MLM, like all local businesses, requires local SEO to rank in search engines and reach new potential customers.
This includes SEO best practices such as optimizing individual franchise websites and building business listings in national and local directories.
However, MLM SEO differs from regular local SEO in several ways.
Read on to learn more about how franchises rank in Google and other search engines.
The importance of SEO franchise
Like all local businesses, franchises can use search engine optimization to capture the attention of potential customers.
From building Google Business Profile listings to writing blog posts targeting relevant keywords, using the right franchise SEO strategies will help you increase brand awareness and increase your sales.
Organic traffic from growing search rankings is free.
As long as you maintain your rankings, you can generate leads and sales at almost no cost to you.
The unique challenges of the SEO franchise
Franchisees looking to build an online presence face different unique challenges.
One of the most important challenges you will face Avoid duplicate content.
While each of your sites will have their own website, the look and theme of each site should be similar to each other.
It’s hard to avoid duplicate content when you’re a business owner who owns many of the same businesses in different locations.
Unfortunately, duplicate content will not help your ranking, even if you own both sites, the duplicate content is there.
Another challenge is deciding on the right SEO strategy for your franchise sites.
Are you optimizing content for topics relevant to each location or business area, or are you adopting a national strategy?
It is also important to provide the correct contact details and address for each of your franchise companies.
Franchise SEO: 7 Steps to Improve Your Rankings
No matter what products you sell and where you are located, follow these steps to rank for targeted search queries and drive organic traffic.
1. Use a consistent brand
The first step is to use consistent branding across all of your individual websites.
The entire purpose of the franchise chain is to deliver the same user experience at each of your physical locations.
Your online presence should be no different.
People who visit different branches of your franchise will expect a similar experience in each branch.
Likewise, when they visit each franchise’s website, they expect a similar design and theme.
This is all about the user experience.
If people are expecting your website to look one way, and they land on a webpage with a completely different design, they may leave your page, thinking they’ve landed on the wrong page.
2. Build a locality at each individual franchise location
When it comes to building a website for your franchise, there are some basics that you must have regardless of the industry.
Not only will this help with SEO and usability, but it will also provide value for what people want from websites today:
- Optimize your franchise pages with the most translated terms to search and include them in the title and content tags).
- Google map included from the franchise site.
- operation hours.
- Your management photosWork done, before and after. Anything original to that site.
- Translated certificates from this franchise site.
- Orientation details, where are you located. If you work in a service area, what areas do you cover.
- Organized Local Business Coding.
3. Use the right NAP
NAP stands for name, address, and phone number, and using the correct format is critical to local SEO.
When running a multisite SEO campaign, you must use the correct NAP for each of your sites.
Furthermore, NAP should be in the same format on each of your websites.
If you use an area code bracket for a single franchise number, use it for the phone numbers posted on the websites for all the franchises.
It is more important to use a per-site NAP rather than a company-specific NAP.
You can include the company’s contact details on a separate page and put the “Company” option in the footer menu.
4. Use location-based keywords
Use site specific keywords on each of your websites.
Use the Keyword Tool to find competitive keywords that will allow locals to find you.
Targeting national search terms on every site may not be the best idea.
You can rank them, but the people who landed on your page may live far away from where the individual franchisor is located.
The exception is if you have a national website that automatically redirects people to the nearest franchise location.
5. Determine your content marketing strategy
This part is crucial.
Content is a critical aspect of any successful digital marketing campaign.
For franchises, it can be tough
- Should you blog about general topics Related to your niche or products?
- or, Should you blog about topics related to the specific site Or each concession area?
As a general rule, it’s best to do the latter.
Create blog posts keeping nearby residents in mind.
There are two types of locally targeted blog posts.
The first type discusses general local news and events.
This type of blog post can be useful, but only if you have a wide target audience or you sell a product that can be used by a wide range of people.
For example, if you have a bagel bakery restaurant franchise in several cities, you might write a blog about local holidays and then offer limited-time promotions at the end of your posts.
However, as a general rule, it’s best to blog about your niche but with a local feel.
For example, if you have a roofing contracting franchise, you can talk about how different weather patterns in a particular city are causing your readers’ roofs to be damaged and in need of repair.
Or, if you have a pest control business, you can talk about the common pests and rodents that people in that city (or different areas of town) deal with the most.
