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Local SEO is undoubtedly one of the most effective methods for improving visibility for businesses with a physical presence. But, what happens when you want to rank for more than one location?
There are a few tactics you can use that will help search engines understand where you operate and which pages are most relevant for each local search. So, if you’re looking to improve your rankings across multiple locations, then stick around. Here are nine simple but powerful multi-location local SEO strategies.
Having a separate landing page for each location allows you to provide information that’s tailored to a specific area and audience. This will help you target each location more effectively.
A good local landing page should include things like:
What you don’t want to do is create several landing pages with the exact same content, bar the location name, as this could have a negative impact on your visibility.
A Google Business Profile is a highly influential tool for local SEO, allowing you to manage how your business appears in both the Google search results and on Google Maps.
Adding a listing for each location can help you reach customers in that particular area. Setting up a GBP is also free and couldn’t be easier, so there’s almost no reason not to do it. The only caveat is that you do need a physical presence in each location to create a listing for it.
To set up multiple locations under one account, follow these steps:
Top Tip: Always be consistent. The details on your GBP profile should exactly match what is on your website, otherwise search engines may question your credibility.
User generated content is one of the most compelling marketing tools. Positive social proof can boost your reputation, which can in turn help your search visibility. Plus, it can tip people who are on the fence about getting in touch or making a purchase over the edge.
You can encourage reviews by sending a follow up email or text message, which includes a link where they can add their review. Making it as easy as possible for them to share their thoughts is crucial.
When we say ‘encourage’, we don’t mean bribe - reviews must always be an authentic, unbiased reflection of a customer’s experience.
Something to keep in mind is Google recently updated their review policies to crack down on fake or misleading content.
Google has always prohibited:
But the latest update introduced stricter rules on top of the regular guidelines, which includes:
It’s also important to respond to reviews as often as you can - no matter if they’re good or bad. Show your appreciation for those who have taken the time to leave a positive review and always respond to negative reviews appropriately and with a solution.
Consider featuring any location-specific reviews you receive on your local landing page.
Some people question whether links are still important in modern-day SEO strategies. But considering the average number of backlinks separating Google’s top-ranking page from positions 2-10 is almost identical to what it was nearly a decade ago, it’s fair to say that backlinks are still valuable.
Backlinks are highly influential, but relevance is everything when it comes to link building. A couple of backlinks from relevant, high-authority sites will typically have more impact on your local search performance than a boat-load of unrelated, low-authority links.
To get links pointing to your local landing pages, consider:
Along with backlinks, you can also utilise internal linking. This has many benefits, from improving your authority to helping search engine crawlers discover your new pages faster.
Simply link to your local landing pages from other areas of your website, such as your homepage, a relevant service page, or appropriate blog post, with anchor text that feels natural.
There are plenty of opportunities to incorporate local content across your website and target long-tail keywords that are specific to the location you’re trying to rank well in. Things like FAQs, case studies, and blog posts are great places to start.
Creating useful content around local topics will help you demonstrate your expertise and relevance not only to search engines, but also to users who come across your website.
Schema markup, aka structured data, helps search engines understand your content better. LocalBusiness schema markup allows you to provide location-specific information, highlighting things like your business name, address, phone number, and opening times, to ensure it appears correctly in local search results. This data helps search engines connect your landing page with the relevant location, increasing your chances of showing up for relevant local searches.
It may sound technical and complicated, but adding schema markup to your site is actually pretty simple. You can use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to implement it, then check it using a schema validator.
Keyword cannibalisation occurs when you have multiple pages competing for the same keyword. This is a common problem for multi-location businesses, but it’s one that can harm your overall search performance.
For example, if you have several pages targeting ‘cleaning supplies’ without clear location differentiation, search engines may struggle to determine which page should rank.
To avoid this:
Doing this should help search engines understand which page should rank for each local search query.
‘NAP’ stands for Name, Address and Phone Number. Keeping these details consistent across your website, Google Business Profile, social media accounts, and any other online platform is critical for local SEO. If your business details vary, you may confuse search engines and appear untrustworthy.
Regularly audit your citations and update any outdated information as soon as possible to ensure you keep the trust you’ve worked so hard to build.
Monitoring your local SEO efforts is essential for improving rankings across multiple areas. Gathering data can help you identify the locations which are performing well and the ones which require further optimisations. Not only does this help you make more informed decisions, but it can also increase the efficiency of your SEO strategy.
When tracking your local SEO performance, look out for things like:
Local ranking improvements won’t happen overnight. It takes time, consistency, a well-designed strategy, and a successful execution. But by investing in dedicated landing pages, building local authority signals, and creating a genuinely useful location-specific experience, you can improve your visibility in multiple locations.
If you require expert help implementing a local SEO strategy for multiple locations, get in touch with us today.
