Multiple Locations: Use Location Page or Home Page?

[Michael Charvet]

Hi, it's been a while since I've worked with a multiple location business. What's best . . . use the home page URL for citations and listings OR the website page specific to that location, for example: domain.com/locations/city/?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Re: Mulitple Locations: Use Location Page Instead of Home Page?

Hey Michael,

In most situations we would recommend using the homepage up to about 3 locations. If there are more than three locations then you definitely want to use the location pages.

Another thing we will do to factor into the decision is check to see which page is ranking organically for the search terms your trying to rank for. If it's the location page definitely use the location page and if it's the homepage then you're probably going to want to use the homepage.

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[Michael Charvet]

Re: Mulitple Locations: Use Location Page Instead of Home Page?

Thanks Colan!

The homepage barely out-ranks the location page for a branded search, but that's to be expected because the location page is new. In this case, it seems reasonable to run with the location page URL or the home page URL for listings.

I'm favoring the location page URL because there's potential to clearly differentiate it with local content on the page, citations, and backlinks.

Additional insights on this issue are welcome.

Other references:

https://www.semrush.com/blog/local-seo-for-multiple-locations-everything-you-need-to-know/
https://searchengineland.com/local-seo-multi-location-businesses-224732
https://www.brightlocal.com/2018/02/19/insidelocal-webinar-multi-location-businesses-how-to-optimize-for-local-search-at-scale/
https://whitespark.ca/blog/page-link-gmb-listing-whitespark-weekly/

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Re: Mulitple Locations: Use Location Page Instead of Home Page?

I'd suggest testing.

Another thought if you do use the homepage is to add the location page as the appointment URL in GMB. This way the user experience isn't compromised.

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[adammaxum]

Re: Mulitple Locations: Use Location Page Instead of Home Page?

There are a few variables to consider.

1. how far away the other locations are from your primary location

2. the competition in each city

3. will diluting your homepage meta information negatively impact your primary city rankings is a big one.

Example: if you were running multiple locations to the homepage then you should probably add those cities in the meta information for the homepage. However, as we know, there is limited character space for the title tag especially which plays an important part in ranking.

So do you add those cities in the title tag? Do you add them in the description tag and hope that's enough to be able to rank the homepage in those cities?

This is why separate pages is usually the route to go. Separate pages also allow you to target specific service pages to that city more efficiently in the page hierarchy. Example "home/city/service"

The only drawback to separate landing pages for each city is that these pages are new. They don't have any power, aside from internal linking strategies, if applied. So it takes a bit of SEO work to get these pages to rank, especially if your competing in crowded markets.