From the viewpoint of one Google Business Profile, managing local SEO is simple, but juggling the SEO of dozens of similar businesses is an entirely different task. This blog covers the unique demands of multi-location agencies, the capabilities worth prioritizing to streamline operations at scale, and an overview of how to choose the right software to manage local SEO without overwhelming staff.

Introducton

One business location is one Google Business Profile, one set of reviews, and one local market to focus on, but when a company operates across multiple locations, it creates dozens (or even hundreds) of listings to monitor and manage. Some may have out-of-date hours of operation; others might have low review counts; and a significant number may not appear in Google Maps or local searches at all — and this has to be handled location by location.

Agencies that manage multi-location businesses — from franchises and retailers to healthcare and hospitality — often rely on dedicated local SEO software to handle these challenges, as opposed to spreadsheets and individual accounts.

Why Managing Local SEO For Multiple Locations Is A Unique Challenge

While a local business only has to worry about its own listing and rankings, any company with multiple locations has to worry about inconsistencies across businesses and entire categories of listings.

Review and listing management software helps agencies that work with franchises or networks maintain consistency across locations and respond faster to ranking or review fluctuations that impact their clients.

Multi-location SEO tools address the following pain points:

Rank tracking: Monitoring the performance of Google Business Profiles and other listings on a per-location basis.

Google Business Profile management: Making changes to business hours, images, and other attributes across businesses or entire networks.

Review monitoring: Tracking mentions of the business across review sites and social media.

Citation management: Keeping directory listings consistent across NAP (name, address, phone) and other data points.

Client reporting: Providing consolidated local SEO reports to demonstrate the performance of all business locations.

The trade-offs agencies should be aware of when choosing a multi-location SEO platform

When it comes to multi-location SEO, the industry is highly segmented; agencies should be aware of the space their target clients occupy before choosing a platform.

Some companies specialize in citation management and listing consistency but offer few reporting features, while others provide an end-to-end solution that also incorporates social media publishing. Agencies that already use separate tools for rank tracking or reporting may want to limit the number of platforms they use, whereas those that want an entirely unified experience will have to consider products with built-in reporting and automation.

The same goes for agencies that operate at scale: Some local SEO tools price accounts based on the number of locations, which can become expensive when a network contains hundreds or thousands of listings. At the same time, agencies with dozens of listings may want to invest in enterprise-level tools that unify the management of smaller-scale local SEO campaigns.

How To Choose The Right Tool For Your Business

As agencies grow from small local SEO providers into multi-location managers, they often have to reconsider the tools they use — and a tool that worked for one client business might not scale with a network of businesses. The key is to choose an adaptable platform that can accommodate the growth of individual clients without additional overhead.

Conclusion

Likewise, agencies should prioritize tools that reduce the learning curve for new hires or utilize automations that make in-house processes more efficient. Above all, the objective of any local SEO tool should be to help agencies manage each location individually while also providing them with the big-picture view of all the businesses they handle.

FAQs

1. Why do agencies that manage multiple business locations require different SEO tools than single-location businesses?

Because it enables them to monitor and edit all of their listings on a large scale. Multi-location businesses require bulk changes to attributes like hours of operation and business images, which single-location tools are not built for.

2. What are the unique local SEO challenges that multi-location businesses face?

Inconsistencies between one business location and another can hurt a company’s local search presence. For example, one business listing may have incorrect hours of operation, another may have poor online reviews, and yet another may not appear in Google Maps or local search results.

3. What are the most important features to look at when selecting a multi-location SEO tool?

Bulk editing features, rank tracking by location, review monitoring, citation management, and consolidated reporting are the most important features for such agencies.

4. Are multi-location SEO tools typically expensive for agencies that have to monitor hundreds of business listings?

It depends on what the agency offers. If a business has several hundred locations under management, it may want to invest in an enterprise-level account. Some tools price their services according to the number of listings, which can inflate costs for agencies that handle large-scale local SEO.

5. How should an agency select between different local SEO platforms?

By looking at the needs of their current and prospective clients. Agencies should identify the size and scale of the local SEO campaigns they handle before selecting a tool that offers the necessary features at a reasonable price.