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The Importance of Local Search Optimization

JannelleChemko
ByJannelleChemko

As part of our focus on franchise or multi-location business marketing this month, it’s necessary to discuss location-based marketing or local SEO.  Every franchise location faces its own marketing challenges, but mastering the art of localization is the first place to start.

The Importance of Local Search Optimization

Individual Websites: every franchisee must have their own website, with its own unique content. Duplicate content will only cause penalties by the search engines, making the websites more difficult to find.

Franchisors should provide every franchisee with their own “template” website copy that will be branded consistently to the main brand, but containing its own unique images and content.

Unique SEO: in addition to unique websites, the SEO meta data (H1 headers, meta titles, meta descriptions and URLs) also need to contain unique properties specific to each location. Landing pages should contain your franchise or business location’s address, phone number, hours of operation, and all social sharing buttons should link directly to the social accounts set up for that specific location.

Social Media: speaking of social media, every franchise location needs to have their own social media profiles. Of course, the social media accounts need to be set up with the details of the specific location (address, contact details, hours of operation), and you should be curating location-specific content on your profiles, as well as encouraging customer reviews for any products and/or services purchased at your location.

Customer Reviews: furthermore on customer reviews, setting up profiles on Yelp, Foursquare, Google My Business, TripAdvisor, etc., will help guide your customers to review your services.  The SEO effectiveness of these local reviews are huge with Google, and will impact your search engine results as well as your customer satisfaction.

Mobile Optimization: The number of people using mobile for their browsing and online transactions are growing every day. So every franchise location needs to ensure their sites are set up to be mobile-friendly.  This isn’t only an SEO tactic, but a way to ensure your customers are not frustrated when using your site.

Both Franchisors and their Franchisees, as well as multi-location businesses will benefit from the success of a well-implemented local-optimization strategy. Not only will it help to increase website traffic, but a consistent strategy between locations will only help to build and promote the overall brand.

To help understand the audience you should be focusing your local SEO marketing on, download a copy of our guide to inbound marketing for franchise & multi-location businesses.

About the Author

JannelleChemko

JannelleChemko

Numbers Ninja & Digital Dynamo
Jannelle Chemko has been working in Operations and Accounting since 2007. After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in English, she is now in the midst of her CGA designation.

As strange as it sounds, Jannelle is a numbers and a letters guru: in addition to extensive full-cycle accounting experience in the technology and retail industries, Jannelle is also passionate about writing. In between crunching numbers and building excel reports, she researches, creates content, and keeps up to date with digital trends.

When she’s not working to meet school and month-end deadlines, you can find Jannelle outside walking her dog, and enjoying the beautiful Vancouver air.
Follow Me On: Facebook

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