When I did a redesign of a 16-location chain sharing one site, I found that the Hjørring page served Roskilde's content in full. The Amager page carried Valby's heading above Amager's address. Three locations had a Google map embedded at coordinate 1,1, out in the Gulf of Guinea. That's what happens when a multi-location website is built without a clear structure.

Why one shared page is rarely enough

Google would rather show the page that speaks directly to the city somebody is searching from. If you only have one page covering every location, three things typically happen: none of the pages rank particularly well locally, customers get confused about which location applies to them, and you can't measure which location drives traffic.

Writing "we also have a location in Vejle" down in a paragraph of body copy counts for essentially nothing in Google's eyes.

The structure that works

  • A main page with the overall story
  • A location overview with a simple picker
  • One dedicated location page per site, with its own URL, own address, own opening hours and own local content

Consistent contact data is the foundation

Name, address and phone number have to read identically everywhere. At the 16-location chain, 10 of 16 locations had contradicting phone numbers between their own location page and the contact page. Three were missing from the contact page entirely. One had three variants in circulation.

That's the single error that does the most damage, because local ranking rests on Google being able to match your domain with your address and your Google Business profile. If the numbers don't line up, Google picks a competitor.

Local SEO when you have several locations

  • Unique content per location. Write new copy for each one. Don't reuse the same three paragraphs with the city name swapped out, Google penalises duplicate content indirectly.
  • Consistent contact data on the website and in Google Business Profile.
  • Structured data. At that chain there was zero JSON-LD on the front page and all 16 location pages, so no address and no opening hour was machine-readable anywhere. The chain that puts correct schema on every location page first takes the local pack.
  • Internal links between the location pages and back to the main page.
  • Its own Google Business profile per physical address, never shared.

The mistakes that keep coming up

1. Duplicate content, the same copy on five pages with only the city name changed
2. No clear location picker, so visitors have to hunt through a long menu
3. Wrong or inconsistent contact data, a single wrong phone number damages trust
4. No local conversion points, every location should have its own point of contact
5. No measurement per location, so you're working blind

At that chain, analytics was still running on Universal Analytics, which Google shut down in July 2023. They hadn't had traffic data in three years.

Should each location have its own website?

Usually no. Five separate sites get expensive to run, and the SEO value gets spread thin. A shared structure with dedicated subpages shares the value between the pages and costs less. The exception is when a location genuinely operates as an independent franchise with its own owner and its own branding.

What I don't promise

I don't promise every location hits the first page, or a specific increase in traffic. Nobody can. What I do is clear out the errors actively holding you back and build the structure so every location has a real chance locally.

Frequently asked questions

How do I set up a website for multiple locations?

Start with a main structure, one page per location, and make sure each has unique content, its own address and its own opening hours.

Should I put a location picker on the front page?

Yes, if you have more than two or three. A simple dropdown or map view makes it easy for visitors to find their local branch immediately.

Do multiple locations hurt my SEO?

Only if you do it wrong, with duplicate content and a confusing structure. Done right, you win visibility in several cities at once.

What does a multi-location website cost?

My price for a one-pager covering the whole brand is 750 USD for a chain, higher than my usual 450, because more locations mean more work. That's considerably cheaper than five separate sites.

Can I use the same landing page for several locations?

You can, but I'd advise against it. A page that has to work for several locations at once works well for none of them.

One last thing

I don't do brand awareness. I do revenue, rankings and websites that sell. Build a dedicated page for each location, write unique content for each, and check that the contact data is a hundred percent identical. It isn't a big technical exercise. It's a decision.