The Do's and Don'ts of Multi-Location Website Design

Is your multi-location website driving customers away? According to Google’s research, 53% of visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load, and keyword cannibalization could be burying your locations in search results. Our team at PowerChord has helped dozens of businesses transform their fragmented web presence into a lead-generating powerhouse. Ready to stop losing customers to your competitors? Let’s talk about how we can optimize your multi-location strategy today.

Modern-day consumers are notoriously impatient and have low tolerance for confusion or uncertainty. If they can’t easily use your company’s website to find what they want within a few seconds, they’re as good as gone.

The challenge for business owners and managers of multi-location businesses is to provide an intuitive website experience while keeping all relevant pages—such as product categories and locations—close by. Multi-location website design requires a thoughtful approach. If done correctly, however, companies can benefit in numerous ways.

Is Your Multi-Location Website Costing You Business? Take Our Quick Assessment

Check all that apply to your current multi-location website:

□ Customers frequently call asking for directions or which location is closest to them
□ You copy and paste the same content across different location pages with minimal changes
□ Your business appears inconsistently in local search results across different locations
□ You’ve received complaints about your website being confusing or difficult to navigate
□ You manage location updates in multiple systems or have to update the same information in multiple places
□ Your location pages rarely appear on the first page of Google for “[your service] near me” searches
□ You struggle to track which leads came from which location’s web presence

Results:

• 1-2 checked: Your multi-location website strategy needs minor adjustments
• 3-4 checked: Your website has significant optimization opportunities that are likely costing you business
• 5+ checked: Your current approach is seriously undermining your local presence and revenue potential

No matter your score, PowerChord can help you address these issues. Request a free website assessment to see exactly how much your current setup is costing you.

Things to Do: Multi-Location Website Design Examples & Strategies

The number of elements, tools, and plug-ins available for today’s websites is staggering and may leave you wondering where to begin. Below, we have three pieces of advice that will help create the foundation for your multi-location company’s website and lead to a seamless user experience.

1. Create Unique Pages for Each Location.

Website visitors hate cluttered pages, which is likely to happen if you attempt to have one page that lists every one of your company’s locations. It’s best to have a central homepage for basic information about your business, along with buttons to prominent subpages—one of which can be a store locator tool. 

The cleanest way to have location pages is to tie them into your central domain. For example, the page for your Altoona, Pennsylvania location of XYZ company could be xyzcompany.com/altoona. That arrangement also makes company-wide branding more cohesive.

Having these individual pages is also useful for SEO purposes and helps you rank when people search for things like “widgets near me.”

2. Optimize Navigational Tools.

Because you’re not putting everything on the company’s homepage, you need to make it easy for customers to reach their intended destination. Placing a sticky store locator tool on most pages can reroute website visitors to their local dealership or franchise location. Always have the search bar prominently displayed so visitors can use it if they get lost.

3. Leverage the Power of Local SEO.

Just because your company won’t have separate websites for each location doesn’t mean you can’t utilize geo-targeting SEO. Placing locally searched-for keywords directly into the website copy is a great first step for optimizing local SEO. You should also strongly consider establishing separate Google Business Profiles for each location, which helps Google index your pages and, ultimately, place them higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). 

Things to Avoid: Ineffective Design Choices

Multi-location website designs for franchises, dealers, and other multi-location companies are, unfortunately, easy to mess up. Getting potential clients to your website in the first place is no small feat, and refraining from the following can keep them there longer.

1. Long Load Times

Having a fast-loading website is a must-have for modern businesses. Recent studies show that, on average, 20 percent of website visitors leave after every second of loading delay. After three seconds of delay, that’s more than half of the potential clients you had on your website at the outset. Google will also notice if your website takes a long time to load and punish your company in the SERPs. Avoid this by not letting the size of your website get too inflated, not using very heavy videos and photographs, and keep the interactive design simple (unless your site is built by a pro who can include all these things without sacrificing site load time). 

2. Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization is a common SEO mistake that website owners often make when managing many pages. This occurs when multiple pages from the same website compete for the same keywords. For instance, only your Altoona location page for XYZ company should be optimized for Altoona-specific keywords, such as “concrete supplier near Altoona” or “crushed stone in Altoona.” Keyword redundancies across pages will not push them up the SERPs—they will weigh them down.

Search engines also don’t love duplicate content, so even if you make multiple location pages, make them as unique as possible; don’t just copy/paste the same page for every location with different titles.