If you have a hair salon franchise, you can talk about how weather patterns affect people’s hair and what to do about it, or you can discuss popular and popular local hairstyles.
If you have a well-recognized national brand, you don’t need to write locally targeted content.
Most people will already have some exposure to your brand.
They may consider you an authority in your field and turn to you for general information.
Examples of such companies are Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, etc.
Of course, you probably don’t own a well-known company.
However, the point remains: companies with this level of visibility can position themselves as authorities for coffee, donuts, hamburgers, etc.
6. Get your listing on Google Business Profile and other platforms
You will also need to create a Google Business Profile listing for all of your individual businesses.
Every site should have its own Google Business listing.
However, there are some possible ways to manage access and control.
You can ask each franchisee to create their own listing, depending on how responsible they are for marketing.
Alternatively, you can set up each list under your own Google account (you can use one account for all lists).
Then, you can add franchisees as users to manage and control their lists.
Either way, having a GMB profile that links to each franchise’s website is crucial to your local SEO.
When people search Google for local businesses, websites aren’t the only results that come up.
In addition to websites, Google displays some local GMB profiles at the top of the search results.
These profiles appear alongside ratings and other attractive data, and the lucky companies that appear in the first few profiles on GMB tend to get the most clicks.
Likewise, a local GMB profile allows you to appear on Google Maps. Many local searchers use Google Maps to find businesses instead of searching on Google itself.
Google will use data such as the distance between each company and the searcher to determine which companies will appear first.
If you have several perks within the city, there is a good chance that they will appear in any specific search.
However, creating a Google Business profile is just the beginning.
Also, create profiles in other popular directories, including Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Apple Maps.
While these are national directories, they are optimized and appear in local searches.
In addition to large platforms like Google Business Profile, you should build listings in as many local directories as possible.
Getting citations and links from local directories will do wonders for your search engine rankings – the more local citations you can generate, the better.
A privileged SEO service can take care of this and submit your data to multiple directories at once.
Each franchise should get listings from directories that focus on their city or region.
Local directories don’t have to be your only sources of citations, either.
Look for directories that are nationwide but deal with your specific niche.
For example, if your franchise offers home repair or construction services, list them in directories such as HomeAdvisor.
For both GMB listings and local citations, it is essential to include correct contact data.
Use the same NAP format that you use on your franchise sites.
Additionally, improve each listing or quote by ensuring store hours are correct and uploading photos when allowed.
The Google Business Profile also allows you to post posting updates, which you must do from time to time to show that you are active.
Different types of publications are available on GMB.
Some could include general updates, while others could announce discounts, promotions, new product launches, changing business hours, or Covid-19 updates.
You should include your top target keywords in your GMB profile description, as well as in your post updates.
Each platform and directory will have different requirements.
In general, try to add as much relevant information as possible, upload as many images as possible, and target as many relevant keywords as possible.
Once you’ve created listings in GMB, Yelp, and other directories, encourage customers to leave reviews.
Profiles with many positive reviews tend to rank better.
Many platforms block motivating reviews, so you cannot give customers discounts or freebies in exchange for reviews.
However, you can encourage reviews by placing posters or posters at each franchise location to remind customers to look you up on Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc., and to share their feedback and comments.
An excellent hack is to create QR codes that take users to your official Google or Yelp profile and place these QR codes on your listings, storefronts, receipts and other materials.
7. Build local backlinks
Local backlinks are also important for local ranking.
Building local backlinks as a franchise can be complicated.
On the one hand, you need to find local companies to cooperate with in each region you operate.
On the other hand, you don’t want to get links from or be associated with competitors.
Try working with local organizations, schools, charities, and events.
You might be able to sponsor a local school luncheon, for example, in exchange for a blog post advertising the sponsorship and linking it to you.
If you own a food-based franchise, you may be able to set up an initiative where you partner with local charities to feed the homeless.
Final thoughts
In many ways, the same SEO practices and strategies that apply to most local businesses apply to MLM.
However, it is important to understand the challenges facing franchises and create a roadmap and list of guidelines that all individual sites must adhere to.
More resources:
- Local best practices for SEO for corporate restaurant brands
- A complete local SEO checklist
- A guide to local search engine optimization
Featured image: Monster Ztudio / Shutterstock
