Google Business Profile for multiple locations

Aug 22
3 min read

Updated: Aug 27

Introduction

A single location is straightforward. The moment a business opens a second, the rules change — and most of the damage is done in the first month by treating two sites as one listing.

The principle is simple: one profile per physical place customers can visit. Everything else follows from that.

1. Google Business Profile for multiple locations means one profile each

Each location that customers can attend needs its own profile, its own address, and ideally its own phone number and landing page.

Trying to run two branches from one listing means only one appears in local results, the reviews pool into a single place, and searchers near the second branch see nothing. It also invites a suspension for an inaccurate address.

Two profiles feels like double the work. It is roughly double the enquiries, because each one competes in its own area.

2. Give each location its own page on your site

Each profile should point somewhere specific, not at your homepage.

A location page with that branch's address, hours, phone number, staff and photographs does two things: it confirms the profile's details to Google, and it converts far better than a homepage for someone deciding where to go now.

This is the single most neglected part of multi-location local search, and the cheapest to fix.

3. Do not share one phone number across profiles

A shared central number weakens every listing. It also makes it impossible to tell which branch generated a call.

Use a distinct number per location where you can — a diverted line is fine, so long as the number displayed is unique. The bonus is measurement: you learn which branch the demand is actually coming from, which no other method reveals.

4. Set categories per location, not centrally

Branches often differ. One has a kitchen, one is takeaway only. One offers a service the other does not.

Set the primary category to what that specific location actually does. Copying the head-office category everywhere surfaces branches for searches they cannot serve, which produces enquiries that waste everyone's time and reviews that reflect the mismatch.

5. Keep name, address and phone identical everywhere else

Consistency across directories matters more with several locations, because there are more combinations to get wrong.

Whatever format you use for a branch — the exact business name, the suite number, the phone format — use that same string everywhere: your site, directories, social profiles. Variations between listings dilute confidence in all of them.

Keep one spreadsheet with the canonical details per location. It sounds bureaucratic and it prevents the most common multi-location problem.

6. Collect reviews per location

Reviews attach to a profile, so a branch with none looks new and untested even if the business is twenty years old.

That means review collection has to be a per-location routine, with a per-location link. A single QR code pointing at head office does nothing for the branch the customer actually visited — and it is a common mistake precisely because one code is easier to print.

7. Use the bulk tools once there are several

Beyond a handful of locations, managing profiles individually stops being practical. Google provides bulk management for multiple listings, including spreadsheet upload for hours and details.

That is worth adopting before it becomes urgent, because the moment you need to change opening hours across ten branches for a holiday, doing it one at a time is when errors appear.

8. Watch for duplicates after any change

Duplicate profiles appear on their own: a previous owner's listing, an auto-generated one, a franchise entry, a moved address that left the old one behind.

Search each location's name and address periodically and claim or remove what should not exist. Duplicates split reviews and rankings between two records, which is the worst possible outcome for a branch you are actively promoting.

Conclusion

One profile per visitable location, each pointing at its own page on your site, each with a distinct phone number and its own categories.

Keep name, address and phone identical across every directory, collect reviews per location with per-location links, adopt bulk management before you need it urgently, and check for duplicate listings after any change of address or ownership.