3. Not Optimizing for Mobile Devices

No matter how many locations your business has, you need to prioritize your website for mobile traffic. Globally, nearly two-thirds of search engine queries come from mobile devices. Your website will appear differently on a 6.9-inch smartphone screen than it does on a 27-inch desktop screen, so ensure it has a responsive web design and condensed menu options. 

Let Your Multi-Location Website Shine with PowerChord

Managing website content across multiple locations shouldn’t feel like herding cats. While your competitors struggle with poor local visibility and confusing user experiences, PowerChord clients enjoy streamlined management, enhanced local SEO, and higher conversion rates. Curious how much revenue you’re leaving on the table with your current website setup? Our multi-location experts are ready to show you the difference proper implementation makes—schedule a quick consultation to see what’s possible.

Building and mapping out a website for a multi-location company requires considerable thought and expertise. Empowering local dealers and franchisees to offer personalized experiences while maintaining a cohesive brand can be a difficult balancing act, and it presents innumerable drop-off opportunities for potential clients. 

PowerChord offers multi-location marketing and website solutions to help entrepreneurs maintain far-flung assets. We make it easy to manage pages for multiple business locations and unlock the power of local SEO to maximize your potential client base. We’d love the opportunity to show you how our marketing technology can make your life easier.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Multi-Location Website Design

Get your quick questions about multi-location website design answered below.

How can I target one website for different locations?

The best practice for using a single website for multiple business locations is to include individual location pages within the singular “master” website navigation. Having clearly defined location pages can also help with brand cohesion while also helping with SEO. You can also create different Google My Business profiles for each location. 

What is multi-location SEO?

Multi-location SEO is the deliberate and strategic practice of utilizing localized SEO strategies for businesses with multiple physical locations. Having geo-specific targeting for a website’s location pages helps potential leads find your business and move down the sales funnel. 

Does having multiple websites hurt SEO?

Having multiple websites for the same business or business location can harm your company’s SEO efforts and lower your websites' rankings on SERPs (search engine results pages). It sometimes makes sense for multi-location companies to have more than one website, but many opportunities abound for SEO pitfalls, such as keyword cannibalization or even de-indexation. Fortunately, there are ways to have multiple websites responsibly. Get in touch with us for more advice.

Can I use my domain for multiple sites?

Every domain is unique to one website and one website only, so you won’t be able to use a domain for multiple sites. However, you can include location pages on the website so the individual URLs are easily associated with the master domain. Many web designers refer to location pages as subdomains.

How do I create a website structure for franchises, dealers, and other multi-location businesses?

The most effective website structure for any business with multiple locations follows a hub-and-spoke model, with your main domain serving as the hub and location-specific pages as the spokes. Each location page should have unique content addressing local concerns, services, and keywords while maintaining brand consistency. This structure provides the dual benefit of strong brand presence and localized SEO power.

What is the best platform for managing multiple location websites?

The best platform for managing multiple location websites depends on your specific needs, but should include: centralized content management capabilities, local content customization options, integrated SEO tools, and performance analytics for each location. Look for platforms that allow for template-based location pages while still enabling unique content for each site.

How quickly can I see results from optimizing my multi-location website?

Most PowerChord clients see initial improvements in local search visibility within 4-6 weeks of implementing our multi-location website strategies. More significant results, including increased conversion rates and lead generation, typically follow within 90 days. However, the timeline varies based on your current website structure, industry competition, and number of locations.

How do I avoid duplicate content penalties with multiple location pages?

To avoid duplicate content penalties with multiple location pages, follow these best practices:

• Create unique descriptions for each location

• Include location-specific customer testimonials

• Highlight specialized services or products for each area

• Incorporate local landmarks, events or community involvement

• Use location-specific schema markup

• Create unique meta descriptions and title tags for each page

What are the most important local ranking factors for multi-location businesses?

The most important local ranking factors for multi-location businesses include:

1. Accurate Google Business Profile optimization for each location

2. Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information across all directories

3. Location-specific content on each page

4. Local backlinks and citations

5. Location-specific reviews and testimonials

6. Mobile-friendly website design

7. Page load speed

Our multi-location SEO specialists can help you optimize for all these factors. Contact us to develop a comprehensive local SEO strategy.

How do I measure the success of my multi-location website?

To effectively measure the success of your multi-location website, track these key metrics for each location:

• Organic search visibility for location-specific keywords

• Traffic from local searches

• Conversion rates by location

• Cost per lead by location

• Local engagement metrics (time on site, bounce rate)

• Click-to-call and direction requests

• Form submissions and appointment bookings