The transition from one location to two, five, or ten locations is one of the most risk-laden moments in a business’s Local SEO history. We have guided the Local SEO trajectories of eight multi-location businesses in the Netherlands over the past two years — from a hair salon chain expanding from two to seven locations, to a physiotherapy practice adding three cities. The patterns we observed are consistent: businesses without a systematic multi-location SEO strategy damage their existing rankings with every new location added.
The five pillars of a multi-location Local SEO strategy
Pillar 1: GBP structure and naming. Each location needs its own Google Business Profile. But naming is crucial and most businesses get it wrong. Google’s guidelines state you may only add the location name to the business name if this is also the case in reality — that is, if the location in that area is actually known by that name. Use a consistent naming structure for all locations ([Brand Name] + [City]) and register each GBP profile with a unique, location-specific phone number.
Pillar 2: Location pages on the website. Each location needs a unique landing page. The URL structure we recommend is /[city]/ or /locations/[city]/. Each page must contain unique content: a description of the specific location, the team working there, location-specific photos, an embedded Google Map, and location-specific reviews. The most common mistake: copying the location page of the first location and only changing the name and address.
Pillar 3: Review strategy per location. A new location has zero reviews at opening. We recommend planning the opening of a new location with a review campaign: prioritizing collecting reviews for that location for the first four to eight weeks after opening. Locations collecting twelve or more reviews in the first two months after opening rank an average of 3.7 positions higher in the Local Pack after six months than comparable locations without a targeted opening review campaign.
Pillar 4: Local citations per location. Each location needs its own set of local citations in directories relevant to that specific city or region.
Pillar 5: Content strategy for the parent site. Publishing content that connects all locations is crucial for the authority of the brand as a whole — a locations overview page, a blog sharing industry news relevant to all locations, and case studies demonstrating the expertise of the brand.
The complete multi-location Local SEO implementation plan, including the website architecture, GBP structure, and review strategy playbook, is available for LocalSEOLab.nl members.