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Google Business Profile multiple locations – The complete guide to ranking higher

Google Business Profile multiple locations - The complete guide to ranking higher

Multi location SEO is the process of optimising your online presence to rank higher in search results and attract more customers to your local business listings. It improves online visibility, drives local traffic to your local business, and ultimately grows your customer base.

So if you’re looking to conquer the competition and attract more local customers, it’s time to learn how to optimise Google Business Profiles for multiple locations.

How do I optimise local SEO for multiple locations and what is the challenge?

Multiple-location SEO mainly involves optimising Google Business Profiles for a multi-location business with accurate business information, utilising localised keywords that resonate with your target audience, managing reviews, and using the right optimisation tools to track and measure your campaign performance over time.

Many people struggle with optimising their Google Business Profiles due to a lack of knowledge of the process, as well as a lack of time and resources. This can make it difficult to stay ahead of competitors in your industry.

To overcome this knowledge gap, this guide will explain step by step how to effectively optimise Google Business Profiles for multiple locations. In addition, we will explain how software can help you be more time efficient.

Local SEO strategy

Google Business Profile optimisation is often referred to as local SEO, but in this case, it is local SEO for multiple locations and can bring a wide range of benefits to your local businesses. With more than 46% of searches having local intent, making sure that your listings stand out from the competition should be an important part of any digital marketing plan.

Local SEO involves two distinct ranking types: Business Profile visibility and website organic rankings. The former is where your Google Business Profile appears on top of the Google search results, while the latter concerns if your location-specific webpage ranks highly in search engine results.

To be found more easily and deliver a favourable brand experience, local SEO involves optimising both aspects.

What are the 7 local SEO ranking factors?

To enhance your Google Business Profile, Whitespark has created a comprehensive list of seven local search ranking factors that must be taken into account. These include everything from the searcher’s distance to your business to the content displayed on your website. With each factor contributing in some way towards optimising your Google Business Profile, it is essential for users to understand their importance and meet as many criteria as possible.

Google My Business / Google Business Profile Signals
Proximity, Categories, Keyword in Business Title, etc.
Reviews
First and Third Party Reviews, Review Quantity, Review Velocity, Review Diversity, etc.
On-Page
Presence of NAP, Keywords in Titles, Domain Authority, etc.
Citations
Location Data, Internet Yellow Pages, Name Address & Phone Number NAP consistency, Citation Volume, etc.
Personalization of potential customer
Search History, Search Location, Device, etc.
Behavioural Signals
Click Through Rate, Mobile Clicks to Call, Dwell Time, etc.
Links
Inbound Anchor Text, Linking Domain Authority, Linking Domain Quantity, etc.

When it comes to Local SEO, it’s important to recognise that there are two distinct types of rankings: 1) Your Business Profile on the top of Google search results, and 2) The organic ranking for your location page.
Whitespark surveyed top experts in Local SEO to determine what’s working to drive rankings and what’s not.

When it comes to Local SEO, it’s important to recognise that there are two distinct types of rankings: 1) Your Business Profile on the top of Google search results, and 2) The organic ranking for your location page.
Whitespark surveyed top experts in Local SEO to determine what’s working to drive rankings and what’s not.

Step 1: How do I add multiple business locations to my Google Business Profile?

When you already have a Google Business Profile, you need to add a new location to the existing business group:

Sign in to the Google Business Profile google.com/business
Navigate to ‘Business’
Then select the business group in the drop-down.
Click ‘add business’.
Enter the business name, location, and other details.
Verify your business

Step 2: Create a webpage for each location on your website

One of the best ways to optimise your local SEO for multiple locations is to create a location page for each location on your website. Doing so will improve your rankings in the search result, as search engines will see each location as a unique entity with its own set of content and keywords.

However, to avoid duplicate content (something Google SEO hates), the content of the location-specific pages needs to be unique. So it is advised to add location-specific pictures and location-specific text. Most importantly, the NAP (Name, Address and Phone number) need to correct and match the information you provide in the Google Business listing.

We recommend the following content:

Using a logical site structure makes it easy for search engines to find each of the location-specific pages. For example – gmbapi.com/locations/denbosch
Make sure to include the location’s name, address, and phone number (NAP).
Other relevant local information like staff information, testimonials, news, etc., can also be useful.
You can also embed a Google Map of the area on the page.
Make sure to include descriptions of your business location in your website content, including any local landmarks.
Customer comments and reviews that are specific to a location.
Images of your business’s interior and shots of the staff member at work.
List the business hours for each location
Blog posts

Step 3: Create Google Business Profiles for each location

You can create a new profile for each store location under the same Google Business Profile account.

To create a new Google Business Profile for each store:

Verifying each location
Provide accurate hours
Adding photos
Add products and/or services.

To add products in bulk, check out this article.

A few rules when creating Google Business Profiles:

The names of each location must match (e.g., “Zara” shouldn’t be called “Zara Amsterdam”). So if your Google Business Profile multiple locations have the same name, that is exactly how it should be.
Each listing should have at least one category that represents the business as a whole (e.g., all “Pet Place” locations would have the category “Pet supply store”).
It is considered ‘ok’ to put what the business does. Pet Place pet supply store.
Do not ‘keyword stuff’ your titles with keywords.

Step 4: Optimise each location's listing with localised keywords

First, research the most popular keywords that your audience is using when searching for a business similar to yours. You can look at your competitors or use a tool like Google Keyword Planner.

