The hardest part of leaving Scorpion is not the website. For a business with several locations, it is keeping every location’s phone number, map listing and local page working on the day you switch. Get the per-location inventory right and the rest is ordinary web work.
I run Sprout Sage Solutions. Below is the plan I would use for a multi-location company leaving any large platform vendor, with the questions to settle before you sign anything new.
Who Scorpion is
Scorpion is one of the larger marketing platforms for local businesses. According to its Wikipedia entry, it was founded in 2001 and is based in Lehi, Utah, and it serves home services trades such as HVAC, plumbing and roofing, along with legal, franchise and healthcare clients. The same entry describes a platform that bundles search, lead management, analytics, chat, texting and marketing automation.
A bundle like that is convenient while you are in it. Leaving means unbundling each piece.
Build the location inventory first
For each location, write down these five things. A spreadsheet with one row per location is enough.
- The Google Business Profile and who is listed as its primary owner
- The tracking number on that profile, and whether it can be ported or forwarded
- The location page URL on your site and its monthly Search Console clicks
- The service area and service pages tied to that location
- Where that location’s leads go today: which inbox, CRM or call center
I tell every multi-location owner to finish this sheet before calling a single new vendor. On a ten-location business, it can turn up a profile owned by a former employee or a number nobody can explain. Problems like that are much easier to fix while the current vendor is still under contract.
Protect local rankings location by location
Local search runs on two things: the map listing and the location page. The listing stays yours if you own the profile. The page needs care.
Keep each location page at its current address on the new site. If the structure has to change, redirect each old location page to its exact new equivalent. Sending every location to a generic “locations” page throws away the local relevance each one earned.
Swap tracking numbers last. Change the number on a profile only after the new one is tested, and keep the old number forwarding for at least 90 days, since old ads, directories and truck wraps keep showing it.
Law firms with several offices
The same logic applies to a firm with offices in several cities, with two additions. Each office’s attorney bios and practice pages need to survive the move, and every page has to follow your state bar’s advertising rules. See law firm marketing for how I handle that.
Questions for any replacement
Ask every alternative, including me, to answer these in writing:
- Who will own the domain, the website files and each ad account?
- Can we export all leads and call recordings at any time?
- What is the notice period, and what happens to the site if we leave?
- What will you report monthly, per location?
If the answer to the last one is traffic and rankings, keep looking. Per-location booked jobs, or signed cases for a law firm, is the number that matters. Our home services marketing page shows what that report looks like.
When to stay
If your cost per booked job is stable across locations and you own the listings, the domain and the ad accounts, renegotiating may beat switching. A migration across ten locations takes real time from your team.
Switch when locations are sliding and you cannot see why, or when getting your own data out feels harder than it should.
Common questions
How long does a multi-location switch take? Plan on six to ten weeks for five to fifteen locations. Most of that time goes into the location inventory and redirects.
Do we lose our reviews? No. Reviews sit on each Google Business Profile. Make sure your company is the primary owner of every one.
Can we move one location at a time? Sometimes, but it means running two systems in parallel. A single planned cutover is usually cleaner.
For a plain read on what your current setup would cost to leave, book a free 30-minute call. The full ownership checklist is in who owns your website when you fire your agency.
