Semrush & Alley Group Local SEO case study

Metricon: Scaling local SEO for 100+ locations

Learn how an agency halved listing management time and increased visibility for Australia’s leading homebuilder

Challenge: Managing 100+ listings with only two hands

Nitin Karunakaran had years of experience in local SEO before he joined the Alley Group, an Australian digital marketing agency. He was keen to bring fresh insights as the group took on more local SEO projects, but was quickly overwhelmed when faced with Metricon, the largest homebuilder in Australia, and its 100+ locations.

“When it’s one brand with one location, it’s super easy. But it’s really hard to do location optimization for brands that have 100+ locations all by yourself,” confessed Nitin.

Metricon relies on potential buyers visiting display homes in-person as a key part of their sales process, which makes having a strong local online presence essential at each of their locations. But doing manual updates across various directories for other clients was time-consuming, prone to errors, and led to inconsistent data.

Nitin needed an efficient solution to manage all listings, maintain a consistent NAP (name, address, phone number) across directories, and increase foot traffic to the Metricon’s display home locations, as these visits are a crucial part of the buying process.

Step 1: Set up Listing Management tool

The solution came from Semrush Local’s Listing Management. The ability to bulk update information across 30+ authoritative directories in Australia allowed Nitin to quickly ensure NAP consistency, improving search visibility and reducing manual errors.

“Using Semrush’s Listing Management likely saved us around 50% of the time we would have spent managing each listing manually, allowing us to focus on strategy and fine-tuning optimizations, ” said Nitin.

“You just create one business profile for your location on Semrush,” explained Nitin. ”You can upload detailed information, including photos, and you only have to do it once.”

“Let’s say it takes 10 minutes to create each listing manually, and we do 30 directories. That’s 300 minutes saved for just one location! Now times that by 100 for all the Metricon’s locations. That’s 500 hours!” highlighted Nitin.

Step 2: Optimize with Map Rank Tracker insights

The next step was to improve rankings for key search terms like "home builder" and "display homes." Metricon was ranking well for “display homes”, but it seemed like they would have a challenge in boosting their rankings for “home builder.”

“Each position improvement can be massive for clickthrough rates,” said Nitin, who had to delve deeper to get the insights he needed.

Map Rank Tracker highlighted gaps in the Metricon’s local rankings in Google Maps. By identifying underperforming keywords and adjusting the Google Business Profiles accordingly, Nitin was able to improve Metricon’s rankings for target terms through content updates, leading to a significant uptick in visibility and engagement.

"With these insights, we were able to further optimize the listings by adding relevant secondary categories and services,” said Nitin.

Result: Tangible foot traffic and engagement results

Clients want to see the metrics that matter most to them, so this improved online visibility had to translate into foot traffic and actual visits to their display homes.

With using Semrush Local tools, Metricon saw:

“We surpassed our initial KPIs and are certainly closer to dominating the local search landscape for ‘display homes’,” said Nitin.

All this made for an additional 2,601 potential visitors. Website clicks also rose by over 42.5% as potential buyers interacted more with the Google Business Profiles, bringing more traffic to their website.

Year-over-year results for the Metricon’s Google Business Profiles

But Nitin isn’t just using Semrush Local to get results for his clients. It’s also a powerful tool for bringing valuable new business.

“With Map Rank Tracker it is super easy to show any client where they are in terms of rankings,” said Nitin. “If you show a client that they’re all reds and it’s a keyword they know is important, SEO becomes such an easy sell. It’s a very important pitching tool for us.”

“A lot of senior management and people who don’t understand SEO are visual thinkers, so it’s easier for them to understand and also for them to sell to their own stakeholders,” affirmed Nitin.

If you’d like to learn more about how a local SEO audit can improve your sales pitch, watch our Semrush Local webinar featuring Nitin, who shares valuable insights on the topic.

Key takeaways

Nitin is now successfully managing and optimizing 100+ locations with Semrush Local and he’s already seeing measurable success:

Furthermore, by ensuring Metricon is listed consistently across all relevant directories, Nitin can rest assured that he has captured the full spectrum of local search users. This comprehensive presence boosts visibility, enhances trust, and increases the chances of driving more traffic, both online and in-person.

Nitin added, “More than 90% of users use Google Maps, but there is still a small percent using Bing, Apple and other local directories. That’s a lot of people! Wherever users might go to find you, you need to be there!”

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