Should You Hire One Local SEO Company or Multiple for Each Location?

If you’re a business with multiple locations across different cities or regions, you know how important local SEO is for driving customers to each individual spot.

Optimizing your local search presence simultaneously across different markets can be a major challenge though. Just slapping the same SEO strategy on each location isn’t going to cut it.

You need robust local SEO efforts tailored to each unique location for the best results. But is it better to hire one local SEO company to handle this nationally or find different agencies to focus on each local area?

There are good arguments on both sides. Working with one company can provide more consistency and be easier to manage. However, partnering with multiple location-specific experts allows for customized strategies.

Whether you currently work with one agency or many, you may find opportunities here to improve your local SEO programs across all locations. Let’s dive in!

Benefits of One Local SEO Company

First, what are some potential perks of consolidating your local SEO with one company?

Having a single provider optimize and report on all locations can allow for more consistency. This ensures every location gets roughly the same SEO strategy and oversight. No spots fall through the cracks or get overlooked.

With one dashboard, you also get a cohesive and integrated view of reporting and tracking for the whole portfolio. You don’t have to cross-reference or combine metrics from multiple sources.

Depending on the agency size and structure, you may also get discounts for bulk pricing given the amount of combined work across locations. This can add up to major cost savings versus hiring multiple shops.

Finally, having one point of contact streamlines management and communication. You don’t have to coordinate among multiple agencies and juggle different relationships.

Definitely some good reasons to consider consolidating with one trusted local SEO partner if you have the locations to support it! 

Key Factors to Consider

When deciding between one company or multiple, a few key factors should guide your decision:

Budget is often the biggest consideration. Hiring multiple shops gets expensive fast. If resources are tight, consolidating under one provider for economies of scale may be your best bet.

Also, look at your number and types of locations. For a small regional business, one agency may suffice. However, national chains with hundreds of stores may prefer location-based providers.

Industry and proximity also matter. A law firm may need different SEO than their restaurants or retail stores within the same city.

Finally, look at your current SEO needs and targets. Are you happy with statewide consistency for now, or is hyperlocal outreach the priority? Align your agencies accordingly.

Take the time to analyze these factors before deciding on one agency or many. Your specific business structure and goals should drive the ideal model.

Now, what if you do want to divide efforts across locations? Here are some tips for making multiple agencies work:

Tips for Working With One Company

Here are some tips for successfully working with a single local SEO company across multiple locations:

• Provide complete access and transparency into all locations’ websites, analytics, and existing SEO efforts. This allows the agency to conduct a comprehensive audit.
• Have a kickoff meeting to align on overall goals, key targets, reporting needs, and optimization priorities for the national program.
• Give the agency an overview of location differences – size, services, products, market dynamics, local competitors, etc. This will inform customization.
• Encourage them to tailor strategies for clusters or tiers of locations when possible, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
• Establish clear guidelines for location-specific recommendations versus optimizations to be applied nationally.
• Ask for location-level reporting in addition to rolled-up national reporting to spot any inconsistencies.
• Schedule quarterly business reviews to check in on local vs national performance and collaborate on improvement plans.
• Share feedback openly with the agency on what’s working well or not for specific locations.
• Loop them into conversations with local store/branch managers to foster direct partnerships.
• Compensate the agency based on national and local KPIs to incentivize custom localization.

With collaboration and transparency, one company can still drive strong localized results across a national footprint. The key is ongoing communication and feedback.

The Final Verdict

So what’s the final verdict on choosing one local SEO company vs multiple partners?

The single-agency approach provides more consistency, consolidated reporting, potential cost savings, and simplicity. However, it may not allow for hyper-customized localization.

On the flip side, dividing efforts by location enables tailored strategies, specialized expertise, and friendly competition. But it requires more time and budget to manage.

In general, I’d recommend starting with one agency if you’re a small regional business with similar locations. Their centralized approach can help you quickly scale.

For large national chains with very disparate markets, assigning location-specific agencies is likely worth the added coordination. Custom strategies will outperform a one-size-fits-all approach.

There’s no unambiguous right or wrong answer. Evaluate your business structure, resources, and goals to determine the best local SEO agency framework. And don’t be afraid to test and iterate to find the model that works!