Businesses with multiple locations across different cities can still reap the benefits of local searches. Here’s how.
Imagine the stress trying to find an electrician. Every Google search yielded worldwide SEO results?
How many results do you need to go through to locate an area beautician?
However, you can imagine the inefficiency of your digital marketing strategy could look if your small-scale company competes with all competitors worldwide to get clicks.
Fortunately, Google has delivered a solution to this problem through the local SEO.
With the ability to only target people who live in your vicinity, It’s an efficient and simple way to provide details about your business to those who are most likely to visit it.
What happens if you own multiple locations across multiple cities?
Is it possible to be ranked for keywords that target multiple cities , without harming your local SEO?
Of course it’s.
However, before you rush away to alter your website to make it more local-friendly, there’s a cautionary note that if you do the wrong thing, it could end up hurting you. It’s therefore essential to do the job correctly.
It’s a little more complex than standard Search Engine Optimization, but don’t worry – we’ll help you understand the procedure.
Follow the steps below, and you’ll be ranked on the search results of all your locations in no time. Are you ready to start?
Why Is Local SEO Important?
If local SEO may “hurt” you, why not bother? There are two reasons:
Local SEO Attracts Foot Traffic
Imagine you’re away to attend an event at your cousin’s wedding.
The night before the big day it’s in your hotel room and you want a cheese pizza.
You take your phone out and you search Google … What?
“Pizza?”
I’m still determining.
You’re likely to Google for a specific location-based keyword like”best pizza in LouisvilleBest pizza in Louisville.
If you are able to determine the results, don’t just say, “good to know,” and then go to bed.
No. Instead, you go through the same action that prompted your initially. So you pick up your phone and make a pizza order.
If you wake up, hail a taxi and then eat at the most fantastic pizzeria.
And you’re certainly not the only one who’s doing this.
In reality, every month, people search for 1.5 billion sites in connection with their searches.
You’re one of many in a million that are searching for a local level also.
Nearly 46 percent of Google search results have local intent.
That’s huge!
The next time you’re considering not doing local SEO consider reconsidering your decision.
It could be the way to convince the random vacationer to go to your favorite pizza joint. (Or the beauty parlor. Or hardware store. You know the drill.)
Local SEO Ranks You Higher On Google
We know what SEO metrics you need to track to be ranked on Google.
Two of them are:
- Clicks to your website.
- The ranking of keywords increases.
Local SEO lets you’ll be able to kill both birds in one shot. This is because it’s based on the location of the searcher’s proximity to the company.
City Pages: Good Or Bad For SEO?
A long time ago, during the dark days of SEO cities pages were utilized to put local keywords in order to get more positions on Google.
For instance, create an article and post it about flower delivery.
You’ll then duplicate your content across many different pages, each of which has different cities in the keyword.
Also, there is a page that says flower delivery in Louisville in Louisville] and [flower delivery in Newarkand Newark] and flowers delivery in Shelbyvilleeach with the same information.
As is often the norm, it took a different time for Google to catch this untruthful method.
When it released, it was a Panda update. It made sure to penalize and flag websites implementing it.
Therefore, city pages could affect your SEO and negatively impact your website.
But that’s only if you’ve done these things correctly.
This is what brings our attention back to…
How Do I Optimize My Business For Several Locations On Google?
1. Use Google Business Profile
Be aware the mission of Google is to provide the most reliable and relevant information available to internet users.
Its mission is to provide those who visit us precisely what they’re searching for.
If they can verify your company and your business, you’ll be more likely to be ranked on SERPs.
Enter Google Business Profile.
When you sign-up for Google Business Profile by registering, you’re verifying to Google precisely what you’re offering and the location you’re in.
In the end, Google will be confident in sharing your content with people searching for information.
The good news is that Google Business Profile is free and straightforward.
Please create an account, declare your company, and provide as much information as possible.
Customer reviews and photos (plus responding to reviews) can help improve the performance of your Google Business Profile account.
- Get Into Google’s Local Map Pack
Have you ever done an internet search in your area and seen three suggestions that Google features?
Like this.
Yes, these companies are highly fortunate.
Most likely, people will choose one and stop looking elsewhere to find their plumbing requirements. It’s a tough choice, but everyone else.
Naturally, this makes it extremely important to be among three of the people mentioned on the Local Map Pack. If you follow the correct techniques, it is possible to be.
Here are three things that you can do to improve your odds of getting into one of three highly sought-after slots:
Sign Up For Google Business Profile
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Google prioritizes sites it has confirmed.
Give Google All Your Details
You must provide Google with all your details, including your business’s name, address, number, and hours of operation.
Photos and other media can work beautifully, too. Remember, everyone loves photos.
Leverage Your Reviews
The higher your ratings, the better your reviews, and the greater your chance of appearing in Google’s Local Map Pack.
2.Build Your Internal Linking Structure
Do you realize that adjusting the structure of your link structure within your internal links can help improve your SEO?
Yes, external links that point to your website are fantastic.
But you aren’t in control of the backlinks. Also, the process of getting them requires some effort. If you aren’t able to get the internal links you need, this can help:
- Enhance your website’s navigation.
- Display Google which of your site’s pages is the most crucial.
- Make your website more attractive by improving its architecture.
All these can make you more visible on Google and improve your odds of being discovered by someone doing local searches.
2. Build Your NAP Citations
NAP is a shorthand for name, address, address, and phone number.
