With global expansion, multi-location brands need a clear understanding of SEO to help them build sustainable relationships with their target audiences. This article will discuss how to effectively integrate SEO into your brand’s marketing strategy and identify which strategies are most successful for this type of business model.
Multi-location brands are a great way to expand your business. However, it’s important that the marketing strategy you use is effective. That means having a multi-location landing page with SEO essentials in place. Read more in detail here: multi location landing page.
It may be difficult to optimize a single-location brick-and-mortar business’s website for local search results, but it becomes substantially more difficult when a company has hundreds or even thousands of locations.
Knowing how to get into the Local Pack of Google Search rankings is a vital part of a successful multi-location SEO plan. To get there, you’ll need a team that can mine relevant local data as well as competent content writers and marketers that can apply that data to your location landing pages directly.
According to a recent research by SEO consultant Wiideman titled ‘Optimizing Location Pages to Rank in Google,’ integrating localized or ‘hyperlocal’ content on each location’s dedicated landing page resulted in a 107 percent increase in ranks.
Developing Content that is hyperlocal for Your Landing Pages
When you’re dealing with dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of locations, your landing pages’ content might become so repetitive that Google may not recognize them as distinct.
“As a consequence (of duplicate material), the site’s ranking may decrease, or the site may be completely deleted from the Google index, in which case it will no longer display in search results,” Google says.
Because your location pages have been tagged for duplicate material, they will be less likely to be indexed in search engines.
Hyperlocal content comes into play here. Of course, you’ll want to provide information such as a unique name, address, and phone number (NAP). It must, however, go farther.
Here are some hyperlocal content enhancements that might help differentiate your location-based landing pages.
Features of a certain area
Driving instructions, the amount of accessible parking spaces, adjacent landmarks or areas of interest (such as parks, museums, and stadiums), the history of the neighborhood, and any unique facilities, such as WiFi, delivery, takeout, and more, might all be included.
Images of the property’s interior and exterior, as well as its visitors
These should be included to your landing pages as well as your Google Business Profile (previously Google My Business) listings. Include local keywords (such as the name of the city) in the file name and alt tags of your images.
Videos of real estate
Allow consumers to take a virtual tour of each individual business location. You can take it a step further by filming customer testimonial videos… Just make sure they’ve signed a disclaimer allowing you to use it.
Virtual tour films from Google 460
To capture this unique film, hire a Google-certified photographer. Virtual tours are an excellent complement to a local landing page since they supply images for Google Street View.
Other Crucial Location Landing Page Ranking Factors
Improving landing pages for multi-location companies necessitates focusing on the most important criteria that have been shown to have a beneficial impact on search engine results. The following is a summary of the Wiideman study’s findings:
Point of Focus | Average | Dif% of Rank vs. Non-Rank |
---|---|---|
Hyperlocal Content | No | 107% |
Images of a Specific Location | No | 84% |
Social Links that are Specific to a Location | No | 50% |
Link to Directions | Yes | 16% |
Page Dimensions (MB) | 3.02 | 14% |
The status of being open right now is highlighted. | No | 10% |
Time it took for the page to fully load | 8.00 | 10% |
PageSpeed Rating | 1.95 | 7% |
Native Testimonials Featured | 0.04 | 4% |
Hours of Operation | Yes | 2% |
There is a coupon available. | No | 0% |
A video that is specific to a certain location is shown. | No | 0% |
Creating Interesting Location Photographs
Image dimensions are a typical issue that companies and small businesses encounter when dealing with GBP. On websites, the suggested picture resolution is 1,200 x 900 pixels with a maximum file size of 1MB.
It’s a good idea to have someone on your team who knows how to optimize images. Consider assigning this duty to someone who has studied cinema, is skilled at picture scaling, or is familiar with Photoshop or another editing program.
Considerations for Multi-Location Businesses When Uploading Images
Building image assets becomes increasingly complex for multi-location enterprises with hundreds of sites or more. This is owing to the time-consuming nature of the activity, as well as the difficulty of having photos approved by company management or the marketing department. Despite the fact that this work will take some time, it should be included in your approach.
