Image credit: Abraham Williams[1]
If you’re marketing big brands with hundreds or thousands of locations, are you certain you’re getting model-appropriate local SEO information from your favorite industry sources?
Is your enterprise checking off not just technical basics, but hyperlocalized research to strengthen its entrance into new markets?
Before I started working for Moz in in 2010, the bulk of my local SEO experience had been with small-to-medium business models. Naturally, the advice I was able to offer back then was limited by the scope of my work. But then came Moz Local, and the opportunity to learn more about the more complex needs of valued enterprise customers[2] like Crate & Barrel with more than 170 locations, PAPYRUS with 400, or Bridgestone Corporation with 2000+.
Now, when I’m thumbing through industry tips and tactics, I’m better able to identify when a recommended practice is stemming from an SMB mindset and falling short of enterprise realities, or is truly applicable to all business models. My goal for this post is to offer:
- Examples of commonly encountered advice that isn’t really best for big brands
- An Enterprise Local SEO Checklist to help you shape strategy for present campaigns, or ready your agency to pursue relationships with bigger dream clients
- A state-to-enterprise wireframe for initial hyperlocal marketing research
Not everything you read is for enterprises
When a brand is small, like a single location, family-owned retail shop, it’s likely that a single person at the company can manage the business’ Local SEO, with some free education[3] and a few helpful tools[4]. Large, multi-location brands, just by dint of organizational complexities, are different. Before they even get down to the nitty gritty