Multilocation business, how can you rank for different categories in different locations with only branch pages?

[PeteC12]

Hello Mozzers,

I am wondering how do you rank for categories locally where when you operate from multiple branches.

Currently our eCommerce website has location pages for every category but I know that this is now classed as doorway pages and spammy so I am in the process of sorting out our site structure.

I understand that the general format for having sites with multiple branches is to have a branch page per physical location and that's about it. Is there any more to this ?

However, What confuses me though, is that if you offer all these services in all these branches, how are you going to rank for them locally if you don't have a specific page for each of them in that location?

So for example -

We rent Carpet cleaners , floor sanders, generators in each of our different branches.

My site currently has a carpet cleaner hire <location>url , floor sander hire <location>url and a generator hire <location>url.  Every branch has a url for each of my categories.</location></location></location>

So if I was to get rid of all of my location category pages. How am I going to rank for these renting these products in different cities where our branches does without having specific location pages for them ?

Is it just a case that google knows that because I have branch pages at locations x, y, x , then my carpet cleaner , floor sander and generator category pages will rank locally in those locations providing I have decent citations etc etc etc

thanks
Pete

[PeteC12]

Hi ,

Sorry for the late response, been away for a few days. Yes,. it does help alot.

Many thanks for your help

PEte

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Pete,

Hmm ... could be my Yankee lack of knowledge here. What is a tool hire affiliate? This isn't an industry with which I'm familiar here in the US, but my best guess is that you rent tools (like mowing machines or bulldozers) to people. Yea or nay? At any rate, it sounds like what you are talking about might be similar to something we used to have here in which industrial strength vacuum cleaners (hoovers) are located at the front of grocery stores. The stores don't own the machines. Rather, the machine owner has a sort of kiosk within the store from which they rent their machines. Is this similar? In such a case, you'd need to have pages specifying that your products can be found INSIDE such-and-such market at 123 Front Street. You can create web-based content for these, but should scrutinize the Google guidelines to see whether you qualify for Google+ Local pages or not: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en

Does this help, Pete?

[PeteC12]

Hi ,

We are an online Tool hire affiliate . The company we are partnered with has physical depots which we currently use this as our own and have branch pages for these locations.

I have also seen other partners do the same which they rank very well for.

thanks

Pete

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Pete,

I want to be sure I'm clearly understanding your business model. You are saying yours is an e-commerce site, which is most commonly a virtual model, but you are also saying you have locations. Are these locations physical locations unique to your business (not like having your products in someone else's store) and do your employees interact face-to-face with customers who come to rent your products? If yes to all these, then there is no problem with you having a page for each of your physical shops - no problem at all. Just be sure each page you create is unique and useful and linked to from your navigation.

Please, let me know if there is some facet of this I'm not quite getting. For now, the practice of having a unique page for each of your shops is still a best practice.

[irapasternack]

Hi Peter,

You'll want to make sure that your branch/location pages have a combination of the following:

• Links to the pages of the services they provide - if all branches deliver all products/services, then your main navigation should be fine, but if there are differences or specialties, you should highlight those on the location page (or a sub-page of the location page).
• Unique content - at the very least, an embedded map and a picture of the branch.
• Any additional relevant content that is unique to that location.

Then, on your Category pages, you'll want to make sure you have clear info about your locations. If you only have a handful of locations, you can probably include the full citation (name/address/phone) info for all of them in a footer or sidebar. If you have many locations, you'll want to make sure the location finder is a key part of all the category pages.

There are also off-site things you can do. If your reviews, social media mentions, and backlinks mention specific services while linking to a specific location, that will help that branch rank for those categories.

Hope this helps,

Ira