Local SEO is using SEO techniques so your page shows up in local searches. This is useful for businesses with defined geographic locations. A study by Search Engine Watch shows that customers are increasingly interested in interacting with businesses in their area.
A concrete multiple location SEO strategy enables search engines such as Google to differentiate between separate locations and show the appropriate one in the search results for a local user.
Multiple location SEO strategies are necessary for you if at least one of the following applies to your business:
The key is that Google and other search engines should be able to decipher accurate information about your multi-location business, regardless of whether you run two locations or 200. Here are some ideas on how to do multi-location SEO for your business.
Here is a useful tip for local SEO; some brand websites make the mistake of trying to rank their home page or another landing page (such as contact page) for multiple locations, or simply lump all locations together on one page. This is not effective because each web page on your business website should ideally focus only on one location.
Your search rankings can significantly improve if you create a dedicated page for each location. If you want to convince yourself about this principle, just do a rank Google search for the keyword you wish to rank for, and you will most likely see location-specific pages ranking on top. This is where small businesses are often able to outperform larger US-wide companies.
In the above-shown example, you may notice that each of the web pages is related specifically to one location.
When you have a logical URL structure for your business website, it will make it easier for both visitors and the search engines to both navigate and understand it. This is an important part of on-page SEO. Here is an example of how to create a logical site structure with URLs for your multi-state business:
For this example lets use a restaurant franchise in Texas and California;
yourbusiness.com/locations/ – This provides a list of all your multi-state business locations
yourbusiness.com/locations/texas/ – This provides a list of all your business locations in a specific state
yourbusiness.com/locations/california/los-angeles/ – This provides a list of all your business locations in a particular city
Make your URLs geo-specific where necessary. Whichever approach you choose to structure your site URLs, maintain a uniform, logical system. This will make it easier for Google to index your individual web pages correctly.
Once you have built location-specific web pages, optimize each page for the search engines to comprehend what each page is about. Here are some useful SEO tips.
Provide an accurate meta description for each page and include the main keyword in the title tag. These meta tags are a vital piece of code that Google will use to display information about your individual pages in search results.
In the above-described example, you may notice that the title tag not only identifies the service but also mentions the location. And the meta description too correctly describes the service to attract targeted visitors and also includes the location.
Once location-specific pages have been created and meta tags have been optimized, the next step is to develop relevant, localized content for each page. Many business websites make the cardinal error of creating thin location pages without much local content. You should try to cover local information that your target audience may like to know.
Some of the ideas for localized content include:
High-quality backlinks that direct to your business website is a vital data point for SEO. This is an important part of a small business lead generation to help you rank higher locally. With multiple location pages on your site, rework your link building strategy to achieve higher PageRank for each location page.
To create and execute a localized link building strategy for each page, consider ideas such as:
Make sure you sign up for Google My Business (GMB) if you haven’t done so already. This will let you build listings for all business locations individually. Once you have set up GMB, add the location page URLs to your business profile. Optimize your GMB location pages by sticking to Google’s official guidelines, which include:
It helps if your business name is consistent across locations. For instance, “ABC Service Providers, LLC” should not be called “ABC Service Provider in Austin, TX.”
Each business location should have at least one category that uniformly represents your business as one company. For instance, all auto body shop locations should include the category: “Auto Repair Services”.
However, these are not rigid rules, adjustments can be made if the different locations in your business actually deliver very different goods or services.
Having well planned out keywords are key to success with multi-location SEO. The best keywords are those that are relevant to your business’ offering. A law firm will have different keywords for retail stores. This is where a good agency comes into play to develop the keywords. Or if you are looking to do it yourself, there are a number of tools on the internet that help in this process, particularly google keyword planner.
Sound multiple location SEO strategies will not only help your business website rank higher in search results, it will also improve your actual conversion rate with more localized visitors on your website.
Outreach Frog is a provider of Local SEO services that can be used by brands and agencies alike. SEO is a growing and high-performing area of marketing and we help businesses succeed in improving their search rankings and visibility.
Call us today to find how we can help you gain more exposure with either our a la carte products or our managed monthly SEO.
