Multi Location Killer Digital Strategy

[shoulderpress]

Hey guys,

I'm working on a digital strategy for a current 6 location mechanics business, but through acquisition is expecting to increase to 20 locations in the next 2 years.

The strategy I have planned is:

• Optimised GMB listings (brand name + keyword + location)
• Optimised website/location pages with Schema
• GMB connected into Google Ads with Extensions
• Google Ads Performance Max campaigns
• SEO linkbuilding (primarily to homepage and some to location pages)
• Content marketing - across social media, not so much blog posts.

Am I missing something I can do to drive growth?

PMax seems like the best option to run Google Ads - as more locations are added to GMB and location pages to the website, Pmax automatically expands their reach etc.

Is there something Meta can do for multi location businesses?

Appreciate your feedback.

Cheers,

 

[JoyHawkins]

• Optimised website/location pages with Schema

I haven't seen schema have any impact on ROI for a business (doesn't impact ranking, doesn't help you show up better in the SERPs) so I skip this. I'd focus more on getting more content on the page. Especially real-life data like customer stories, reviews, and service pricing.

• Google Ads Performance Max campaigns

My team usually hates P-Max campaigns. I'll ask one of my colleagues to elaborate on here as to why.

• SEO linkbuilding (primarily to homepage and some to location pages)

I would also get links to some of your other pages on the site that drive leads.

 

[shoulderpress]

Thanks for the advice - with Pmax, some folks think its great and others seem to hate it.

From what I understand it can target customers within a certain geo around Google My Business listings - isnt that super useful for multi location businesses?

 

[Josh_M]

I'm here to elaborate on why we don't generally like Performance Max, while we have seen some upsides to using them they aren't the "go-to" for many reasons.

• They target every Network - this sounds nice but they don't tell you have much spend goes to each network and when you try and segment this, it just tells you "Cross Network". So did you spend 90% of that on display network app clicks? You may have lol
  • There is a report that will show you placements so I would highly recommend checking that
• You get zero information on what keywords you are showing up for and the control you do get is adding negative keywords which you need to contact Google Support to add
  • They have recently added "search themes" which helps narrow in on the targeting but its not the same as controlling the keywords
• If you selected the option to automatically expand to the pages on the site, you could be targeting all sorts of things you might not want to show up for, for example, if you have content on a page saying "Why Not to Do This" Google will still read that as content on the site and you'll start showing up for it
  • We never recommend that you select this option and always have it set up to only target the pages it's given
• They are notorious for driving spam leads and we still see these come in

I would strongly recommend not relying on Performance Max as your main campaign for Google Ads

[Edit] after I saw your recent comment

It can be useful for putting some emphasis on the ads in the map pack and we do use them for this, but only run in tandem with a normal Search Campaign

 

[shoulderpress]

@Josh_M that makes a lot of sense.

To take full advantage of Google Ads for local - is the only thing I can do is connect Location Extensions to try and get map pack ads?

From a local perspective - is there any other tools/tactics to drive growth for multi location businesses?

 

[GoLocal]

@Josh_M that makes a lot of sense.

To take full advantage of Google Ads for local - is the only thing I can do is connect Location Extensions to try and get map pack ads?

From a local perspective - is there any other tools/tactics to drive growth for multi location businesses?

Definitely. Get connected in the communities you operate it, get networked, get linkbacks and social shares from important community sites, i.e. community league, kids sports team, volunteer association, seniors newsletter, etc. Google is more likely to a site with quality linkbacks from those sources as important to that topic.