It is generally your company’s information on the internet.
The first location you should put to put your NAP to be placed is on your website.
The best general rule of thumb is to place this information near the top of your homepage, where visitors are likely to see it.
Including your company’s information on the internet, data aggregates are also beneficial.
These aggregators offer information on top sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Microsoft Bing.
Here are some important ones to be sure you can take advantage of.
- Acxiom.
- Data Axle (formerly named Infogroup).
- Factual.
- Neustar Localeze.
It’s a good idea to list your website with the top aggregators may sound complicated, but it’s worth the effort for those who want an option like this.
Note: Make sure that your NAPs are consistent across the internet.
A mistake could seriously harm your chances of appearing in the Google Local Map Pack or on websites like Yelp or TripAdvisor.
3. Use Schema Markup
Sometimes referred to as structured data or schema, marking your schema on your site can significantly impact your local SEO rankings.
If you’re not a developer, it might appear not very safe.
But don’t be worried – it’s so difficult for you to operate as one believes.
A partnership with Google, Yahoo, Yandex, and Microsoft, Schema.org was founded in 2011 to establish a unifying language for search engines.
Although it is possible to enhance the look of your search results, help you show up on the correct search terms, and improve the time spent on your site, Google has been very explicit that it is not a factor in the rankings of search results.
Why do we even talk about this? Because it increases the likelihood that your material will be utilized to produce high-quality results, which makes your content more appealing and increases the number of clicks you get.
Additionally, it offers various property options that are pertinent to local SEO. This allows users to choose relevant categories of the schema.
By choosing Schema.org/bakery to host your bakery shop by using Schema.org/bakery, you’re helping search engines understand your site’s content.
Once you’ve picked the appropriate category, selecting the sub-properties that will ensure the validity is essential. This includes the company’s name or hours, the region that is served, and so on.
The Schema.org/areaServed on the local landing page should always match the service areas set up in a Google Business Profile, AND your local landing page should mention those same towns in its on-page content.
For a complete list of recommended and required schema properties and details on the process of validating your structured data, check out the following article. Using a plugin, users can get more information on schema markups for WordPress.
4. Optimize Your Site For Mobile
If you awake late at night to find your bathroom flooded with water from an exploded faucet, are you:
- Go to your computer and perform a local search to find the most reliable emergency plumber.
- Take your phone out and enter “emergency plumber” into your Chrome application.
It’s on the 3rd of April at 3 a.m. You’ve likely chosen not to go out. 2.
Here’s the problem.
People need to pick up their phones over computers at 3 a.m.
They often do it.
About 59 percent of all traffic on websites comes from mobile devices.
Like every other time, Google noticed and moved to index mobile-first.
The website must be mobile-friendly if you wish to rank highly on Google, specifically in local search engine optimization.
Here are six ways how to make your website mobile-friendly
- Check that your website’s responsiveness easily fits across different screen sizes.
- Make sure that your buttons are a manageable size.
- Prioritize large fonts.
- Don’t worry about pop-ups or text blockers.
- Make sure your most important information is prominently in the spotlight.
- When you’re using WordPress, select themes that are mobile-friendly.
Bonus Tip: Make Your Most Important City Pages Unique
If you’d like to list all cities in the area, you are serving, put them on the page. In most cases, you don’t require an individual page for each city to rank on.
To distinguish the pages, create unique content for each region or city.
That means it’s your decision.
It is easy to write down all the cities you service on the same page.
You can also make pages for each city separately.
If you decide to take this step, ensure that every page’s content is original.
It’s not like I intend to change the meaning of “hand-wrestling” to “arm-wrestling.”
You should conduct additional investigation into the area you’re targeting before you begin to provide specific and helpful information for those who live in the vicinity.
For instance:
- If you’re a plumber, discuss the issue causing hard water in your area.
- If your florist describes how you cultivate your plants within the climate in your region.
- If you’re interested in real estate, talk about communities within the area.
Here’s a great illustration of a great example of 7th State Builders.
Adding details about a city or town is an effective way of building your customer’s confidence.
A OnePoll survey that CG Roxane conducted found 67 percent of the population trust local companies. When they can demonstrate your knowledge of the area’s conditions and problems, it implies that you’re local, regardless of having numerous locations scattered across the nation.
They’ll be amazed at how well you know about their local area and will trust you to resolve the local issues.
Attention: Ensure this information is included on all versions of your site.
Now that Google has its Mobile-First Index in effect, you shouldn’t wish to be a victim of the search engine’s rankings just because you didn’t manage to optimize your mobile-friendly website.
5 Tools To Scale Your Local SEO
What happens if you own hundreds of locations? How do you handle listings for them?
Here are some tools that can aid you in scaling your local SEO efforts.
- Yext
- BrightLocal
- LocalClarity
- Whitespark
- Birdeye
Ready To Target Local SEO?
I hope to clarify it in this article – local SEO is crucial. You should still make it work even if you have several locations in various cities.
What you do with that is entirely up to the individual. Do you wish to design an individual landing page per area? Do you want to list all of your locations on one page?
Whatever you decide to do, note the potential local SEO has in bringing more clients to your area.
Make sure you’re doing it right. If you need help deciding what actions to take after reading this article, picture yourself as the client.
Which kind of data could you be seeking?
What can you do to convince yourself that your company is the best to meet the needs of your customers?
Your location will likely be one of the factors that drive traffic, and the most effective way to make the most of this is to use local SEO.
