Franchise search engine marketing permits companies to scale their on-line visibility and appeal to native clients. Be taught finest practices from search engine marketing consultants to enhance your digital presence.
Correct SEO places your franchise on the digital map of the search engine outcomes pages (SERPs).
However do you embrace all your places in your franchise search engine marketing technique?
You may end up overlooking duplicate content material, sharing inaccurate Google enterprise profiles, and cannibalizing your key phrases, which may restrict your visibility and potential.
At HawkSEM, we’ve supported many franchise purchasers with the technical and native search engine marketing experience wanted to keep up high SERP standing.
On this information, we’ll stroll you thru the most typical challenges we’ve seen and learn how to repair them. Plus, we’ll lay out clear steps to keep up a kick-ass franchise search engine marketing technique, full with professional insights from HawkSEM search engine marketing Supervisor, Hayden Pochop.
If you’re accomplished studying, you’ll know precisely what to do to make sure you’re firing on all cylinders.
You may swap content material concepts with different franchise places, then put a spin on it to make it your personal. (Picture: Rawpixel)
What’s franchise search engine marketing?
Franchise search engine marketing is a set of digital advertising and marketing practices that enhance a franchise’s search engine visibility whereas garnering related native leads for various places.
However how does a franchise search engine marketing technique differ from an everyday search engine marketing technique?
Properly, franchise enterprise homeowners want to remain on high of particular technical SEO parts like:
- Up to date enterprise profiles
- Native touchdown pages
- Duplicate content material
- Geographic efficiency monitoring
Let’s dive deeper into a few of these variations.
4 franchise search engine marketing challenges
Don’t get us flawed — we all know search engine marketing is stuffed with challenges for normal companies, too. However listed below are a number of gadgets that make issues particularly difficult for franchisors.
1. Key phrase cannibalization
Say you set vital hours and {dollars} into key phrase rating efforts on your franchise web site touchdown web page. Your SERP place seems to be good, so you work you’d use the identical method for the second web page.
Then, bam! Each pages tank on the SERP.
What offers? Seems like a nasty case of key phrase cannibalization, which occurs if you compete for a similar search phrases on two of your net pages.
Does that imply you may’t use related key phrases on totally different branded URLs? Not essentially. However Semrush presents a fast check: Do the pages fulfill the identical consumer want?
In that case, it’s possible you cannibalized a key phrase or two. Perhaps you even duplicated content material within the course of (which we’ll contact on beneath). It occurs, and it’s vital to be aware of this to make sure you’re not limiting your on-line visibility.
To fight this, examine to ensure you’re not focusing on the identical key phrase (or one in all its variants) on multiple web page of your website.
2. Duplicate content material
In the event you publish the identical content material in a number of locations in your web site, serps regard this as duplicate content material.
After all, your trade, experience, and companies stay the identical throughout a number of franchise places.
However in case your content material is identical, Google gained’t index these pages. That is usually a aspect impact of key phrase cannibalization, however generally it’s extra than simply repeating key phrases that causes this.
We regularly see this in mission statements, quotes, or descriptions for services and products that migrate to a number of pages.
Take a look at your touchdown pages. Are the templates precisely the identical in addition to the situation identify?
That’s not customized sufficient on your readers. Your content marketing strategy ought to point out the way you’ll make every location’s web page content material distinctive.
You may completely undertake the identical idea and angle all through numerous net pages, however the copy itself needs to be distinctive to keep away from duplicates.
3. Managing the small print when scaling
The nuts and bolts of all of the vital search engine marketing particulars is usually a ache to keep up for ecommerce companies with out bodily places.
Now, think about the feat for franchises with a number of places. New content material, enterprise profiles, related key phrases, title tags: these duties most likely gained’t really feel as vital as coaching new employees or getting metropolis permits.
The average franchise has 5 places, however others have loads extra. Take our consumer Escape the Room for example, with places unfold throughout 18 totally different cities.
They labored with us to market 16 of their places to their vastly rising viewers.
With that many new goal audiences, franchise enterprise processes, and employees to handle, it’s straightforward to see how digital advertising and marketing efforts may fall by the wayside.
The answer?
We optimized their a number of location-based web sites with distinctive content material, up to date titles and meta tags, and added location-based net design to distinguish them from each other.
4. Not sustaining model consistency
Placing the correct steadiness between sustaining a constant model identification and creating distinctive, localized content material for every franchise location just isn’t all the time straightforward.
This is a matter on your model should you’re not:
- Guaranteeing model recognition throughout all places
- Offering domestically related data to draw searchers in particular areas
- Avoiding duplicate content material points that may hurt search engine marketing efforts
The hot button is to create content material that displays the distinctive points of every location whereas nonetheless adhering to total model pointers.
