A franchise operator called me because a customer had driven forty minutes to a location that had been permanently closed for three months. The location’s page on the corporate website still showed it as open, with the old hours and phone number. The Google Business Profile listed it as permanently closed, but the website had not been updated. Nobody was assigned to update it, so nobody did. This is what content drift looks like at a multi-location business. It does not happen because anyone made a bad decision. It happens because nobody assigned responsibility for keeping the content current. Content governance is the plan that prevents this drift, and most multi-location websites do not have one.
What Content Governance Covers
A content governance plan answers a set of operational questions that most businesses never formalise. Who has the authority to update content on each location page? What is the review and approval process before changes go live? How often should location information be audited for accuracy? What happens when a new location opens or an existing location closes? How are seasonal changes, temporary closures, and service modifications communicated to the person responsible for updating the site? Without documented answers to these questions, updates happen inconsistently. Some locations stay current because the local manager is proactive. Others fall behind because nobody owns the task. The result is a website where the quality of information varies unpredictably from location to location—and visitors have no way of knowing which pages they can trust.
The Cost of Content Drift
Content drift has direct business consequences. Incorrect hours send customers to closed locations. Outdated service listings generate phone calls from people who want something the location no longer offers. Wrong phone numbers mean lost leads. Inconsistencies between the website and Google Business Profile for multi-location business listings confuse search engines and erode local search rankings. The indirect costs are harder to measure but equally real. A visitor who encounters inaccurate information on a location page loses trust in the business. If one page is wrong, how can they trust any other page on the site? For multi-location businesses that depend on local credibility, this erosion of trust is expensive in ways that do not show up in analytics.
“Content governance is not a document you write once. It is a system you run. The plan is only as good as the habit behind it.” —Trevor Hamilton
CMS Requirements for Governance
A content governance plan is only as effective as the tools that support it. The CMS needs to provide location-level user permissions so local managers can update their own pages without accessing content they should not change. It needs content templates that maintain brand consistency while allowing local customisation. It needs version history so changes can be tracked and reverted if necessary. And it needs a workflow for review and approval if the business requires editorial oversight before content goes live. Many CMS platforms were designed for single-editor workflows and struggle with multi-location requirements. A multi-location management system systemneeds to account for these CMS requirements from the start, not discover them after launch when the first local operator tries to update their page and cannot figure out how.
Building a Governance Workflow
The governance workflow does not need to be complex. For most multi-location businesses, the essential elements are:
Defined owners. Every location page has an assigned owner responsible for keeping its content current. This person receives regular prompts to review their page’s accuracy.
Scheduled audits. Quarterly reviews of all location pages, checking for accuracy of hours, services, team members, contact information, and any other details that change over time.
Change protocols. Documented procedures for common changes: updating hours, adding or removing services, reflecting staff changes, and handling temporary closures or special circumstances.
For multi-location management for franchises, governance is more nuanced because franchisees may have different levels of autonomy over their content. Some franchise systems allow local operators to customise their pages within brand guidelines. Others maintain centralised control with local input. The governance plan needs to reflect the actual operating model of the business, not an idealised version of it.
Content Quality at Scale
Governance is not just about accuracy. It is also about quality. A hundred location pages that are all technically accurate but poorly written, thin on content, or identical in structure do not serve visitors or search engines well. Good website copywriting at the location level requires guidelines that help content creators produce useful, locally relevant text without reinventing the process for every page.
Content templates that provide structure—prompting the writer to include specific details about each location—produce better results than a blank page and a request to write something unique. The template does not dictate the words. It dictates what categories of information should be covered, which ensures consistency in depth and coverage while allowing the actual writing to vary from location to location. Content governance is not glamorous work. It does not generate the kind of internal excitement that a redesign or a new feature does. But it is the work that determines whether a multi-location website stays accurate, trustworthy, and effective over time—or quietly decays until someone notices the damage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How often should multi-location content be audited?
A: At minimum, quarterly. Businesses with frequent changes—seasonal hours, rotating staff, evolving service offerings—may need monthly reviews. The audit should check accuracy of hours, contact information, services, team members, and consistency with Google Business Profile listings.
Q: Who should own content updates for individual locations?
A: Ideally, someone at or close to each location who has direct knowledge of what is current. Centralising all updates at the corporate level creates bottlenecks and often results in slower updates. A hybrid model—local ownership with corporate oversight—works best for most multi-location businesses.
Read the full guide
What a Business Website Needs To Support Growth