8 Ways to Leverage Local SEO Tactics for a Multi-Location Business

In the quest to dominate local search rankings for a multi-location business, we’ve gathered eight expert tips from top professionals including Heads of SEO and Founders. From prioritizing high-traffic locations to combining Google My Business and website efforts, discover how these seasoned pros leverage local SEO to boost visibility and drive traffic.

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Prioritize High-Traffic Locations

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 homepage 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.

Martin Woods, Head of SEO, Indigoextra Ltd

Create Visible Location Pages

Have a location page on the site for each store location. Don’t make pages just for SEO’s sake; they have to be visible on the site and accessible on the menu or footer of the site. Each page should have contact details, location address, and store info to rank for the main keyword in each location.

Filip Silobod, SEO, Honest Marketing

Develop Dedicated Landing Pages

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 users’ searches in search engines.

Darren Fox, Entrepreneur and Marketing Director, DarrenFox.com

Optimize and Update Google My Business

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 the 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.

Kate Kandefer, CEO, SEOwind

Exchange Testimonials for Local Backlinks

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.

Ali Ashraf, CMO, Shopify Force

Design Unique Pages for Each Location

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 that targets over 10 locations just in the Surrey county alone.

And 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 target all those locations.

So my one tip is: design specific landing pages for specific locations and optimize accordingly.

Aled Nelmes, Founder and CEO, Lumen SEO

Structure Content Silos for Each Location

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.

Sergey Galanin, Director of SEO, Phonexa

Combine GBP and Website Efforts

One specific piece of advice I would give to multi-location businesses is to put joint effort into 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 and 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.

Sonja Marinkovic, SEO Consultant, Digital Search Hero

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