Building a local SEO strategy across 20+ locations

Organizations with multiple locations need to build a system that makes local SEO repeatable, scalable, and executable across each and every location in the portfolio. It’s a very clear non-negotiable because, as we all know, without a central governance system in place and clear R&Rs between corporate and practice offices, poorly executed local SEO efforts can get out of hand and wind up costing you patient volume and by extension, revenue. So, we’ve structured a starter how-to guide for executing a multi-location local SEO strategy for high-growth brands with more than 20 locations without losing money or control. 

Why a multi-location local SEO strategy gets complicated at scale

Local SEO delivers a signal to Google that one singular location demonstrates relevance, proximity, and credibility. Relevance is often demonstrated through the information in a Google Business Profile (GBP), website, reviews, and how well the profile answers the searchers questions. GBPs are vital to the success of local SEO and nearly 70-85% of multi-location healthcare systems suffer from at least one GBP issue, effectively throttling growth. Proximity is demonstrated by location, including adding city and state names, having a location listed on the GBP and other corresponding social profiles, and more. Credibility is a combination of all of the above plus how many reviews and backlinks the location has, how well the community responds to them, and mentions them in different publications. 

At scale, this is what causes trouble as each location requires individual assets to allow them to show up in searches. That list includes:

• Google Business Profile – fully optimized and active
• Directory listings, including Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing, and industry and local directories
• Presence on the corporate website, listing the location, and a landing page is even better
• Reviews and feedback from users
• NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number) consistency across all mentions – 65% of healthcare listings contain dirty data with NAP inconsistencies
• LocalBusiness schema markup

Brand-level responsibilities vs local-level responsibilities 

Considering that nearly 50% of multi-location health systems do not have full, centralized administrative control of every listing in their network, governance is the most important place to start. Often times, multi-location health organizations are dealing with legacy listings from when small practices were acquired by a larger system and not incorporated or accounted for correctly. Additionally, we often see a doctor vs clinic issue where doctors create their own profiles and pages not connected to the corporate brand, leading to customer and algorithm confusion. 

A clear ownership model outlines which team is responsible for solving the problems above and bringing all locations to nest under the corporate brand, delivering consistency and growth. Corporate should own the strategy, infrastructure, and the standards. Then, local teams can execute within those markers. 

 

Category	Corporate or HQ Responsibilities	Local-level Responsibilities
Strategic guidance	Overall SEO strategy, brand standards, and SEO guidelines, content frameworks, and design	Ensure local-level compliance with brand, staying on top of events and promotions and local listing management
Website	Website architecture that includes location pages and schema for each page	Ensuring the location page is correct and the link is listed correctly on platforms, flagging incorrect or outdated information to corporate.
Platform and Tool Management	Corporate accounts – Google Suite, directory listings, and more	Location platform management – Google Business Profile, local newspapers or online directories
Creatives and Brand	Building brand templates to keep visual identity consistent, along with brand voice and messaging guidelines	Collecting photos, videos, and customer reviews regularly to post engaging content
Reporting and Monitoring	Corporate is responsible for tracking progress, ensuring locations are aligned with the strategy, and achieving the strategy	Engaging with the community by responding to reviews, posting testimonials, and getting coverage and backlinks in local publications

Common platforms and local SEO tools to use for local SEO management

Location-based SEO is going to be so much easier with a collection of efficient tools. Some of the best and most efficient tools include:

• Google Suite: The most important for SEO will be a Google Business Profile for each location, along with GA4 for website tracking and Looker Studio for reporting and dashboard building.
• SEMrush: The SEMRush Site Audit is one of the most useful tools that provides both depth of information and in an easy to understand and act up upon format. Many SEO Reports can quickly scare off non-technical teams but this simple report can rank your sites visibility on search engines, how they are trending and identify all of the issues that exist technically on the sites infrastructure and content design. It makes it easier to pass of to different web teams if you have distributed ownership.
• BrightLocal: Another SEO tool that allows you to track keywords by location using city or zip code, it also allows you to push NAP data to dozens of directories and flag inconsistencies. This is pretty much essential for managing multiple locations. It includes a Local Search Grid to visualize GBP rankings for locations. It also helps with review management, and since 80% of profiles have a failure rate for review responses, this is especially useful over multiple locations as it includes automated review requests. Plus, now you get personalized AI insights with prioritized actions. 

Common challenges to overcome in enterprise local SEO

Being aware of some of the most common pitfalls can help you avoid them or recover faster once you recognize they are happening. 

• Inconsistencies – These could be as simple as different formatting on location pages on the website or inconsistencies with brand visuals and promotions. Unfortunately, inconsistencies between locations and corporate signal disconnection internally, not a very trustworthy signal to give your users, or the algorithms. That’s why NAP consistency across locations is extremely important.
• Treating SEO as a one-time setup – SEO is constantly evolving, in fact, it’s probably more aptly named search everywhere because of the need for brands to appear in a plethora of digital places. Locations and corporate will have to be in constant contact to make sure the changes stick, and the strategy is evolving. Plus, as algorithms change and update, it can impact different locations in different ways, necessitating changes and monitoring. 
• Duplicated location pages – Ensure that location pages are not duplicated, as it will be hard for algorithms to determine which is the most accurate. 
• Stale or old profiles – There’s not a lot worse than coming across a GBP that hasn’t been updated in forever with old photos and outdated reviews. More often than not, users will choose somewhere else. It’s important to show users there are people behind the profile! 

Perfecting local SEO across multiple locations is a big task, but incredibly doable with the right workflows, clear roles and responsibilities, and a willingness to constantly evolve the process. If you’re looking for a local SEO partner, give the MDG team a call.