Here are some instances of successful multi-location ads that used original photos, proper scaling, relevant tags/keywords, and were properly optimized to scale:
Localized imagery may boost views for businesses—Wiideman witnessed a 75 percent increase in views and has surpassed rivals in the Local Pack rankings by including new visual components for consumers.
When compared to rival local sites, Google encourages a great user experience, so you’ll want to focus image optimization that’s especially beneficial.
Social Media and Citations
For companies with numerous locations, combining your citation building and social media activities might be one of the most productive jobs.
Making continuing improvements to data accuracy tends to make a difference in ongoing keyword rankings. Regular upgrades seem to be more successful than one-time “set it and forget it” enhancements.
For businesses, the leading citation directories, such as Yelp, Bing Local, Yahoo! Local, and TripAdvisor, are critical. Local placements, such as your city.org/directory, are also important, but most multi-locations don’t have the resources to support them.
Pay Special Attention to Opportunities in Smaller Directories
Wiideman also performed a study of 1,700 restaurant chain locations to better understand how directories overlap and to identify new submission and syndication possibilities. A total of 200 new directories were uncovered that could consume a countrywide bulk feed of information. This requires a significant amount of communication and outreach, but few rivals will go through the trouble, giving you an advantage.
Consider specialist options (legal firms, for example, may utilize lawyers.com), as well as earning spots in regional and municipal directories in the desired area. It’s also a good idea to look up the company location on Google Maps to see if there are any nearby firms with which to work.
BrightLocal is a feature that allows you to select directories where your company should be included, which may help enhance local rankings by generating highly relevant citations.
Completely optimize your Google My Business listing
Start with the information tab to properly optimize your GBP listing. You may then make your way through the necessary sections from there. If you want further assistance, we have an article devoted to GMB optimization.
Google now seems to prioritize companies and major brands that provide the most information in its rankings. Opening dates, on-site eating, and online consultations are all examples of focus points.
Owners of multi-location businesses are likely to come from a variety of backgrounds, which might give additional unique facts to discuss. For example, the company may be run by veterans, be Black-owned, or be Latino-owned (Latino-owned is a new feature on Google Business Profile).
Use Google Posts to your advantage.
Google Posts are a fantastic tool that most multi-location businesses aren’t taking use of. Spend 15 minutes creating a Post with a relevant picture, coupon, image, or video to earn further exposure.
Working with a third party or using the Google Business Profile API might make the process of publishing simpler for marketers that have a large number of locations.
Make the Most of Your Efforts in Multiple Locations
Multi-location businesses may find it difficult to establish a presence on Google Maps and succeed at local SEO. This is particularly true if you aren’t well-organized or if you lack a solid plan and a skilled crew.
By harnessing the potential for strong local content, businesses may rise above the competition by inspiring buy-in for scalable content and off-page exposure.
To assess whether these tools can help your entire multi-location SEO strategy, we suggest learning from other team members and industry colleagues, as well as reviewing internet case studies. Also, keep an eye on customer reviews—they’re one of the driving reasons behind some of the world’s highest-ranking companies.
It takes time to do research, but it is well worth the effort. Taking shortcuts might result in millions of dollars in lost organic search income for certain businesses. SEO is a marathon, not a sprint, as the cliché goes.
Hanzel Carcamo is the Project Manager & Local SEO at Wiideman, where he oversees over 10,000 locations for large and small companies. His area of expertise is Google Maps, as well as strategizing on this year’s and next year’s hottest trends.
The “how to implement seo” is a guide that will teach you how to implement SEO for your business. It includes information on how to create a website, how to use keywords, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you do SEO with multiple locations?
A: The best way to do SEO with multiple locations is by just having a separate site for each location. Doing this will allow you to market and sell your product in different ways depending on the location.
How do I optimize my location for SEO?
A: First, you need to have a website. Then, figure out what keywords your competition is using in order to get on the first page of results for those terms. Finally, create content that will be relevant and informative about something related to those same topics. There are many ways SEO can help increase traffic with websites as well as improve rankings so long as they follow this process correctly
Is location important for SEO?
A: Yes, SEO is important for any website. It is the process of getting ranked well in search engines such as Google and Bing by engaging with more people who are searching for things related to your business or specific keywords you have decided to focus on.
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