Subsequently, you can put these keywords in the description, in profile posts, the Q & A and lastly, customers and you can put keywords in the reviews.

Lastly, the best practice is to make these keywords location specific. For example: Vegan restaurant London. So they appear for local searches.

Step 5: Optimise Local webpages for SEO

After you have set up your Google Business Profiles and included information about each location on your location page, the next step is to optimise the local pages. This involves incorporating the relevant keywords (as discussed in the previous step) into page titles, meta descriptions, content, and other key elements of your page in order to rank higher on search engines and direct more traffic to your site.

The best practice is to focus on localised keywords and phrases that are relevant to the area of your store.

This looks something like this:

Meta title: Bakery in Amsterdam | Business name
Meta description: [Business Name] bakes and delivers the best bread in Amsterdam and the surrounding areas, including Haarlem and Utrecht.

Tip: Do not forget to submit a sitemap to Google.

Step 6: Enhance Your Location Pages by Creating Backlinks

One of the most important steps in optimising your local SEO for multiple locations is to build backlinks to your location pages on your website. This involves reaching out to other businesses, websites, and online publications in your industry and requesting that they link to one or more of your location pages. By building a strong network of high-quality local links, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website.

To maximise your website’s potential, it is best to acquire both local and high-domain links. These local sources may come from a newspaper in the area or similarly reputable websites. When customers are exposed to these local backlinks, they will be more likely to visit your site as well–which sends positive signals for Google search results!

By acquiring links with higher authority, you can increase the authority of your own website.

To get backlinks, consider the following:

If you own a hotel, consider getting in touch with a blogger.
Sponsor, or host an event to get featured on local websites.
Team up with another local business.

Step 7: Be consistent across all platforms and websites

Another effective way to optimise your Google Business Profiles with multiple locations is to encourage customers to leave reviews on your listing. This can help you improve customer trust and engagement, as well as boost your rankings over time.

To start collecting customer reviews, you can start by asking happy customers. To automate the process, you can include a link to your Google Business Profile in an email after a positive interaction. However, please note that it is not allowed to ask for reviews ‘en masse’ as outlined in a previous article on reviews.

Additionally, it is also important to manage reviews for each of your locations in order to build trust and credibility with potential customers. This can involve responding to all customer feedback in a timely manner, both positive and negative.

Step 8: Get More Reviews from Customers

Source: GMBapi tool review management

Lastly, from our own experience, negative reviews tend to be less negative if the customer sees that the bad reviews are dealt with professionally, and replied to respectfully by the business.

Step 9: Prepopulate Ask and Answer questions

To generate trust and authority, you can pre-populate the question and answer section.

To pre-populate Q&A:

Log in to Google Business and go to your listing.
Click ‘see your profile’ and scroll down a bit.
Click on Q&A.

Great questions to ask are, for example: Where can I park? or Do I need an appointment?

Step 10: Add posts to your listing

Local SEO specialists recommend posting once or bi-weekly. The posts can generate a better brand experience, and any link clicks help with ranking your Google Business Profile in the search results

To make a post, log in to Google Business and go to your listing.
Click on the ‘post icon’.
Create your post and click ‘Post’.

For additional tips and tricks see our article on GBP posting.

Step 11: Add merchant photos and/or videos

Same as mentioned in the previous step, also photos and videos can help create a better brand experience. Subsequently, it will improve the conversion rate.

To make a post, log in to Google Business and go to your listing.
Click on the ‘photo icon’.
Create your photo- post and click ‘Post’.

Step 12: Add citations to your business listings

For local search engine optimisation (SEO) to work, it’s essential for your business name, address and phone number (NAP) of a particular location to be mentioned on various websites outside of your own. This is known as a “citation”.

Citations are considered an important factor for your local SEO rankings. Verifying your business with trusted directories sends signals to Google and establishes credibility, so they can be assured that your business actually exists. Not optimising these citations will impede the success of local search engine visibility. Examples are having a Facebook Business page or being registered on Yelp.

How do you know if your efforts are working?

One of the best ways to determine whether your multiple-location SEO strategy is working is to track the number of visitors and leads that are coming to your website from each location page. If you notice a significant increase in both traffic and conversions over time, then it is likely that your efforts are paying off. You can also use tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics to track your rankings for relevant keywords over time, which can help you identify areas where you may need to make adjustments in order to improve your SEO strategy. Ultimately, the key to successful optimisation is to remain focused on your long-term goals and continue refining your approach as needed over time.

Our tool helps you to be more time efficient

By proving you with a step-by-step guide on how to optimise local SEO for multiple locations, we have filled any knowledge gap in how to rank higher in local searches. However, the next challenge is the sheer amount of tasks that are involved.

Google reviews across multiple locations
Q&A across multiple locations
Posting to multiple locations
Keeping all information up to date
Fill in all attributes

We know what is involved!

The team at GMBapi.com are experienced in assisting clients with reputation management, search engine optimization, and business growth with our local SEO software, you can manage your multi-location Google Business Profiles with ease.

GMBapi.com saves you time with:

Updating business information.
Posting into multiple locations at once.
Monitor and reply to reviews.
Populating and responding to Q&As

But also GMBapi:

Tracks and visualises performance.
Reports on performance.
Setup A/B tests to see the impact of efforts.

Making us a valuable partner who doesn’t just do business but builds real connections. Start your free trail today.

Check out our tool in action

Get started on local search today with a free demo from one of our experts.