“There are many distinctive, artistic ways in which franchises can share localized content material with out compromising model consistency,” says Hayden Pochop, search engine marketing supervisor at HawkSEM.
“Franchises can create distinctive content material by highlighting native occasions, distinctive buyer tales, and native employees introductions.”
For instance, a restaurant franchise may function recipes utilizing native substances or host occasions particular to every neighborhood. This retains content material contemporary and domestically participating whereas making certain model consistency by way of a unified message.
To beat this problem, franchises may:
- Develop clear content material creation pointers that permit for native flexibility
- Create templates that may be custom-made with location-specific data
- Implement a content material evaluate course of to make sure model consistency
- Prepare native franchisees on learn how to create distinctive content material inside model parameters
By addressing this problem, franchises can create a powerful, cohesive model presence on-line whereas nonetheless catering to the precise wants and pursuits of native audiences.
Now that we’ve recognized a number of franchise advertising and marketing search engine marketing challenges, let’s sort out all of them with our step-by-step franchise search engine marketing information.
11 steps to a killer franchise search engine marketing technique
1. Optimize localized net pages for E-E-A-T
Google desires to ensure you’re the most effective supply for the data you’re shelling out.
And should you don’t distinguish that content material throughout places, you’re lacking out on alternatives to show your Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trustworthiness, or E-E-A-T. This acronym is what Google makes use of to assist rank content material.
If you wish to give your localized pages a lift in rankings, optimize E-E-A-T with these steps:
- Garner native testimonials – Discover native opinions and place them in your web site, or invite patrons to share a evaluate a few particular location. Fb, Google, and Yelp on-line opinions will make Google Search’s algorithms very blissful.
- Share worker profiles – Most franchises have a large worker base throughout places. Think about posting worker or supervisor bios on every of your franchise location web sites so as to add human faces for relatability. It’s also possible to create separate social media accounts to share Reels and video content material from every location.
- Embody geographic particulars – Every location may need area of interest geographic attributes you may write about. Or, embrace instructions for every location on individualized net pages. Ideally, you need to embed Google Maps into your website.
- Pics – Your storefront exterior will look totally different throughout a number of cities or neighborhoods. Show these variations and enhance your E-E-A-T with high-quality pictures.
- Native sources – Add some exterior hyperlinks to native authorities sources or close by companies to serve totally different buyer wants. You may win a backlink or two from it (extra on that later).
“E-E-A-T is essential for demonstrating a franchise’s credibility,” explains Pochop.
“Franchises can showcase native experience by that includes employees credentials, highlighting native buyer testimonials, and offering native case research on their web sites.”
Moreover, often updating content material to replicate the newest trade practices and native achievements helps construct belief along with your viewers.
Backside line? Your native information demonstrates your E-E-A-T as a franchise proprietor.
2. Get Your NAPs so as
Identify, deal with, and cellphone quantity (or NAP) — they need to all the time be up to date for every of your places.
However franchise expansions can throw these out of whack in two methods:
- Information on Google Business Profiles and different directories could also be robotically synced from the franchise’s headquarters.
- Web site templates for every franchise won’t permit for differentiation between particular person places.
Right here’s how one can up your franchise search engine marketing recreation with NAPs:
- Formatting – NAPs ought to look uniform throughout every location’s web site. For instance, cellphone numbers ought to all be written with no areas, or all with hyphens — no inconsistencies.
- Accuracy – Whilst you’re busy increasing, your net web page updates may take a again seat. Don’t let that occur, or else Google gained’t rank your pages. Be certain that all of your NAPs for every location are appropriate and often up to date, even when issues replace robotically.
- Particular person web sites and social media – At all times embrace particular person location NAPs for localized net pages and social media profiles—not simply your company NAP.
- Evaluate websites and directories – Examine any native sources the place your NAPs may present up and guarantee they’re appropriate.
- Google enterprise listings – Get every of your franchisors to create separate Google profiles for every location. This fashion you may implement location-based key phrases, data, pictures, and extra.
Think about wanting up instructions to the closest Dunkin’ Donuts franchise location and Google sends you to their company headquarters. Not very best, proper? That’s why NAPs matter.
So that can assist you alongside, Pochop recommends the next instruments for NAP administration.
“BrightLocal and Moz Native assist keep constant Identify, Tackle, and Cellphone Quantity data throughout all listings,” he says.
“Common quotation audits and a centralized database guarantee NAP updates are made swiftly, decreasing inconsistencies and time spent on this usually tedious job.”
3. Stability area of interest and native content material
You may publish a excessive quantity of informational content material to share experience in your trade. This isn’t a foul factor. As a franchise proprietor, it’s positively vital to incorporate that area of interest content material.
Nonetheless, you need to steadiness it with localized content material to seize native leads and drive engagement in your neighborhood.
