A multi-location website is a single website that represents multiple business locations, rather than each location having its own website. This allows your business to have a unified brand. Having a multi-location website is great for businesses like franchises, chains, or if you have multiple branch locations.
How Many Domains Should I Use?
When you have multiple locations, you should still use one domain, even if they’re independently run.
The problem with multiple domains is that they will compete for traffic, causing you to rank lower in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). With one domain, the opposite happens: you consolidate all the domain authority under one domain, allowing all your pages to rank higher and faster.
It’s also much easier to maintain one domain than one for each location. If you have different domains for each branch, many of the pages will most likely have identical content, so if you need to update the services page, you only need to do one page rather than update every domain with that page.
Making sure your business has one high-quality domain that can easily rank in the locations you serve will catch all of the web traffic that each of your branches generate.
URL Optimization
Using a single domain is a smart move—but that’s just the start. It’s also important to structure your URLs with clear, specific location information. Instead of a vague path like /location/lakeshore, use something more targeted and SEO-friendly, such as /location/grand-haven.
This naming structure will help you rank locally because it shows Google that this page is dedicated to that location. Every time you can show Google that you’re relevant for a location, it adds to your website’s location-based relevancy.
Specific Location Pages
To compete in local search, generic content won’t cut it. You need dedicated pages for each of your locations. Having location pages—complete with service area information—helps you rank for location-specific keywords like “lawn mowing service in Grand Haven” or “plumber near me.”
Google places a high priority on local pages because it wants to make sure you have the best experience with them.
Optimize Your Website For User Experience (UX)
Websites with location-specific pages offer users a better experience. This allows visitors to easily find information about the location closest to them and see what services are offered there. Having location-specific pages also helps portray a more local feel, giving you the opportunity to feature pictures, team members, and details that reflect each location.
User experience is one of the most important things you can do on a site because if it’s hard for your customers to interact with your site, they are just going to leave and find your competitor. After all, they may have a location page design that’s easier to digest!
There are a few different things that you need to consider when designing local pages. You need to ask yourself “what’s my customer looking for?” It might be hours, services, an address, or a number to call—all depending on the type of service you offer. Do you offer emergency services, do you mostly have over-the-phone orders, or do you need people to fill out a form? Whatever they are looking for, you need to make sure this information is easy to find above the fold (what you see when the screen loads), so they can continue moving forward with you.
Relevant Content
When designing local pages, it’s important to keep the content relevant to each specific branch. Don’t try to promote service at other branches, just focus on what’s at that specific location. This helps people not get sidetracked when they’re on your site because you want to keep your customer moving forward in the conversion process.
Is Local SEO Profitable?
Yes, local SEO is still one of the most profitable ways for new and small businesses to gain traffic. Local SEO is just the process of trying to rank for keywords specific to your local area. It’s also much easier to rank for local keywords over keywords at the national level.
The simple explanation is that with local SEO, you’re only competing with other businesses in your service area. Whereas with nationally focused keywords, you have to compete with every business in the country for that keyword.
Local SEO also helps you generate a higher percentage of quality leads and conversions. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best home builder in Michigan; all the leads/clicks you’re getting from Texas are irrelevant because you’re not going to build a home in Texas. The problem with getting irrelevant leads is that you’re most likely spending time and money to get those leads/clicks.
With local SEO, you can now eliminate the effort you spent on getting leads that aren’t gaining you quality clients. Start targeting a specific area where you do business, so all of the time and effort you spend is focused on generating leads that are much more relevant to your business.
How to Do Local SEO for Multiple Locations
Local SEO for multiple locations isn’t much different from other forms of SEO. The only difference is keyword selection and focusing on keywords that mention the city/location you’re in. Once you find the keyword, it’s just like any other page; you need to develop the page based on SEO and UX design best practices.
Some of the local SEO is tied to your Google Business Profile, and you can create a Google Business Profile for every physical location you have. Having location pages in addition to these profiles also helps show Google that you serve these specific areas where you’re located.
It also helps to make location pages for all the areas you service, even if you don’t have a physical location somewhere. For example, a builder located in Grand Rapids, MI, may want to build houses in Holland, MI. With a specific location page for Holland, MI, they will start to show up when people search for builders in Holland.
Design a Multi-Location Website with Northbound Studio
If you have/serve multiple locations, it’s essential to have a multi-location website design that captures all of the local traffic in your area. This is a top priority to ensure that your clients can find the correct location along with the necessary information about that area or branch.
We understand that it can be a lot to implement and keep up to date. That’s why we’re here to help you implement all of these location-specific pages and strategies. Here at Northbound, we’ll be your full marketing team or simply assist with your current needs. So, reach out to us if you want to grow your multi-location business’s presence online!