locations doesn’t have to be difficult. Treat every location as its own entity and let your local SEO strategy consist of the following steps that we present in this article. Of course, it is difficult to manage multiple locations, keep an overview, and make time to follow each step for each location (not to forget that many steps are not a one-time effort but require regular checking and management). Thus, in this article, we will also explain to you not only the difference between managing just one location but multiple locations and also touch up on valuable tips and tools to save time and resources by simplifying and automating your local SEO strategy (for your multi-location business).

Localized Keywords

In order to find out what the customers in the particular zone are looking for, it is requisite to make a use of a keyword research software in order to know the most appropriate keywords. However, you will have to narrow down to those keywords most relevant to your geography for each target area. Hence, in case you have a restaurant in Amsterdam, you have to search for keywords like “ Amsterdam restaurant” or “ Restaurant in Amsterdam center.” This is because the usual keywords ‘Restaurant’ or ‘Italian Restaurant’ do not work since you are trying to specialize in city specific keywords.

Google Business Profile Optimization

Your Google Business Profile is your number 1 online marketing piece. It is very important to make sure that all the details (business name, address, number, link to the website, working hours, business category) are correctly filled in and correlate with the local pages of your website as well as other directory pages. Furthermore, you also want to make sure you add some nice pictures (both inside and outside of the premises, food, rooms, staff and other facilities).

Citation Aggregation in Local Directories

A listing of all your physical locations must be provided in all the pertinent directories. How is this achieved? In this case, you will have to submit every single citation in every relevant directory for each location. In the case of restaurants you will now look into catalogs such as The Fork, Yelp, and Tripadvisor, and others relevant to the restaurant industry.

NAP Information

Anything pertaining to your business on the internet has got to be the same. You have to import that information so that it’s consistent across all directories, Google Business Profile and your local pages, etc. NAP information also includes the website link, categories, and opening hours!

Management of Reviews

For all your locations, you will have to make sure that new and fresh customer reviews are coming in and you will have to answer them in a best practice of one hour and not more than twenty–four hours later (Due to Local SEO factors).

Google Posts

Make daily updates on Google Posts that include essential aspects relating to the specific location and the unique selling proposition. Use attention-grabbing captions and persuasive CTAs that will direct visitors to a dedicated landing page which will help increase bookings, calls and website visits.

On-Page SEO & Local Pages with Localized Content

Each of your locations should have its own page with a unique web address. These pages need location-specific content and pictures. You must include the correct NAP details. This approach differs from having one general web page listing all your locations. Instead, you'll create separate pages for each location.

Every local page should feature unique text and images. This content informs visitors about the special features of each location. Write text that highlights the unique aspects of your business or the area around it. Include photos of the inside and outside of nearby attractions, events, and team members for each site.

Technical SEO

Your whole website needs to meet certain technical standards for SEO. The key basics include:

• Fast loading times
• Mobile-friendly design
• Optimized images
• Proper header structure
• Schema markup
• Meta description
• Title tag
• Correct URL structure

Local Backlinks

Citations carry more weight than backlinks in local SEO, but you should still try to gather useful backlinks to your website to boost its authority score. Put your efforts into getting local backlinks (for example, from area bloggers, magazines, reporters, or social media stars) that will link to one or more of your locations. It makes sense for an Australian business to get a mention from a food blogger in England who's talking about Australian food spots. But if that same blogger is writing about the top food places in England, a link to your site won't help much! Pay attention to why someone is linking to your website.

Want to learn more about improving your online presence with local SEO? Check out our local SEO checklist for a deep dive!

What's the Difference Between Local SEO for Multi-Locations vs. Single-Locations?

In essence, you'll do the same local SEO tasks for a multi-location business as you would for a single location. The main difference? You'll repeat these tasks for each location instead of just once. You also need to watch out for your website's local pages and avoid duplicating your Google Business Profiles.

Let's take a closer look at the differences in each category:

On-page SEO

Single Location: You optimize the whole website to focus on local aspects. Multi-Location: You optimize the website for general SEO (or country-wide, depending on where you've set up shop). You also create local pages with info about each specific location optimizing them with localized keywords.

Google Business Profile

Single Location: One Google Business Profile. Multi-Location: Managing multiple Google Business Profiles that need to be unique and maintained regularly. It has to be ensured that Google does not flag your GBPs as duplicates (this can happen if the locations are relatively close to each other).

Review Management

Single Location: Requires continuous encouragement of new customer reviews and timely responses. A comparably lower amount of customer reviews and easier sentiment analysis due to only one location that needs to be monitored. Multi-Location: Management of all incoming reviews from multiple locations means a higher workload and requires a lot of attention. Not only do you need to manage the timely responses to your reviews, but you also need to ensure that the staff at each location is properly trained to encourage reviews from their customers. Alternatively, you can set up email campaigns to encourage reviews from past customers after they have completed their visit, which was booked online. This requires that you have their email address. Sentiment analysis of multiple locations requires detailed and organized work, as it can help each location improve their services.