Let’s say you run a fried hen restaurant franchise. You may put up content material about your small business’s native hen sources, cooking strategies, and enterprise historical past. However you can even share:
- Information releases about meals drives or different charitable occasions within the neighborhood
- Location-specific video content material
- Employees profiles and tales from every location
- Neighborhood roundups for associated merchandise
- Insights on native farms and strategies
Think about studying a weblog put up with avenue names and neighborhood members that you just acknowledge from house. Belief us: that content material will resonate extra deeply along with your viewers.
4. Attraction to potential clients with native key phrases
Any enterprise with bodily places seeks native enterprise. However you may’t catch these clients in your franchise digital advertising and marketing technique with out localized key phrases.
Right here’s the factor: your one-location key phrase analysis simply gained’t reduce it anymore. It is advisable scale up the method and ensure you catch high-intent native key phrases with out letting the low-intent ones sneak by way of.
For instance, a flower store would use “flower store Seattle” and “flower store Boston” as a substitute of extra broad key phrases like “finest flower store” or “flower store supply.”
Our advice? Conduct some in-depth aggressive evaluation to search out out which key phrases your opponents are slacking on. Then, assess which of your present key phrases are slumping your leads and pumping up bounce fee.
That’s why we love utilizing our proprietary tech, ConversionIQ. Its automation capabilities assist us slim down net parts and key phrases which might be fostering irrelevant leads, so we will uncover what’s going to carry out higher.
Professional tip: Concentrate on location-based long-tail keywords that forestall your web site content material or pages from competing with one another.
5. Create high-quality, branded web sites
Franchises have two choices for his or her web sites:
- One central web site with devoted net pages for every location
- A separate web site for every location
Each choices include professionals and cons. For instance, a centralized web site is usually cheaper, garners extra visitors, and presents extra linking alternatives.
In the meantime, search engine marketing and PPC methods are usually simpler to implement for separate web sites. You’ll have to maintain a number of issues constant should you go that route, although.
For starters? Design and structure. Think about a repeat buyer from one location goes onto a sister location’s web site and sees a wholly totally different coloration scheme or font. It simply gained’t really feel proper.
Complicated them with inconsistent branding or messaging may end in diminished model consciousness.
Now, we’re not saying you must maintain every website precisely the identical outdoors of its personal content material and phone information.
Nonetheless, protecting the main design and navigation parts cohesive will create a extra seamless consumer expertise.
It’ll additionally make issues simpler if your organization decides to conduct an overhaul or model refresh.
6. Construct native backlinks with robust networking
Whereas quote callouts on platforms like Assist A Reporter Out (HARO) and chilly emails are a powerful begin for backlinks, they only don’t supply that native contact.
You’ll have to get out into your neighborhood and make connections with different native companies.
To construct native backlinks:
- Accomplice with native chambers of commerce (e.g., sponsor a neighborhood occasion)
- Get listed on neighborhood occasion calendars (e.g., host a charity fundraiser)
- Contribute to neighborhood blogs (e.g., write a visitor put up about native enterprise tendencies)
- Be part of native enterprise associations (e.g., take part in a small enterprise networking group)
- Accomplice with a neighboring retail store for a meals pop-up, or supply donations to neighborhood web sites.
If you join with neighboring manufacturers, you’ll seem on their web sites and on neighborhood occasions pages.
The extra native link-building you obtain, the extra Google will rank your native franchise web sites. With that heightened visibility, you’ll see an uptick in net visitors and leads.
7. Keep a centralized content material calendar
We already mentioned the vital mixture of trade/area of interest and native search content material.
Nonetheless, managing all that turns into tedious if you’re working with a number of web sites.
That’s why you want a bulletproof content marketing calendar to maintain observe of:
- Printed content material
- Articles and pages that wants updating
- New subjects to think about
- Duplicate content material
For franchises, it might be helpful to have a cloud-based, company-wide content material calendar (utilizing Google Sheets, for instance). Every franchise may have its personal Sheet or tab.
This fashion, places can glean inspiration and perception from each other, whereas ensuring they’re not doubling efforts unnecessarily.
And should you nonetheless have bother managing all of it? Don’t fear.
Think about leveraging franchise search engine marketing companies from an search engine marketing firm like HawkSEM. Content marketing is one in all our fortes, as we meld high trade knowledge with search engine marketing know-how from our employees of consultants.
We’ve coated the do’s and don’ts of franchise search engine marketing, and having all that intel in a single spot will enable you optimize your efforts and maintain issues organized.
8. Optimize on-page search engine marketing
search engine marketing is a long-term technique for search advertising and marketing success. And with any long-term search engine marketing methodology, optimization is vital. Utilizing schema markup in your web site is as shut as you will get to a “fast win” in search engine marketing, plus, it’s a superb solution to stand out within the SERP.
Consider schema as “search engine language.” Together with this microdata in your webpages makes it simpler for websites like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Yandex to know the content material in your web page and correctly present it to customers.
