Seeking Advice: Best Local SEO Strategy for Multi-Location Auto Repair Shops

Hello everyone! I’m looking for input from experienced Local SEO experts on the best strategy for optimizing multi-location businesses for local keyword rankings. I work at a marketing agency that specializes in full-service marketing for auto repair shops across the U.S. Recently, we’ve been struggling to improve local keyword rankings for some of our multi-location clients. Here’s an example of the challenge: One of our clients has **4 locations** in **2 different states**, each in separate cities. Currently, the website uses: * 4 static location pages. * One set of generic service pages that aren’t tailored to individual locations. This setup is struggling to rank for localized keywords like “Oil Change in Carbondale, Illinois” and “Oil Change in Brooklyn, New York” at the same time. We are exploring two potential strategies to improve rankings, and I’d love your input. In a perfect world where workload isn’t a concern, **which strategy would be more effective for Local SEO rankings?** # Proposal 1: Service Pages Under Location Pages In this strategy, we would create service pages for each location while maintaining the generic service page on the main site. # Example Structure: * Generic service page: `www.myautorepairshop.c0m/oil-change` * Location-specific service pages: * `www.myautorepairshop.c0m/carbondale/illinois/oil-change` * `www.myautorepairshop.c0m/brooklyn/new-york/oil-change` # Pros: 1. **Simplifies Domain Authority:** All pages remain under the same domain, consolidating link equity and SEO value. 2. **Centralized Tracking:** Easier to monitor performance through a single Google Analytics property and Search Console account. 3. **Scalability:** Straightforward to scale as more locations are added. 4. **Cost-Effective Development:** Requires less backend setup compared to subdomains. # Cons: 1. **Duplicate Content Risk:** Location-specific pages may have overlapping content, which could trigger duplicate content issues without proper differentiation. 2. **Keyword Cannibalization:** Multiple pages targeting the same service keywords (e.g., “oil change”) in different cities could compete with each other in search rankings. 3. **Schema Limitations:** Adding local business schema for multiple locations on the same domain is challenging and can lead to less accurate signals for search engines. 4. **Longer URLs:** Could lead to less user-friendly URLs (e.g., `/carbondale/illinois/oil-change` instead of a direct `/oil-change`). # Proposal 2: Subdomains for Each Location This strategy involves creating a subdomain for each location, allowing for unique content and structure per subdomain. # Example Structure: * Generic domain: `www.myautorepairshop.c0m` * Location-specific subdomains: * `carbondale.myautorepairshop.c0m/oil-change` * `brooklyn.myautorepairshop.c0m/oil-change` # Pros: 1. **Customized Content:** Subdomains allow fully localized content tailored to each location, reducing the risk of duplicate content. 2. **Stronger Geographic Signals:** Subdomains provide clear geographic targeting, which can help with ranking for hyper-local keywords. 3. **Independent Optimization:** Each subdomain can have its own schema markup, meta data, and content strategy for maximum local relevance. 4. **Improved Schema Implementation:** Local business schema works better with subdomains, as each subdomain can implement its own unique schema for that location without conflicting signals. This can improve visibility for local search queries. 5. **Local Backlinks:** Easier to attract backlinks from local businesses or organizations specific to each city. # Cons: 1. **Fragmented Domain Authority:** Each subdomain is treated as a separate website by Google, meaning SEO efforts (e.g., backlinks) need to be duplicated for each subdomain. 2. **Higher Development Costs:** Requires more effort to build, maintain, and optimize multiple subdomains. 3. **Complex Tracking:** Managing multiple subdomains can complicate analytics and reporting. 4. **Overkill for Small/Mid-Sized Businesses:** For businesses with fewer locations, subdomains may add unnecessary complexity. # My Question: Which strategy would likely perform better in terms of Local SEO rankings for multi-location businesses? Are there alternative strategies I haven’t considered that might provide the best of both worlds? Thank you in advance for your input! Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. 😊