6 Overlooked SEO Techniques for Multiple Location Business
Last updated on
If you followed our multi-location Schema post, your are well on the way to ranking well for each location.
Today I want to share some overlooked tips for multiple location business that are guaranteed to give your website tons of extra visibility on Google.
Why is it important to optimize for a multiple location business?
- Google love location data when ranking websites: and I will show you exactly how to provide that data.
- People often include their location when searching for a service or product e.g. pizzeria in Milan.
- For many services (e.g. a plumber), customers always want a local provider.
- It is almost impossible to rank well without locally optimized content.
How to optimize your website for multiple location business
1. Organize your website structure to reflect your multiple location business
Your website must have a dedicated section for each area served. In the simplest scenario, your navigation menu would have a “Contact us” or a “Store locator” section with a sub menu linking to one dedicated page for each location.
For a more sophisticated and comprehensive approach, consider creating a detailed section for each location. This would include pages for each service offered in each individual location and information specific to that location (e.g. a local news section, staff Instagram or Facebook feed, etc).
2. Create town/city landing pages optimized for each business address
It’s difficult to rank well for each of location unless you create content optimized specifically for the location. As a minimum (and we have seen this technique work time and time again), create one locally optimized page for each business location as follows:
Business name, town 1, region 1
Business name, town 2, region 2
Business name, town 3, region 3
…
The more specific you can be, the better.
Each page must be unique to the branch or store and be rich in location-specific information such as opening hours, photos, videos, social network feeds, staff, job opportunities, address and maps.
3. Get enhanced business listings on Google
Once you have location-specific pages, multiple location Schema is the icing on the cake.
Use this ready-to-use Schema for multiple location businesses to show Google your Organization (HQ) and subOrganization (branches) to fully benefit from enhanced business listings in search results.
4. Create and optimize a Google MyBusiness page for each location
An extremely effective way to increase visibility and engagement in each town you serve is by completing and optimizing your company profile on Google My Business. Ensure a standard naming convention for each My Business profile, such as “Company name – Town 1, Company name – Town 2, etc.“
Google My Business can increase your local visibility in 4 ways:
- Each location will be included on Google Maps
- A My Business listing linked to your website is a search engine ranking factor.
- Inclusion in local listings block when a user searches for a local product or service.
- Massively improved branded search that includes photos, opening hours and reviews (see below).
Fully complete your listing for each location – list services offered, add opening hours, upload awesome photos that show-off your premises and friendly staff, encourage customer reviews.
5. Hundreds of branches? Use a database approach to save massive amounts of time
Large national businesses with 30+ branches should resort to a database approach whereby each location has a record in a database – Excel is a good choice for this as it is widely available in every company and anyone can use it. Any good web agency will be able to hook the database up to your website so that each location has a dynamically created web page.
6. BONUS TIP
If you are in a competitive industry you will need to cover all bases. Here are two excellent checklists:
» OFF Page Local SEO Checklist
Final thoughts
The key to managing multiple locations is to treat each location individually: create unique, specialized pages for each location.
Success will depend on competition. If competitors have local pages, go one step further to beat them.
We are SEO experts with a proven track record. Let us skyrocket your website visitors.
