Multi-location businesses
Google Business Profile management for multi-location businesses
When a business has several locations, each one needs its own accurate Google Business Profile, and all of them need to agree. Here’s what that work involves and how we handle it.
The basics
What multi-location Google Business Profile management is
Multi-location Google Business Profile management means keeping every location’s profile accurate on its own terms while holding the whole group to one standard.
Each location gets its own categories, services, hours and contact details. The group gets consistent naming, shared standards and one view of how every location is doing.
The challenge
Why multiple locations are harder to manage than one
The work for one location is the same work for ten. What changes is how easily small problems multiply.
Information drifts
Hours, phone numbers and services change at one location and not the others. Small mismatches add up across a group.
Locations aren’t identical
One store may offer services another doesn’t. Copying one profile across every location misrepresents the ones that differ.
Departments need their own picture
A dealership’s sales and service departments are searched differently, and Google allows some businesses to list distinct departments separately.
Access gets scattered
Profiles end up controlled by former employees, past agencies or a single store manager. Knowing who controls each profile comes first.
Duplicates and stray listings
Old addresses, duplicate profiles and unclaimed listings confuse customers and split reviews between profiles.
Every market is different
Each location competes in its own area, so visibility has to be checked market by market, not as one group average.
Our process
How we manage Google Business Profiles across locations
The same four stages as every Northstar engagement, organized around the whole group.
Map every location
List every profile, who controls it and what each location actually offers.
Set group standards
Agree on naming, categories, core services, photos and review responses that apply everywhere.
Fill in location details
Add each location’s own services, hours, departments, links and local content.
Monitor by market
Track visibility location by location and keep information current as the group changes.
Each engagement’s scope is set in its own agreement, and not every engagement includes every item.
Who it’s for
Who multi-location profile management is for
- Dealership groups with multiple rooftops
- Law firms with more than one office
- Med spa and aesthetics groups
- Local service businesses with several branches
- Organizations opening new locations
Dealership groups usually work with Dealer Signal, our automotive brand. Other groups can contact Northstar directly.
Control
Access and ownership stay with your business
We work through manager access that you grant on each profile. Ownership of every profile stays with your business.
That keeps you in control of your own listings, and it makes it simple to add locations, change who has access or end an engagement without losing anything.
Questions
Common questions about managing multiple locations
Generally, yes. Google expects each physical location that serves customers in person to have its own profile with its own address, hours and phone number. Some businesses can also list distinct departments separately. We review the group's setup against Google's current guidelines before creating, merging or changing any profiles.
We start with one record of every location's correct details, then set group standards for naming, categories and core services. Changes are made from that record, so an update to hours or services reaches the profile, the website and the major listings together instead of one place at a time.
Yes. Some groups start with one or a few locations and add more later. The scope is set location by location in the engagement agreement, so it's always clear which profiles we manage and which stay with your own team. Adding locations later follows the same process as the first ones.
Planning profile work for several locations?
Tell us how many locations you have and where they operate.