The local SEO checklist for multi-location businesses

Give every location exactly one indexable page

The most common issue on a multi-location site isn't thin content — it's duplicate content across near-identical templates. When six branches share the same three paragraphs with the city name swapped out, Google picks one to rank and treats the rest as duplicates.

Run a quick audit: pull every location URL into a spreadsheet, diff the body copy, and flag any page under roughly 70% unique content. On a typical 20-branch rollout, expect to find 8-12 pages that need a rewrite before anything else in this list matters.

• Unique title tag per page: service + city, under 60 characters
• NAP (name, address, phone) matching the Google Business Profile exactly, including suite numbers
• LocalBusiness schema with correct geo coordinates and opening hours
• At least one internal link from the matching service page — not just a footer directory link

Treat Google Business Profile setup as a two-hour job, not a checkbox

Primary category selection alone can shift map pack visibility more than months of link building. Pick the most specific accurate category, then add every relevant secondary category the interface allows.

After that, the profile needs upkeep: full service list, 4-6 new photos a month, every question answered within 48 hours, and a written review-response process assigned to a specific person, not 'the team.'

Set a review velocity target, not a total

A location earning 4-6 new reviews every month with a steady average rating consistently outperforms one that ran a single review push and collected 60 two years ago and nothing since.

Automate the request at the moment satisfaction peaks — job completion, delivery confirmation, or discharge — and track velocity per branch monthly, flagging any location that drops below 2 new reviews in a 30-day window.

Report rankings and calls by branch, not by domain

Site-wide organic traffic numbers hide the branches that are actually underperforming. Segment rank tracking, calls and form fills by location so a strong flagship store can't mask three branches that are losing ground.