SEO Techniques For Multiple Location Businesses

Every business no matter how big or small, whether serving one location or several, needs the unique customer pulling techniques of search engine optimization (SEO). If you run a business that provides local services, SEO that helps a customer easily find your service can work wonders in improving your business and profits. A Local SEO company is characterized with pulling massive traffic and boosting sales significantly for their clients. 

For businesses serving a handful of locations, SEO is simpler but for multiple or several locations, it becomes a little complicated. Managing reviews, location based optimization and content management can get tricky and hard to stay organized. Before we move on to provide you a detailed strategy to implement local SEO, let’s look at some crucial stats that will establish its importance and need.

• 46% of Google searches are for local services 
• 85% customers consider reviews important before a purchase
• Almost 50% customers opt for ratings of 4 stars and above
• 50% of the people who search for local services, visit by day-end
• 60% of users use mobile phone from ‘search to purchase’
• Half of the searches are to find a phone number or an address

Online visibility is a crucial requirement for businesses. Markets are online, and so are the customers. Look at it this way, if your business is easy to find, it increases traffic and subsequently the chances of sales and conversions. Here are some basics that you need to follow to ensure that your business is found with least efforts on part of the customer.

Locally Optimized Web Pages:

For a business that serves in different locations, the first and the foremost requirement is dedicated web pages for each location. Location specific web pages are easily found by search engines and subsequently by prospective customers. Organized websites with a clear site structure add relevance and improve user experience. Logical, location specific URL structures also add to the UX and make indexing easier for search engines. A general pattern could look something like this:

your business.com/locations/state/town/service. 

SEO for Individual Web Pages:

Web pages are supplied with additional metadata to help search engines easily find them. Meta titles and descriptions are displayed on the search engine results page (SERP) and should include location and service details. Such informative web pages with URLs that speak for the page content attract customers and entice them to click on your website’s link. Localized content pulls users as it gives them a context for their search and helps them to reach the required location and service. 

Content Based Optimization:

Without content, the customer loses interest and navigates out of your website. Add service descriptions for all services you offer. If possible, create individual web pages for each service. Include an FAQ section to answer regular queries and questions that come up in customer’s minds. Photos and visuals of projects undertaken locally and genuine reviews and testimonials add to the credibility of your business. Maps and directions to your stores must be clearly visible on the web page. 

Mark Your Presence Locally:

Establish your business’ local presence for maximum visibility. For this, list your business on all popular listing websites and niche platforms related to your business/service. The name, address, phone number (NAP) information should corroborate with your actual service and the information given on the website. Business related details like working hours, list of holidays, food menu, catalogs or galleries etc. should be provided as they engage the consumer for a longer timespan. NPA citation inconsistencies hurt the SEO deeply. Encourage reviews and star ratings, also make it compulsory to respond to negative reviews and solve them in a satisfactory and timely manner.

Expand, Engage and Earn:

Sponsorship events, local activities invite local backlinking which is extremely effective in SEO. A locations page helps in navigating around your website. Use of schema to tag particular parts of the content boosts click through rate (CTR) and continually monitoring stats, data and analytics creates a high performing recipe for SEO.

SEO demands patience, a crafty recipe and managing quickly changing dynamics. Local SEO with a targeted approach is like a crowd magnet. Better SEO means better SERP rankings and more traffic to your business. After that the content management takes over which is also a part of SEO. All the above when combined together create the perfect SEO mixture that attracts and retains customers. 

Any business looking to increase local customer reach can apply these techniques and a sharp growth will be visible in a few weeks. Take control of your presence and be visible locally by hiring a local SEO company. In a nutshell, be where your customers are. Keep watching this space for more on SEO related information and strategies that will definitely grow your business.