The local SEO checklist we run for every multi-location client

Start with profile hygiene

Claim every profile, merge duplicates and remove listings for closed locations. Duplicates split your signals and confuse customers who turn up at the wrong address.

Set the primary category precisely — it is the single most influential field on the profile — then add secondary categories that genuinely describe what you do.

Complete services, products, attributes, opening hours including holidays, and a description that reads like a business rather than a keyword list.

Fix NAP consistency before building citations

Name, address and phone must match exactly across Google, Apple Maps, Bing Places, your website and the major directories in your market. Suite numbers, abbreviations and phone formats all count.

Audit what exists before creating anything new. Most businesses have inconsistent listings they have forgotten about, and adding more on top makes it worse.

Build location pages worth ranking

One page per location with content only that branch could produce: the team based there, the services offered there, parking, transport, local landmarks, and local case studies or reviews.

Embed a map, add LocalBusiness schema with correct geo-coordinates and hours, and link the page from the profile.

A city name swapped into a template is detectable, unhelpful and will not rank in a competitive market.

Make reviews a process, not a hope

Decide who asks, when they ask and through which channel, then automate it. Two hours after service is usually the sweet spot.

Respond to everything within 48 hours using templates for common cases. Response rate is visible to customers and correlates with conversion.

Measure a grid, not a ranking

A single rank position for 'dentist near me' is meaningless — the result changes street by street. Track a grid of points around each location monthly and measure share of local voice against named competitors.