Local search is not a niche behaviour. A recent study showed that nearly 46% searches on Google are driven by local SEO meaning the user is actively looking for a nearby service, shop, or provider.
More importantly, local searches convert. Research consistently referenced across the industry shows that local intent searches frequently (as often as for 80% of searches) lead to calls, visits, or purchases, often within the same day. This is why the map pack is so competitive, and why visibility gaps between locations matter commercially, not just from an SEO perspective.
When things get tricky is when an organisation is running a multi-location business with multiple Google My Business accounts and service pages on their website. Here’s our guide to best practice for local SEO for multi-location businesses.
What Is a Multi-Location Business?
This typically includes:
- Professional services firms (such as lawyers, accountants & other consultants) with offices in multiple towns or cities
- Healthcare providers with regional clinics or practices
- Hospitality businesses such as hotels & restaurant chains with multiple venues
- Retail brands such as national chains with several stores
- Trades and service businesses operating from multiple depots or branches
The defining feature is that each location competes in its own local market, even when the brand itself is well known.
From a search perspective, Google evaluates locations individually, not collectively. That means one branch can rank strongly while another struggles, even though they share the same website and brand.
This is why multi-location SEO requires a different approach. You are optimising several local presences at once, making sure they support each other without overlapping or competing in search results.
Google Business Profiles: The First Line of Local SEO
Every physical location that customers can visit deserves its own Google Business Profile (GBP). Google is explicit about this in its own Business Profile guidelines, particularly around staffed locations and service-area rules, with loopholes like the use of home addresses for Google Maps listings now being banned.
When reviewing client’s local SEO performance, we see variants of this problem all the time:
- Duplicate profiles for the same physical location
- Profiles created before the location actually opened
- Multiple listings pointing to the same phone number
These kinds of discrepancies confuse both search engines and real users.
Location Landing Pages for Local SEO
Google and website users can see when content is repetitive and not truly local. Pages that lack depth and specificity rarely rank consistently across a brand’s footprint.
Strong location pages typically include:
- A clear description of what’s available at this location
- Local contact details and opening hours
- Embedded Google Maps showing exact location
- Narrative about service area or community relevance
- Testimonials or reviews specific to that location
The Problem With Boilerplate
In audits, one frequent pattern is location pages competing with each other. When pages are near-duplicates distinguished only by the city name, Google often doesn’t know which one should rank – so none of them does particularly well.
Once content is rewritten with unique, locally relevant language and properly linked into the wider site structure, these pages often start to show organic traction within weeks.
Structured Data: Making Local Signals Clearer
On every location page, you should include LocalBusiness schema with:
- Business name
- Address
- Telephone
- Opening hours
- SameAs links for profiles and directories
This reinforces to Google exactly what and where each location is, reducing ambiguity for local search results.
Reviews: A Local SEO Signal You Can Influence
Studies show that review signals (including count, recency, and star rating) not only help build brand trust but are also among the top factors influencing rankings in the local pack.
In multi-location audits, we see common problems like:
- Reviews split across duplicate or mistaken profiles
- Reviews being earned on old locations long closed
- Customers being directed to the wrong profile after purchase
Fixing these improves both visibility and consumer trust.
Need Help With your Local SEO Visibilty for Multi-Location Business? We Can Help!
At Search Hog, we specialise in audits and implementation for multi-location local SEO. We assess all the crucial SEO elements for local businesses, including:
- GBP setup and hygiene
- Location page quality and competition
- Review strategy and profile health
- Structured data accuracy
- Citations and citation consistency
If your local presence feels like it should be performing better there’s a structural reason behind it. Explore our local SEO services, which are included as standard in any of our monthly SEO packages. Get in touch today to find out more.
