Multi-Location PPC: How to Create a Strategy + Examples

Multi-location PPC is a digital marketing strategy where a single brand manages PPC campaigns for multiple physical locations. Learn from real-world examples and expert tips to optimize your campaigns for success.

Here, you’ll find:

1. What is multi-location PPC?
2. How to create a strategy for multi-location PPC campaigns
3. How does multi-location PPC work?
4. Real-life examples of multi-location PPC ads
   
5. Expert tips for optimizing your campaigns

With a multi-location PPC strategy, you can target customers with location-based ads that align with their intent.

In this guide to multi-location PPC, we’ll cover everything you need to get started — including a step-by-step setup guide, real-world local marketing examples, and expert optimization tips.

What is multi-location PPC?

Multi-location PPC is an advertising strategy for a business with more than one storefront, office, or venue. It can work for small businesses with a few locations in a specific region or for large chains with hundreds of locations across the country.

No matter the size of the company, multi-location marketing can:

• Improve visibility and brand awareness for locations in relevant service areas
• Attract foot traffic to the closest business location
• Increase conversions like website visits, phone calls, or booked appointments

This strategy involves advertising multiple locations, but not all at the same time in a single ad. Instead, multi-location advertising uses location signals and search intent to direct customers to a relevant location nearby.

How to create a strategy for multi-location PPC campaigns

As an advertiser, you can run ads for multi-location companies using native Google platforms. Follow the steps below to set up campaigns using Google Ads (formerly AdWords), Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), and Google Merchant Center.

• Set up and optimize your Google Business Profile
• Organize and verify location groups
• Create location assets in Google Ads
• Add inventory to Google Merchant Center
• Target local customers with Google search campaigns
• Promote local inventory with shopping campaigns
• Put your business on the map with Performance Max campaigns

Set up and optimize your Google Business Profile

First, set up a Google Business Profile for each company location to take full advantage of Google Ads tools for local businesses. If you’re new to Google Business Profile, start by adding your business to Google’s directory.

Adding your business address, phone number, and website is just the beginning. To complete your profile, add open hours, photos, and a detailed description.

Depending on your business goals, you may find it helpful to enable other Google Business Profile features. For example, you can set up restaurant reservations, food ordering, or customer messaging. You can also show products that are available for in-store purchase.

Organize and verify location groups

Repeat the process for your other business locations. From your Google Business Profile dashboard, click the three-dot menu and select “Add a New Business Profile” from the menu.

Follow the same setup workflow as above. Then organize your Google Business Profiles into location groups so your team can update and advertise store locations more efficiently.

Create location assets in Google Ads

After organizing Google Business Profiles, connect them to location assets in Google Ads. From your Google Ads account, click “Assets” in the left navigation. From your assets dashboard, click the blue plus icon and select “Location.”

Confirm that you want to configure locations your business owns. Opt to sync them directly from your Google Business Profile, and click “Continue.”

After configuring location assets, add them to existing PPC campaigns or ad groups. You can also add them to new campaigns or ad groups. We’ll cover the latter below.

Add inventory to Google Merchant Center

This step only applies if you plan to advertise inventory that local customers can pick up in-store. If you’re promoting services only, skip ahead to the campaign setup steps below.

To promote your in-store inventory in shopping ads, start by setting up a product feed using Google Merchant Center. Create a primary feed via Google Sheets, a manual upload, or an automated web crawl.

If necessary, you can configure regional product feeds too. This feed type is useful if your locations sell different products in different regions or if pricing or sale dates only apply to individual locations.

Next, go to your Google Merchant Center dashboard and open the “Growth” panel. Select “Manage Programs” and look for the “Local Inventory Ads” panel. Click “Get Started” and follow the prompts to sync your local inventory with shopping ads.

Target local customers with Google search campaigns

Whether you want to increase website traffic, generate leads, or drive sales, local search campaigns can get your business in front of local prospects actively seeking what your business sells.

Start by creating a new campaign in your Google Ads account. Choose an objective that aligns with your digital marketing goals, such as website traffic. For the campaign type, choose search.

At the campaign level, set location targeting. Choose the regions, cities, zip codes, or designated market areas (DMAs) you want to reach. If necessary, choose areas to exclude — such as regions your business locations don’t serve.

Note that Google Ads automatically targets people who are located in or who have an interest in the area(s) you specify. To reach a truly local audience, change this setting to “Presence” to spend your ad budget on nearby customers.

Then create ad groups for each product or service. Whenever possible, use location-specific keywords to reach customers in your area. When in doubt, check the search queries that drive traffic to your local landing pages to get ideas for keywords.