Citation Management

Single Location: Research suitable directories for your location and create a citation. Make sure the information is consistent with your Google Business Profile and your website. Multi-Location: Research all directories that are suitable for each location. If you have locations across multiple countries, the directories can vary. You need to keep a clean overview of each location’s directory citations. Once you have created a listing in the specific directories for each location, you need to continuously monitor that all information is up-to-date and matches the information from the Google Business Profiles, as well as the local pages on your website.

Google Posts

Single Location: Daily posts with images of the location, surroundings, team, or events with compelling captions tailored to the location-specific keywords from your keyword research. CTAs can be inserted for bookings, website visits, form visits, or calls. Multi-Location: Here it gets challenging. You need to ensure a steady rotation of at least 31 posts (1 daily) for each location. The posts have to be location-specific, meaning you can use the same images for menu items (if you have a restaurant), but you need to show different images of the interior, exterior, and staff, as these factors will vary per location. Create folders for each location and make sure you have a list of links that you can connect to the CTAs within the Google Post. You will also need to write a compelling caption that features location-specific keywords. Use the keywords from your research and apply them alongside location-specific characteristics (e.g., located in the heart of the city, next to [monument], in a quiet neighborhood with lovely stores, etc.).

How Do I Rank Multiple Locations in SEO?

Ranking multiple locations requires the same effort as ranking a single location. You need to make sure that your GBP is updated, that you create citations on suitable directories, schedule daily Google Posts, and have a top-notch review management setup. You also need to focus not only on the Google Business Profile but also on on-page SEO and collect local backlinks.

Basically, you need to follow a robust local SEO strategy as we describe in this article. However, let’s say you are managing a big restaurant chain with multiple locations that are relatively close to each other. Here you need to make sure that you enter all information correctly and do not use the same images and descriptions. You want to keep it unique and accurate, as you want to avoid the possibility of having it flagged as duplicate profiles by Google.

In general, it is important that you keep an exact overview of all your activities per location in order to ensure that you optimize each location accurately for local SEO purposes. You do local SEO optimization by location. While one location might immediately rank high, another one needs continuous optimization and just more attention than others. Remember, local SEO search results are very unique. You are not ranking for specific keywords but rather for the keyword together with the specific coordinate of: a) where your business is located and b) where the searcher is located.

How to Ensure That Multiple Locations in the Same City Are Not Cannibalizing Each Other?

No worries, this will rarely happen, as the main local SEO ranking factor is proximity to the searcher. Let’s say Sascha searches for a restaurant and is currently walking around the city center. You have two locations, one in the city center and one slightly outside the city center but only three streets apart. Sascha will still see the city center location as this one is the closest one to her. It is likely that she will still see the other location as well but only if your competitors are either also further away or have a very bad online presence (or are simply closed at the moment). Search results for local SEO are incredibly unique and heavily depend on where the searcher is currently located. Thus, everyone will basically see a different SERP, which is dependent on the unique coordinates.

How to Save Time and Effort While Managing Local SEO for Multiple Locations?

Managing and maintaining the online presence of multiple locations can be quite challenging, and the challenge grows exponentially with the number of locations. You can save time and effort in managing the local SEO strategy of multiple locations by automating crucial tasks such as responding to reviews, claiming listings, and keeping the NAP details consistent, as well as automatically posting Google Posts. Besides that, there are also possibilities for review campaigns and smart data reporting that can further simplify multi-location management. All those automation can be found within local SEO tools that are created solely for the purpose of simplifying the management of multi-location businesses.

With Obenan you can streamline all local SEO operations as well as automate the most important tasks while keeping a neat and organized overview of all your locations in one single dashboard!

Why Are Local SEO Tools Important for Multi-Location Businesses?

Local SEO tools are essential for multi-location businesses as they allow you to manage all locations easily in one dashboard and automate essential local SEO tasks (such as responding to reviews, review sentiment analysis, reporting, Google Posts, and Listing Management). While all these tasks can be done manually, it is insanely time-consuming to keep everything updated and in order. Especially for multi-location businesses, it can happen quickly that a citation is missed when updating business information, resulting in inconsistent NAP information across the web. It can also happen that reviews are not responded to timely or at all. Local SEO tools eliminate human error by overseeing the performance of all locations for you and either intervening directly or giving you a sign that an action is required. They save you time and effort while also increasing your locations’ online visibility.

Learn more about Obenan's Local SEO Tools.

How to Track the Local SEO Performance of Your Multi-Location Business?

If you manage multiple locations, it is essential that you keep a neat overview of improvements and declines in order to make informed decisions for your optimization process of each location. But what is the best way to keep track of all the locations? Will I not lose track quickly? No, if you use the right data analysis tools! Google Analytics and Google Search Console are the go-to free tools to get insights into your organic keyword performance and your website traffic. Within your Google Business Profile, you get insights into its performance of (e.g., impressions, user actions, click-throughs to your website). However, you have to analyze separately per location. If you want to have reports for all your locations within one dashboard, we advise you to use a local SEO software that offers not only the local SEO tools but also guarantees seamless reporting for multi-location businesses. This way, you have access to all your locations within one dashboard, and you can create custom reports that include all the data that is necessary for you to get a quick and thorough understanding of your location’s performance.

Obenan offers you amazing insights into the sentiment of your customer reviews and helps you to make informed decisions for each location.