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Managing Google Business Profiles (GBP) for multiple locations can be complex, but it’s essential for ensuring each location is visible and easily found by customers. This guide provides specific strategies, best practices, and case studies to help you manage your GBP effectively. For specialized training on managing multiple profiles, check out our GBP course.
Why Each Location Needs Its Own Profile
For businesses with multiple locations, such as real estate firms or retail chains, it’s important that each location has its own Google Business Profile. This ensures that each location appears in local searches and on Google Maps, increasing visibility and customer reach.
Setting Up Profiles for Home-Based Businesses
For home-based businesses with no physical office in a particular location, such as real estate agents, you can use your home address to receive the verification postcard from Google. After verifying, you can unpublish the home address and still show up as servicing the area.
Case Study
Consider the case of an executive director of a community theater with a physical location. He did not receive mail at the theater but through a PO Box, which cannot be used in GBP. He used his home address for verification, then unpublished the home address after verification and replaced it with the theater’s physical location address.
Tip: Do not unpublish the address while still in the verification process. Wait until the verification is complete.
Add Multiple Locations
If you’ve opened a new location or just created a profile and need to add additional
locations, follow these steps:
- From your Google Business Profile dashboard, click Manage locations in the left-hand menu.
- Click the blue Add location button on the right.
- Type in your business name and click Create a new business with this name.
- Fill in the information and request verification.
Another option is to go to Google Maps and drop a pin on the location you would like to add. Click Add a missing place in the left menu. Fill in the details then select Claim this business.
If you have more than ten locations, you can add them in bulk.
If you haven’t set up your GBP yet, you might want to start with how to set up your GBP for detailed instructions.
Link Google Analytics
Link your Google Analytics to your business profile so you can look at insights to get an idea of things, such as what people are clicking on and what they do afterward. You can look at the customer’s behavioral flow and see if there are things that are causing them to stop. You also get the chance to look at the demographics and a little bit of geographics so that you can start measuring.
Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu is a former search engine engineer who has spent a billion dollars on Google and Facebook ads for Nike, Quiznos, Ashley Furniture, Red Bull, State Farm, and other organizations that have many locations.
He has achieved 25% of his goal of creating a million digital marketing jobs because of his partnership with universities, professional organizations, and agencies. Companies like GoDaddy, Fiverr, onlinejobs.ph, 7 Figure Agency, and Vendasta partner with him to create training and certifications.
Dennis created the Dollar a Day Strategy for local service businesses to enhance their existing local reputation and make the phone ring. He's coaching young adult agency owners who serve plumbers, AC technicians, landscapers, roofers, electricians in conjunction with leaders in these industries.
Mr. Yu believes that there should be a standard in measuring local marketing efforts, much like doctors and plumbers need to be certified and licensed. His Content Factory training and dashboards are used by thousands of practitioners.