Multi-location websites: a page per branch, and why it matters
Eleven branches on one page can rank once. Eleven pages can rank eleven times.
A multi-location business needs one indexable page per location, each with its own URL, address, hours, staff, LocalBusiness schema and enquiry form. A single 'Locations' page listing every branch can only compete for one ranking, which is why local competitors with individual pages outrank chains with better brands.
Key takeaways
- One URL per location, built from a template so the twelfth branch costs an hour.
- LocalBusiness schema per page, with the address matching your Google Business Profile exactly.
- Genuinely differentiated content per page — the same paragraph with the city swapped is a thin-content risk.
- Route each location's enquiries to that branch, or the page will produce leads nobody answers.
This is the most common structural mistake we find in Indian multi-branch businesses, and it is also the cheapest to fix.
The URL structure
Use `/locations/kolkata-park-street` — readable, hierarchical, and it survives the business opening branch twelve. Avoid query strings, avoid subdomains per branch unless the branches are genuinely separate businesses, and avoid burying the city in a parameter.
What has to be on each page
- The exact address as it appears on your Google Business Profile, character for character.
- Opening hours, including the ones that differ from the other branches.
- The people at that branch — doctors, trainers, counsellors, whoever the customer is choosing.
- Directions and landmarks the way a local would give them, plus an embedded map.
- LocalBusiness schema with the address, hours, phone and geo coordinates for that branch.
- An enquiry form that routes to that branch, so the lead reaches someone who can serve it.
Pairing the site with Google Business Profile
- 01Each branch has its own verified profile, and each profile's website link points at that branch's page, not the homepage.
- 02Name, address and phone are identical across the profile, the page and the schema. Inconsistency here is a common and invisible cause of weak local rankings.
- 03Reviews are collected per branch, because they are a per-branch ranking factor.
- 04Photos are of that branch, not the corporate stock set used everywhere.
Making it scale
Build one template and a CMS collection. Adding a branch becomes filling a form: name, address, hours, team, photos, a paragraph about the area. The sitemap updates itself, the schema is generated, and the routing rule sends enquiries to the right inbox. Without that template, every new branch is a small web project, and eventually somebody stops bothering.