case study 2025
Local SEO at scale — turning 33+ restaurants into 33+ first-page winners.
ENGAGEMENT
Local SEO · GBP · Web
TIMELINE
12 months
01. THE CHALLENGE
Diners don't search for "Bâton Rouge" — they search for "steakhouse near me," "best ribs in Laval," or "AAA steak Ottawa." Each location competed in its own local pack against independents, chains, and aggregators — and inconsistent data was leaking traffic at every level.
KEY ISSUES
Inconsistent NAP & GBP dataHours, photos, and categories varied across 33+ profiles, hurting rankings.
Weak local landing pagesLocation pages duplicated content, lacked schema, and underperformed in maps.
Aggregator dominanceUber Eats, Skip, and DoorDash often outranked owned pages for branded searches.
No local content strategyZero city-level pages targeting "best steakhouse [city]" intent.
02. OUR APPROACH
Three coordinated workstreams running in parallel — applied location by location, market by market.
Cleaned and unified 33+ Google Business Profiles. Standardised NAP, categories, hours, attributes, and photos. Built a review-response cadence across markets.
Rebuilt every location page with unique copy, LocalBusiness + Restaurant schema, embedded menus, and direct reservation/order CTAs to reclaim branded clicks from aggregators
Launched "best steakhouse in [city]" landing pages and blog content targeting high-intent local terms across Quebec, Ontario, Atlantic, and Western markets.
03.THE RESULTS
Year-over-year, network-wide.
+312%
Local pack impressions
Across all 33+ markets
THE SHIFT
BEFORE
Inconsistent data across 33+ GBP profiles
Aggregators owning branded SERPs
Thin, duplicated location pages
Low visibility in local 3-pack
AFTER
LOCAL SEARCH
Network-wide totals — before engagement vs. after 12 months.
PROJECT TIMELINE
AUDIT
Audited 33+ GBP profiles, location pages, and local SERPs. Mapped competitor presence and aggregator dominance market by market.
BUILD
Unified NAP, categories, hours, and photos across every profile. Rebuilt location pages with schema, menus, and direct CTAs.
SCALE
Rolled out city-level content, review-response cadence, and ongoing GBP optimisation. Sustained ranking gains across all markets.
"Managing local SEO across 33 restaurants is brutal — every market has its own competition, its own customer behaviour, its own quirks. Direct Route built a system that scales without losing the local feel. Our location managers can finally see Bâton Rouge winning in their own backyards."
GET STARTED
We’re selective about who we partner with — not because we’re precious, but because we need to know we can actually move the needle for you. If you’re a serious brand ready to grow, let’s talk.
