I see the same pitfalls each time. We get a new client or prospective client asking us how to rank locally with multiple locations. After all, they only have one domain! How on earth could you associate multiple websites with one domain?
I see the same pitfalls each time.
We get a new client or prospective client asking us how to rank locally with multiple locations. After all, they only have one domain! How on earth could you associate multiple websites with one domain? Well just pay attention for once and I’ll tell you!
Multiple Location Pages
“Look I optimized for all my locations! I have a page dedicated to all my locations with embedded google maps! Aren’t you proud of me?” NO!
Granted it’s better than a large portion of websites, but still not nearly enough. By making a new page for every single location, we get new possibilities. With a new page we can target keywords specific to that location, we can have new schema code pointing to the specified location, and we can fit in “Contact Us” forms specific to that location in a way that is clean and keeps the page easy to navigate.
Google now has a page that is directly associated with your customer’s searches based on location which can rank.
Major Listing Pages
Now that we have a page to point to, we need to have things to do the pointing. This means that all of your new pages should have their own google my business page, Facebook page, Superpages, Bing, all of the ones that affect googles algorithm at the very least.
Not only that but when these pages are made, they need to point to the new Location page that we made before. This lets google easily recognize that these new location pages are separate locations on the map. Now we can start getting these locations into the map pack and get noticed!
The Extra Bits
The previous two paragraphs I would consider are required for any serious attempt at optimization for multiple locations. This last one is filled with the highly encouraged methods for improving optimization for these pages. Because you now have, ideally, multiple different pages ranking, you need to make these pages easy to navigate quickly.
Keep the page clean and only with content that either drives click through traffic, or gives quick content that searchers are actively looking for. Also you should considering doing a small link building campaign for these new pages as well.
These links will not only improve the page authority for each location, but raise overall domain authority. A quick and easy way is to use listing directories that let you link to your site for each and every location. It won’t take many links to make a difference. Lastly, consider encouraging customers to leave reviews for your locations.
It doesn’t need to be many, just enough to show stars on google and apple maps (apple maps uses yelp for stars). Many people will not purchase a product or service without some sort of peer review.
Hopefully this helps you understand my strategy for ranking with multiple locations on Google. Bare in mind that this strategy is from my personal understanding of how to rank for multiple locations and what has worked for me. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please leave a comment and I’ll try to get back to you.