Finally, build a local search ad using headlines and descriptions optimized for your keywords. Open the “More Asset Types” menu to ensure your location assets are linked. Note that you can add location assets to campaigns or ad groups from the asset dashboard.

Promote local inventory with shopping campaigns

Search campaigns can work well for multi-location businesses that sell either products or services. To promote in-store inventory, however, shopping campaigns can be more effective.

To create a shopping campaign, choose a supported campaign objective like sales. For the campaign type, choose shopping. Make sure to connect your Google Merchant Center account so the inventory can sync easily.

To display ads on the Google search network only, opt for a standard shopping campaign. For broader placement coverage, opt for a Performance Max campaign (see next section).

By default, shopping campaigns include all the items in your Google Merchant Center product feed. Set up an inventory filter by category or other themes to narrow the types of items featured in the campaign.

To promote in-store items, expand the local products section and check the box.

Then a manual CPC bid and choose location targeting. Remember to target people with “Presence” in your local area to reach customers who are likely to visit your store.

Shopping ads don’t require additional ad copy. Instead, they promote your product feed, so optimize your listings and add appealing product photos.

Put your business on the map with Performance Max campaigns

To promote your business across Google properties including the search network, Google Maps, Gmail, and YouTube, set up a Performance Max (or PMax) campaign.

If you opt to use the local store visits objective, you won’t need to use location targeting. Just select relevant location groups at the campaign level, and Google Ads will automatically tailor ad delivery to people near your promoted locations. If you use other campaign objectives, however, you will need to use location targeting to deliver ads efficiently.

No matter which objective you choose, remember that Performance Max campaigns deliver across Google properties. As a result, you should add as many elements — including videos, image extensions, ad copy, and assets — as possible to optimize performance.

How does multi-location PPC work?

The basic principles of multi-location PPC are similar to the strategies you follow to advertise a single location. You can promote physical locations and in-store items via:

• Search campaigns that target location-based keywords
• Shopping campaigns that advertise items available through your store’s product feed
• Google Maps ads that promote your physical location and drive foot traffic

How is multi-location PPC different?

Aside from these similarities, multi-location campaigns have important differences. For example, multi-location PPC requires:
Ad groups for specific locations or regions in Google Ads

• Location-specific keyword groups in Google Ads
• Dedicated Google Business Profiles for each location
• Google Ads location assets for each business outlet

When done well, multi-location PPC can deliver impressive results. For example, HawkSEM’s PPC for small business strategies enabled Grayson Living to increase sales by 279%.

How much does multi-location PPC cost?

Like all PPC campaigns, multi-location advertising uses a pay-per-click model. As an advertiser, you only pay when a potential customer clicks on your ad. PPC management fees can range from $1,000 to $10,000+.

Depending on the ad placements you use, there are a few different areas where prospects may be able to click. Google Ads applies a standard cost per click (CPC) rate for clicks on:

• Search ad headlines
• Sitelinks attached to search ads
• Items featured in shopping ads
• Website links in Google Maps
• Direction and call buttons in Google Maps

The cost of a particular PPC campaign depends on several factors. The campaign type, advertising objective, industry, and ad quality affect the average CPC.

Real-life examples of multi-location PPC ads

Curious how this type of PPC management could work for your business locations? Use these examples of multi-location marketing campaigns to get ideas for your own efforts.

La-Z-Boy ads

Furniture store chain La-Z-Boy operates over 100 physical locations, making it an ideal candidate for a multi-location advertising strategy. Below, a nearby location appears above organic search results for “furniture store near me.”

The search ad above includes multiple places for prospects to click. While the ad headline leads to a location-specific landing page, the hyperlinked address opens in Google Maps.

Above, a different La-Z-Boy location appears at the top of search results in the Google Maps mobile app. Rather than driving prospects to a mobile landing page, this ad prompts potential customers to call the business or get directions to the location.

Firestone ads

With over 1,700 locations nationwide, Firestone Complete Auto Care has countless location-specific ads running simultaneously. Below, the search ad encourages prospects to book an appointment at a nearby location.

Because the auto care chain has so many nearby outlets, the search ad’s location extension suggests more than one location. Prospects can click the location extension to view all nearby locations in Google Maps.

Above, the Google Maps ad prompts users to book an appointment at another nearby location. Both the “Book” button and the embedded ad point to a location-enabled landing page.

Fleet Feet ads

Running store chain Fleet Feet uses multi-location PPC to direct customers to convenient locations. Although the search ad headline and callout extension mention different stores, the landing page applies to the entire region so the advertiser can repurpose it across ads.

Below, the Google Maps mobile ad directs customers to a different location. In addition to buttons that prompt customers to get directions or make a call, the ad features a website link that makes it easy for customers to shop the store’s inventory.

