Getting into the top rank in search results is every business’s dream. It’s achievable with a strong plan and some good local SEO strategies. However, optimising a scalable SEO plan for multiple locations becomes trickier.

No need to worry, though. Local SEO for multiple locations requires extra effort, but it’s possible. In this blog, we’ll cover six local SEO tips essential to improving the local ranking of businesses operating from different places.

Is your multi-location business not getting enough visits? Make Me Local’s SEO experts are here to help. Call us on 0800 772 0022 or email hello@makemelocal.com to learn how our bespoke SEO services can improve your business’s ranking.

“Make Me Local is a team of experts helping connect businesses with their target local audience through specialised bespoke SEO solutions.”

Understanding Multiple-Location SEO

Local SEO helps a business reach its ideal customer. It’s true. However, employing the same SEO strategies for an organisation in London, Cambridge, and Manchester only pushes it away from reaching its zenith.

In short, the one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for large enterprises, restaurant chains, or big businesses. The best strategy, therefore, is to create a location-specific SEO plan. It’ll help customers find relevant search results on your offerings, which are available close to their locations.

6 SEO Tips To Optimise Multiple Locations Business

To help your business stay on top in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) and ensure your business appears when potential customers search for relevant services or products, here are six must-know tips for local SEO:

Tip 1: Optimise GMB Listing

Optimising Google My Business (GMB) has proven to be a powerful tool in SEO. It assists businesses in managing their online presence on platforms such as Google Search and Google Maps. Nonetheless, for businesses operating from multiple locations, each place must have its own GMB listing. These separate listings must include details like:

  • Business Name
  • Address and Phone number (location-specific)
  • Business hours
  • Website URL
  • Photos

Doing this will ensure your customers get appropriate data without too many scrolls and swipes. In other words, it fulfils their purpose of finding a credible service provider and brings you a customer.

Tip 2: Consistency In NAP Citations

NAP, short for Name, Address, and Phone Number, works on consistency. Strong local SEO strategies revolve around it. While employing local SEO best practices, ensuring your business’ details are the same across all platforms is imperative. This includes your website, GMB listings, social media pages, and third-party directories.

Simply because inconsistent information confuses search engine crawlers, thus dropping SERP rankings. Therefore, you must always double-check your business’ online or offline information to remain consistent.

Tip 3: Adopt Link Building Strategies

Another way to build brand awareness for businesses with multiple locations is by integrating a link-building strategy. Its implementation takes time, but once effectively executed, link-building in SEO can take your brand to the next level.

For this, you can try these strategies:

  • First, identify locations you want to be ranked on priority.
  • Second, build location pages.
  • Third, explore guest posting sites that are suitable for your business.
  • Lastly, consider adding internal links.

Tip 4: Use Location-Specific Keywords

A law firm in Cambridge shouldn’t be targeting its London office with the exact keywords. The basic rule of Local SEO is to use geographic terms relevant to your business.

Try researching and shortlisting keywords that land you in top searches whenever people look for relevant services near them. It includes keywords with city names, neighbourhoods, or landmarks close to your business locations.

Add these location-specific keywords naturally to all types of your content as a geo-targeted SEO tactic. Additionally, create a specific service page for each location where your business operates.

Tip 5: Encourage Customer Reviews

Reviews add prosperity to businesses. When a customer leaves a positive comment about a service or product they liked, it adds credibility to your brand. Now, imagine you are planning to open a store in another part of England. All these genuine reviews from satisfied customers will help you gain the trust of potential customers in the new location.

So, start adding suggestions for your customers to leave their reviews after every purchase or visit. It’ll increase brand value and reach. The job isn’t complete. Businesses must also promptly address negative reviews and consumer complaints because it takes many good reviews to build trust and only one bad review to turn away a customer.

Tip 6: Hire SEO Experts

Planning and organising local SEO strategies for different locations is time-consuming and complex. Moreover, SEO planning requires continuous audits and optimisations depending on performance.

Consider hiring SEO experts to develop and implement a strategy tailored to your business’s specific needs in such scenarios. They will take a comprehensive analysis of the market demands of each location, so you have plenty of time to focus on business expansion and other significant decisions.

Common Issues In Multiple Location SEO

After executing a well-crafted multiple-location Local SEO plan, there are a few mistakes which businesses or SEO specialists must avoid at all costs:

  • Neglecting website maintenance
  • Not adding a location in blog titles, GMB listings, or meta descriptions.
  • Leaving long-tail and short-tail keywords out of your SEO strategy
  • Ignoring regular GMB optimisation
  • Not paying attention to reviews
  • Avoiding duplicate content

These common issues tend to reverse the progress rate. Or even worse, these can keep your business in a stagnant loop. Hence, keep a check on what works and what doesn’t. If local SEO seems a hassle or leaves no time for your business, consider hiring a multi-location SEO agency to ensure your local SEO plan stays productive.

Conclusion

Following these six tips will improve your business’s local rankings and reach of multi-location businesses. It increases brand awareness and helps in building brand credibility. However, implementing these strategies requires careful analysis and effective evaluation at regular intervals. It will add a dynamic element to your multi-location SEO strategy and bring more results.

In short, the best approach is not to follow a one-size-fit approach. It only results in fewer website visits, leads, and, ultimately, fewer customers. Alternatively, your business wins when SEO strategies are coupled with local SEO tips.

Need help with an SEO campaign? We’re experts. Make Me Local is a full-service digital marketing agency that can help you make an excellent impression online. Call us on 0800 772 0022 or email hello@makemelocal.com to learn more.