After 17 years in the search engine marketing world I know one thing to be true: If Google thinks it’s important, we should be paying attention. The Google My Business release in June and “Pigeon” update in July indicate local business listings are a hot topic for the search giant. Most multi-location brands understand the benefits of higher ranking for local pages, but have questions about how to build out a solution across hundreds or thousands of locations. My aim is to help clear the air around two common approaches brands can take when optimizing location pages.

The use of software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms to automate local page creation and optimization has grown exponentially in this space as they offer quick deployment and “turnkey” solutions. However, there are some long-term drawbacks along with these benefits. It’s important for brands to fully explore and understand the pros and cons of using a SaaS platform versus a higher-touch solution to expand their search footprint in the local space.

Why Do Local Pages Matter?

Branded, optimized location pages are critical to increase your findability within local search queries. They provide the opportunity to out-rank the competition and provide a faster path to purchase for local consumers. Optimized pages include hyper-local, non-branded phrases as well as rich content such as pictures, videos, and customer feedback functionality.

These pages also allow search engines to show the closest location page when branded terms are searched. Without these pages, the home page will likely be served up first and the consumer will need to click multiple times within the site to finally find what they are looking for. Inevitably, many of those consumers will fall off the path to purchase while searching for the correct location information.

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