Most people focus on the main location or the one that is least profitable but you need a better multi location local SEO strategy. These 5 steps are helpful when opening a new location so that your SEO strategy works before your grand opening.
How To Do Multi Location Local SEO For A New Location?
- Setup Google My Business Profile
- Copywrite a Service Area Page
- Follow This Blog Strategy
- Setup Social Media
- Write a Press Release
Small businesses need a web presence, there are no two ways about it. The sheer number of eyes on the Internet makes digital marketing crucial to success.
It’s no wonder then, that small business owners are turning towards search engine optimization to increase their web presence.
This strategy is smart, as strong SEO practices help market your brand. Though with anything Google, there’s always a catch.
Google wants to return the best results for its users, and as a result sometimes sees multiple business listings as “spam,” even if you actually own multiple locations.
Luckily, with the proper techniques, it’s possible to avoid any penalties for multiple location listings and even improve your overall web presence.
Here’s our guide to local SEO for multiple locations.
Multi Location Local SEO: Enter Google’s December 2020 Core Update
This is the third Google update this year that either positively or negatively affected your local search algorithm.
If you saw your local searches go down this year, make sure to ask yourself these Content and Quality Questions from Google developers:
“Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?”
“Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmakr, share with a firend, or recommend?”
“Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazing, enclyclopedia or book?”
“Would you feel comfortable trusting this content for issues relating to your money or your life?”
“Is the content free from spelling or stylistic issues?”
“Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?”
This past quarter I’ve been focused on that last question. Before I write a blog I Google the page I want to show up on and look through all 10 websites that show up plus the rich snippet Q&A sections too.
If I think I can answer the question or give a better “how-to guide” then I write the post.
Anyone who is creating content for your website needs to know about the Quality Rater Guidelines and E-A-T. When you click on that link above you can read lots of articles so that you become a better local SEO content creator.
How To Do Multi Location Local SEO For A New Location?
A client of ours had 3 locations when they came to us 5 years ago. We did our LOCAL 5-Step Process that built a solid foundation so that when we’d do these next 5-steps 30 to 60 days before their grand opening it made them rank before their doors opened.
You need to have a solid foundation so make sure to apply our LOCAL 5-steps and get on our email list so that you get notified when we launch our “Get On Google Page 1” DIY course.
STEP1: Setup Google My Business Profile
When you get your keys to the new location,
- Put up your business sign
- Take a photo of your sign and your front door
Google wants to see that you are a real business. Having an agency do this means you typically will get approved right away.
Don’t be concerned if you have to wait for that little postcard with the code to come in the mail.
If you’ve read any of our other blogs, then you already know that you need to fill out the Google My Business profile 100%.
Use interior photos of your other location in the meantime while doing the buildout. But make sure as soon as construction is complete update all your photos so that customers know what to expect.
STEP 2: Copywrite a Service Area Page
We have 15 parts that we include on a Service Area Page but to really sum it up you need to write about location-specific details that the community would care about.
This strategy works for real estate agents who want to sell more homes in other areas of town.
Why hire a copywriter?
When writing blogs you don’t have to hire a copywriter, but when you are driving traffic paid or through local SEO strategies you need the page you send them to make the website visitor takes action.
Compared to your homepage, service area pages typically get the next most traffic. So when opening a new location you need this page to be written well and that’s why you need a copywriter.
Here are 3 of the 15 sections you can write about:
- Highlight other local businesses that have similar customers to yours.
- Talk about schools or sports team achievements.
- Get to know the types of people in the community and help solve some other problems.
Yes, you’ll talk about your services but this page can be written in a way that it’s not salesy. Write this page as if the person just moved to the area and you are giving them the best insider secrets so they feel welcome in the community.
Schedule a call if you’d like us to write 1 of these pages for each location or service area you work in.
STEP 3: Follow This Blog Strategy
Like I said before, this is the top question I’ve been asking before I decide to write a blog “does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?”
You have to do your research for multi location local SEO to work. Don’t just write about whatever you feel like that day.
Quarterly:
- Look at your list of blog categories. We have 11.
- Look at your list of products/services you offer.
- Is there a product/service you want to boost sales for?
- Pick 2-3 categories to focus on for the quarter that will lead to more sales for the 1 product/service.
- Research keywords you want to be found for in the city of your new location.
- Make a list of 12 blog titles.
We know that a laundromat client who is opening 4 more locations this quarter will want to build up “Fluff and Fold” services.
Before they are even open, we’ve setup up their GMB profile to focus on this service, we talked about this on their service area page, and now we start writing blogs about this topic with the goal that they show up in the local area searches.
When you are at 5 locations in 1 city, you shouldn’t have to work so hard on your local SEO strategy. If you have a good local SEO agency they would have built a strong foundation and should be able to rank you on page 1 plus maps searches within 30 days.
With this laundromat client, we know that we won’t have to write all these blogs since we’ve done all this foundational work for the past 5 years.
STEP 4: Setup Social Media
You only need to setup Facebook Business Page for your new location. All other social media just needs to be your main location.
Just like you setup GMB, use this same info to set up your Facebook Business Page.
While doing construction create posts and stories documenting the process. People like behind the scenes content. Share this content to your other location pages that are close in the area so that customers can look forward to not having to drive as far if your new location is closer to them.
It makes a difference to have at least 1 employee at each location who loves social media and who can help create daily Facebook stories.
You want to create the buzz and start getting the local community excited for your grand opening. This may sound like a lot of work but it will be worth it. Any high schooler or college student would be great at this.
STEP 5: Write a Press Release
Just like I suggested hiring a copywriter for the service area page. I think you should hire someone to write the press release too. They have relationships with news stations, blogs, and websites with high domain authority.
Yes, it will cost you $500 to $2500 depending on where you want to get found.
If you are writing it yourself, there are typically 7 parts:
- Headline
- Dateline
- Introduction
- Body
- Boilerplate
- Call To Action
- Media Contact Details
You need to grab the reader’s attention. So make sure you have a unique angle that focuses on the number 1 problem for your customer and you show how your new location will solve that problem. Tell them what success looks like and add in a little about what the consequence is if they don’t work with you.
Take Action!
Ranking for multiple locations is difficult if you don’t understand the nuances of Google’s SEO metrics.
We hope this guide helps boost your local SEO for multiple locations and gets your business to the top of the SERPs page.
Get out there, and start optimizing!
We can help with your new location 30 days out or parts of what I listed above. Schedule a call so we can help you with your multi location local SEO strategy.