Fleet Feet also uses shopping ads to promote running shoe inventory. The ad below encourages customers to use the “Pick Up Today” option to purchase items at yet another Fleet Feet location.

Expert tips for optimizing your campaigns

To run successful PPC campaigns, use the tips below to optimize your ads, landing pages, and conversion tracking setup.

• Develop a unique landing page for each location
• Tailor messaging to local audiences
• Adjust Google Ads bids
• Implement a multi-location digital marketing strategy
• Level up your approach to conversion tracking

Develop a unique landing page for each location

Avoid using general service or product pages as your ads’ destination URLs. Instead, link each ad to a unique landing page for relevant business locations.

First, create a website design template that’s easy to reuse across locations. Then input relevant information about the location, including:

• Business address, phone number, and email address
• Open hours
• Products and services
• Special offers

Although many of these pages may look similar, each should include unique content. Duplicate content (i.e., content that’s repeated verbatim between pages) can create ranking issues for web pages.

Tailor messaging to local audiences

Choosing location-specific keywords is just the beginning. It’s just as important to use location-specific ad copy and creatives — which means you must know your audience.

“Our biggest challenge was countering message fragmentation,” explains Andrew Cussens, Owner of FilmFolk. “We encountered a critical need — to tailor ads uniquely for different locations. That demanded an in-depth understanding of the diverse local cultures and consumer behaviors.”

They managed multiple ad accounts, which was time-consuming and error-prone. To mitigate these concerns, they conducted rigorous market research for their localized campaigns, guaranteeing relevance and appeal in their messaging.

“Furthermore, we centralized PPC management on a single platform: this improved control and transparency across all campaigns,” continues Cussens. “We achieved a 20% average increase in click-through rates across all locations during the first implementation quarter by employing this strategy.”

Adjust Google Ads bids

The longer you run multi-location PPC campaigns, the more likely you are to find that some areas drive higher return on ad spend (ROAS). To increase campaign-level ROAS and improve results, pay close attention to your location and keyword bids.

“Leverage location targeting and bid modifiers,” recommends Will Yang, Head of Growth & Customer Success at Instrumentl. “You can set up campaigns that target each of your locations and then use bid modifiers to automatically adjust bids up or down based on performance for each location.”

“This allows you to have a centralized campaign that is then customized for each local market with minimal manual effort. The automation finds the optimal bid for each location to maximize your results.”

Implement a multi-location digital marketing strategy

This guide focuses on creating ad campaigns for multi-location businesses. However, paid ads are just one component of a complete digital marketing strategy.

To complement your PPC campaigns, promote your business locations via other channels. Here are some examples:

• Search engine optimization (SEO): Create keyword-optimized pages and content marketing for your service areas. With multi-location SEO, you can give your website a better chance of ranking in relevant local searches.
• Email marketing: Segment customers and leads by location. Send updates, content marketing, and special offers targeted to relevant local areas.

Level up your approach to conversion tracking

Google Ads has relatively robust reporting. Since it syncs with Google Merchant Center, Google Business Profile, and Google Analytics, it can provide tons of data on clicks and conversions throughout linked properties. However, we never recommend relying solely on native reporting tools.

“Conversion tracking is an essential part of any PPC campaign, especially for multi-location businesses. At HawkSEM, we use ConversionIQ (CIQ) to track every single step of the buyer journey at a granular level. That way we can understand what aspects of a campaign are working and how we can optimize toward a ROAS,” explains Rambod Yadegar, President of HawkSEM.

One of the biggest benefits of CIQ is that its insights aren’t limited to Google Ads. We take data from CIQ and apply it to other marketing channels to scale strategies further while maintaining profitability.

Checklist for successful multi-location PPC campaigns

Set up and optimize your Google Business Profile

Organize and verify location groups

Add inventory to Google Merchant Center

Run a location-based PPC campaign

Target local customers with Google search ads

Promote local inventory with shopping campaigns

Put your business on the map with Performance Max campaigns

Optimize multi-location ads

Develop a unique landing page for each location

Tailor messaging to local audiences

Adjust Google Ads bids based on location

Implement a multi-location digital marketing strategy

Level up your approach to conversion tracking

The takeaway

With the guidelines above, you can advertise your multi-location business right away. But note that local marketing isn’t something you set and forget. To maximize ROAS, local PPC requires ongoing optimization and iteration.

Sound like too much for your team to manage? We’re here to help. PPC is HawkSEM’s core competency, and we take a performance-driven approach to PPC for multi-location businesses. We create and monitor campaigns manually and never leave them on autopilot.

To learn more about our local SEO and PPC services, contact HawkSEM. Book a free consultation with our experienced marketing agency and discover how we can partner with your team to reach business goals.