A Franchise’s Guide to Local SEO
When it comes to marketing franchises, it’s not always simple.
When it comes to the marketing of a franchise, there’s often a divide between the franchiser’s desire to control the brand and the franchise’s need to market their business their own way.
This can lead to all kinds of problems, from cannibalizing PPC campaigns to search results that compete against each other. Here’s some common pitfalls, and how to avoid them.
#1. List Each Location On Google My Business
Make sure each location has a listing on Google My Business that is complete, and accurate. Try to format their names in the same way, if possible.
If you have over 10 locations, you can manage them in bulk with a special Google tool found here.
#2. Build Local Citations
Once you have your Google My Business listing, go and add the businesses to other sites. Since you’re managing many locations, and there’s hundreds of different directories to be listed in we recommend BrightLocal.
They charge ~$2 for each listing, and can list you with the big 4 aggregators for $55. I’d recommend putting $100 towards each location at first, and adding more later if budget allows. That should get you on all the aggregators and a dozen or so directories. BrightLocal is pretty good about showing you which are the best directories for your industry as well.
#3. Press Releases
When you open a new location, or have newsworthy updates — send a press release! A lot of newswires can get you listed for as low as $50, but definitely try and find ones which give a more local focus if you can afford it.
#4. On Page Changes
Make sure you have a page on each site dedicated to each franchise (or better yet, microsites) with the phone number and address they used on Google My Business. Make sure this page lists hours (if applicable), and any other important information your franchise might have.
Additionally, it should be mobile responsive. Most people looking for local businesses are doing so through their phones — if your site isn’t responsive, Google won’t show you at all.
What have you done that’s helped the local SEO presence of your locations? Leave a comment below, I’d love to do a follow-up article on it.
