Running a franchise business can be incredibly rewarding. To grow your venture, you should implement effective local SEO strategies for franchises.
Operating a franchise business can be terrific for those who are chasing significant profits. It has a relatively easy expansion process and a straightforward way of securing loans, if necessary.
Reach Your Target Customers with Effective Local Search Engine Optimization Techniques.
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However, if you are an entrepreneur interested in owning and operating a franchise, you need to do your part.
Following proven local SEO strategies for franchises can establish a solid groundwork on which to kick off future marketing campaigns for your business.
In today’s post, we’ll take a more in-depth look at crucial local SEO strategies for franchises.
This type of SEO approach enables franchise business owners to target and engage consumers who are local to them.
Why Are Local SEO Strategies Important for Franchises?
Many consumers are accustomed to finding everything they need online. Whatever product, service, or information they need, people will just go on the internet to access these things.
A Salesforce survey shows that 85% of people do basic online research before buying anything, whether it’s a product or service.
As a modern-day business owner, you already know the importance of establishing an online presence. A strong web presence enables potential consumers to quickly find and get in touch with you.
It opens the door to reaching a wider audience, connecting with them, and staying relevant. Consequently, business owners must employ a robust online marketing strategy to grow their business.
In the same way, search engine optimization strategies are just as crucial for franchises.
Franchise business owners must also conduct local marketing initiatives to grow their franchise organization.
If you are running a franchise business, you want to attract local consumers to your local branch.
For instance, you own a residential windows installation and repair franchise in Waco, Texas. You want to make sure you are one of the top service providers in the area that customers see on Google.
Potential customers are going to want to consider the following:
- See all the residential windows installation companies in Waco
- Compare their rates
- Make sure they can do specific home windows installation or repair services
- Read customer reviews
- Get contact information to request estimates
SEO for you as a service provider means making sure that all the information and details they need are correct and easy to find.
That may take a little work. However, the payoff from effective local SEO strategies for franchises can be huge. This is especially true when your local competitors don’t put the same effort into it themselves.
Moreover, the difference between your business coming up or not coming up when a consumer looks for the “best home windows installer in Waco” can be thousands of dollars a day in lost services. If they don’t see you, you lose that business to your competitor, who most likely has the visibility online.
Do you know how to implement local SEO strategies for franchises properly?
Local SEO Strategies for Franchises That Actually Work
Sharpen Your Franchise Website’s Appeal and Function
As a local business owner, your website is an essential tool in your marketing arsenal. If you want your business website to appear at the top of search results for relevant keywords, it needs to follow the following essential guidelines:
- The website must provide a positive user experience – Does your website have helpful navigation features? Are your contact details front and center? Is it visually appealing? Your website needs to be all of the above.
- The website needs to be mobile responsive – A mobile-friendly website means it’s built to have compatibility features with a mobile device. In a nutshell, a website with a mobile-friendly function means the desktop version can easily fit on a smaller screen without compromising the user experience, functionality, or visuals.
- The website needs to have a fast load speed – 40% of website visitors leave if your website doesn’t run or load completely in under three seconds.
- The website needs to be secure – A well-established and professional website design agency will ensure that your website knows how to secure a website properly.
As you implement website and local SEO strategies for franchises, you need to know if you want to build location-specific pages or a franchise microsite.
There are several benefits to both. However, depending on your specific franchise, one approach could be more beneficial than the other.
If you operate a small number of branches and your business is not very complex, it’s not always advantageous to create an entire website from the ground up.
Whatever approach you go with, it has to be scalable. This means that as your business or company grows, the website should be able to grow with you. A professional local SEO specialist can recommend the best custom solutions and website structure for your business.
Claim and Optimize Your Google My Business Profile
One of the first local SEO strategies for franchises that you must do is to claim your Google My Business page. Once you’ve claimed it, you need to follow the essential steps to optimize your listing.
When you have an optimized Google My Business account with a link to your well-developed website, your business information will show up on Google Maps and local search results for potential customers to see.
Make sure your profile has your correct name, address, and phone number (NAP). You should also include your hours of operation, descriptions of your products and services, and customer reviews.
Use Unique and Geo-Specific Web Content
Local Google search results prefer websites with original, compelling, and geo-specific content. When you partner with a digital agency specializing in local SEO strategies for franchises, they can help you produce the right web content to help your local search result rankings.
These include service pages, location pages, videos, blogs, and other content that’s unique to your franchise location.
Local SEO strategies for franchises don’t stop at incorporating a few localized keyword phrases.
You need to utilize location-based keywords throughout your franchise business website to rank for the essential localized searches.
For instance, if you offer plumbing services in Dallas, you’ll want to throw in the phrase “best plumbers in Dallas” in essential website elements such as the copy, headings, and title tags.
When you own a franchise business, there’s also the risk of using large quantities of duplicate and boilerplate copy across your pages.
This isn’t good for SEO and may negatively affect your ranking.
The key to combating this is carrying out a good content marketing strategy that includes original and valuable content on each of your service or location page.
Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews
Ideally, all your happy and satisfied customers should be leaving you an online review.
However, not a lot of them are willing to go out of their way to do that, even though they were pleased with your product or service.
An essential part of generating customer feedback is making it quick, simple, and easy for customers to do them.
One of the best and most effective local SEO strategies for franchises is responding to all customer feedback regularly – yes, even the negative ones – in a professional and friendly manner.
You can organically work some keyword phrases into your replies to optimize your copy more.
Local SEO Strategies for Franchises Checklist
- Provide a map and give directions to your business location.
- Provide your latest business contact details.
- Show your hours of operations and holiday hours.
- Optimize your website for top and relevant local terms – both on-page and meta-tags.
- Add customer reviews.
- Add original images.
- Set up, claim, and optimize your Google My Business listing.
- Incorporate links to your website and business social media profiles.
- Work on getting relevant and high-quality backlinks.
- Always add fresh and relevant content to your website and pages.
Local SEO Strategies for Franchises: Work with Experts
Implementing effective SEO strategies for multiple business locations may be challenging as a franchise business owner.
If you want your business franchise to dominate local search results, work with a digital marketing firm that specializes in local SEO strategies for franchises.