Guide
Local SEO for businesses with multiple locations
How to win local search for every branch: one Business Profile per real location, location pages, reviews per branch, tracking, and the rules for service-area businesses.
VAULT 33|27 · Updated 12 November 2026 · Reviewed 12 November 2026 · 2 min read
The foundation: one profile per real location
Google's guidelines allow a Business Profile for each real location where you serve customers, staffed during its stated hours. They do not allow profiles for virtual offices, mailboxes or addresses where you do not actually operate. Get this right first: everything else depends on it.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Several branches clients visit | One verified profile per branch, each with its own address, hours and phone |
| One office, you travel to clients across a region | One profile with a service area; hide the address if clients do not visit |
| A branch closed or moved | Mark it closed or update the address; do not leave old profiles live |
| Departments in one building | Usually one profile; separate profiles only for genuinely distinct public-facing departments |
Consistency for every location
For each branch, the name, address and phone number should be identical on the profile, the location page, structured data and major directories. Use the same brand name for every branch. Adding the town or keywords to the business name breaks the guidelines unless that is genuinely how the branch is named in the real world.
A location page for each branch
Link each profile to its own page on your website, not the homepage. Each branch page should include:
- The branch address, phone, hours and a map.
- The team at that branch, with real photos.
- Services available there, and anything specific to that branch.
- Reviews from clients of that branch.
- Directions, parking and access details.
- LocalBusiness structured data for that branch, with its own
@id. See our schema guide.
Read service and location pages without doorway pages before creating pages for areas where you have no branch.
Reviews per branch
Prominence is built location by location. Send review requests that link to the specific branch's profile, reply from that branch, and watch for branches that fall behind. A strong head office profile does not help a weak branch profile.
Tracking each location separately
| Measure | How |
|---|---|
| Visits from each profile | Tracking parameters on each profile's website link |
| Calls from each profile | A tracked number per branch, with the main number kept consistent elsewhere |
| Enquiries by branch | A branch field on every enquiry in your CRM |
| Revenue by branch | CRM won value by branch and source |
Managing many profiles
- Keep ownership with the business, using a business-owned account, and add staff and agencies as managers.
- Use a single sheet of truth for every branch's details and hours, including holidays.
- Check every profile monthly for suggested edits by others.
- Set special hours for every branch before every public holiday.
Checklist
- One verified profile per real, staffed location.
- Identical name, address and phone everywhere for each branch.
- Each profile links to its own branch page.
- Branch-specific reviews requested and answered.
- Tracking per branch for visits, calls, enquiries and revenue.
- Monthly check of every profile.
Our local SEO service manages multi-location setups and reports results per branch.
Sources
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