Utilizing schema markup creates an enhanced description of your web page, rising visibility and even bettering click-through charges, in line with our pals at Search Engine Journal.
9. Ask for and reply to buyer opinions
Buyer opinions are a type of social proof that may considerably affect your native search rankings and conversions (aka whether or not somebody decides to buy from you).
Constructive opinions enhance your visibility and construct belief with potential clients.
Methods to spice up your evaluate profile:
- Prepare employees to politely request opinions (e.g., present a card with evaluate directions after service)
- Implement a follow-up e-mail system (e.g., ship a thank-you e-mail with a evaluate hyperlink)
- Showcase constructive opinions in your web site and social media (e.g., create a testimonial web page)
At all times reply to opinions — constructive and damaging — to point out you worth buyer suggestions.
A number of finest practices for evaluate administration:
- Thank constructive reviewers (e.g., “We’re thrilled you loved your expertise!”)
- Tackle damaging opinions professionally (e.g., “We’re sorry to listen to about your expertise. Please contact us straight so we will make it proper.”)
- Show your dedication to buyer satisfaction (e.g., clarify the way you’ve addressed points talked about in opinions)
- Reply to all opinions inside 24-48 hours
Partaking with on-line opinions reveals your dedication to buyer satisfaction and may enhance your native search engine marketing efficiency.
10. Maintain your Google Enterprise Profiles (GBP) contemporary
Your GBP is usually the primary level of contact between your franchise and potential clients.
Outdated data can frustrate clients, which is able to negatively affect your native search rankings and status.
So for every franchise location:
- Declare and confirm your GBP itemizing (e.g., use the postcard verification methodology)
- Guarantee all data is correct and full (e.g., double-check enterprise hours)
- Add high-quality pictures of your small business (e.g., inside, exterior, and product pictures)
- Use related classes and attributes (e.g., “Pizza Restaurant” with “Out of doors Seating”)
Then often replace your GBP — like every time one thing adjustments, comparable to an deal with, cellphone quantity, pricing, or companies/merchandise supplied.
It’s also possible to add new pictures, posts, and presents to maintain it contemporary and fascinating for potential clients.
Sustaining an energetic GBP alerts to Google that your small business is engaged and related. This will enhance your visibility in native search outcomes and appeal to extra clients.
Maintain your profiles contemporary by:
- Posting updates, presents, and occasions often (e.g., weekly specials or vacation promotions)
- Answering questions promptly (e.g., arrange notifications for brand new questions)
- Sharing behind-the-scenes content material (e.g., worker spotlights or neighborhood involvement)
Purpose to put up not less than as soon as every week on every profile. This constant exercise can enhance your native search rankings and engagement with potential clients.
11. Enhance your technical search engine marketing recreation
search engine marketing isn’t nearly what you may see. There are numerous shifting elements beneath the hood to concentrate to. For instance, you wish to persistently monitor:
- Web site velocity optimization (Compress pictures utilizing instruments like TinyPNG)
- Cell responsiveness (Use Google’s Cell-Pleasant Take a look at for every location’s website)
- XML sitemaps for every location (Use Yoast search engine marketing plugin for simple sitemap technology)
- Correct URL construction and hierarchy (Instance: use.com/location/service-name for consistency)
- HTTPS implementation (Use Let’s Encrypt totally free SSL certificates)
Recurrently audit your web sites utilizing instruments like Google Search Console and Screaming Frog.
Then search for and repair points comparable to:
- Damaged hyperlinks (arrange customized 404 pages with useful navigation)
- Duplicate content material (use canonical tags for related location pages)
- Lacking meta descriptions (embrace location names in meta descriptions)
- Gradual-loading pages (decrease HTTP requests by combining recordsdata)
Think about implementing a content material supply community (CDN) to enhance load instances throughout totally different geographic places.
Keep in mind, technical search engine marketing is an ongoing course of. Keep up to date with the newest finest practices and algorithm adjustments to maintain your franchise web sites acting at their finest.
Franchise search engine marketing marketing campaign guidelines
The takeaway
With franchise search engine marketing, the satan’s within the particulars. A poorly executed second-location web site can tank years of search engine marketing efforts on your company website’s on-line presence.
Natural visitors? Out the window. Particularly when duplicate content material and key phrase repetitions in title tags and meta descriptions shoot pleasant fireplace throughout your present rankings.
So, what must you goal for? Excessive SERP standing and a hypervisible on-line presence for all your franchise location websites.
A mean 4.5x ROI doesn’t damage both — which you’ll obtain by working with HawkSEM’s search engine marketing consultants.
If it’s time to increase, or that you must iron out your present franchise search engine marketing, let’s talk and work out how we may also help you sail previous your most bold targets.
This text has been up to date and was initially printed in July, 2023.