Following on from our recent multi location SEO article local SEO insights for multi-location businesses, today we look at some of the main SEO challenges businesses face when they are trying to increase visibility online of more than one location.
1. Managing local SEO at scale
The first challenge with running a multi rcs data -location SEO strategy – and probably the biggest – is managing the strategy at scale, potentially across dozens, hundreds or thousands of locations.
We’ve discussed this before when looking at how waste companies can build a national presence through local SEO.
First of all, you have to build a local profile for each business location, link them together and optimise each listing for local engagement. This should include all of the following for each business location:
- A complete Google Business Profile
- Profiles on business directories and other platforms (Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc.)
- Localised content and link profile
- Local media outreach
- A review profile (Google Reviews, Trustpilot, etc.)
- Interaction* (replies to reviews, Q&As, etc.)
- The resources to handle local SEO leads (web traffic, phone calls, foot traffic, enquiries, etc.)
The challenge is, building a local profile for each business location involves a lot of work. The first task alone of completing and maintaining a Google Business Profile for each location is time-consuming enough. This workload prevents most companies from taking full advantage of their local search potential.
2. ‘Near me’ vs location-specific searches
“Near me” searches demonstrate high business idea vs 4p of innovation purchase intent and generate results based on users’ physical locations. When someone specifies they’re looking for something in their nearby area, it suggests they want to find what they’re looking for and make the purchase as soon as possible – so “near me” searches are a huge opportunity for business locations.
In local searches, “near me” acts as a trigger keyword for users to specify they want to see local results. Another common trigger is to include the location name they want to find local results for, such as “best Thai restaurants in London”.
While “near me” searches specify that users are looking to find local businesses in their immediate area, location-specific searches suggest the user isn’t currently in the location they’re searching about.
This is an important distinction because it affects the potential purchase intent of location-specific queries and the time frame for potential purchases.
For example, someone typing in “best Thai restaurants in London” could be visiting the city this weekend, planning a trip to London in the near future or someone in the US daydreaming about a trip to London that may never happen.
“Near me” searches almost guarantee the user is looking to do business in their local area, in the immediate future but location-specific queries have a far lower lead quality. Unfortunately, it’s much easier to target location-specific queries with pages and content optimised for that location but targeting “near me” searches is far more difficult.
3. Mobile & user locations
The reason “near me” queries are difficult singapore number to target is because they rely on the precise location of the user at the time they perform the search. You can’t target “near me” as a keyword, which is why it’s so important to build a local profile for each location.
Local SEO got even harder for companies with multiple locations at the end of last year, thanks to Google’s November 2021 local search update. Since the update, Google seems to favour local listings that are closer to the user’s physical location when they perform a search.