Essential Components of a Search Engine-Friendly Franchise Location Page
Search engine optimization has its own unique issues and challenges for franchise businesses. Not only are you part of a chain competing for traffic regionally or nationally, but you are also competing locally with other franchisees. Making franchise SEO an essential part of your marketing strategy can help you increase visitors to your site and your store’s location. Optimizing your website with timely and relevant content, great reviews, and a robust social presence is key to becoming an online authority in your niche. Here are some tips to help you improve your visibility and be found by more customers online.
An Intro to Franchise Location Landing Pages
These one-of-a-kind pages represent a single, physical location. They help potential customers find the nearest franchise location when searching online. Boost visibility by optimizing a page for each franchise address with interactive maps, geographic-based keywords, search engine-friendly syntax, and location-specific descriptions. By setting up a location page for each store, and optimizing it, you are signaling that it is important.
Getting Started
Google uses more than 200 ranking signals in their algorithm, which they update continuously. While there is no perfect layout and the right page depends on the products and services being sold, there are several best practices that can provide guidance and help you get the most out of your SEO efforts. Use techniques that enable search engines to accurately index your page and improve its understanding of what your business does and identifying the target audience.
Choose the Best Keywords With Keyword Research
Utilizing keywords and phrases related to your products and services can help local searchers find your page quickly. Keyword research provides insight into the minds of potential and existing customers, helping you define your target audience. Once you understand how visitors are searching, you can incorporate the right terms into your website. It also makes it easier to decide what type of content will attract more visitors. Not only can this help you move up on the search results page, but it can also bring highly targeted consumers to your site.
Optimize Your Page’s Title Tag
The title tag is one of the most important on-page SEO elements. As consumers typically give the information only a few seconds of their attention, they must be concise and engaging. Unique, descriptive titles should provide users with quick insight into the result and how it is relevant to their online search. Google generally uses titles on the search results pages, and it views the H1 headings as the most important information on the page. Using appropriate keywords in the title helps the page rank higher.
Optimize Images
Pictures pique the interest and attract web searchers more effectively than text alone. This makes image optimization a critical part of on-page SEO. However, not just any image will do. They need to be the right kind of images.
- High-quality resolution – Search engines lower a webpage’s ranking if it loads slowly. Improve the speed and ranking by resizing high-quality images to load faster. JPEG and PNG formats offer high resolution with small file sizes. GIFs are fine for thumbnails or decorative images, but the quality falls short for large graphics and photos.
- Unique to you – Stock photos may be high quality, but they can often be found on many sites in a variety of industries worldwide. You will get more impressions and shares when you use original pictures that are relevant to your franchise location.
- Use captions and alt text – Search engines index images but don’t understand them without context. Image captions provide the context so that it associates it with the keywords on your site making relevant and improving SEO performance. Alt-text is different from captions as it describes the image. Individuals who are visually impaired rely on this type of description to enhance their understanding of what is on your site.
Use Unique Content
Add original, useful content to your location page, not generic information provided by the franchise. Google penalizes duplicate content which means that by relying on existing information and descriptions, you could be hurting your ranking and appearing lower on the search engine results pages. The more unique and relevant the information is on your location page, the more likely it is to move up in the rankings.
Include a business description, popular products to this specific location, and anything else that makes your franchise location different from the rest. Use a mix of information and localized keywords to ensure the maximum performance of your page. If you own several local shops, calibrate each location page to make sure search engines see them as separate businesses. While similar content is inevitable, make sure pages and information are not duplicated.
Incorporate Manager or Staff Information
Adding pictures of staff and their biographies help your visitors get to know you through your people. Incorporating social into your content, such as your store’s Twitter feed or Instagram posts, give consumers a chance to connect with you on an emotional level.
Customers love to see the people they will be meeting at your shop before they arrive. They enjoy knowing they are helping a local business and members of their community. By inviting visitors into the everyday day life of your store, you create a personal connection. As you attract more local clicks to your site, you also improve your place on the search results page.
Include Driving Directions
Include driving directions on your landing page that provide readers step-by-step instructions on how to get to this specific location. Thorough driving directions include directions coming from the north, south, east, and west, using highways, local landmarks, street names, and nearby establishments to identify the best way to reach your business. Including hyper-specific, locally-relevant keywords in your driving directions is a great way to boost your rankings in local search, and (hopefully) minimize the amount of “I can’t find you” calls you receive on a regular basis.
Embed a Google Map
It takes only a few minutes, shows your exact location, and adds a layer of trust from Google. By embedding the map on your location page, you are telling Google that your business is where you say it is on your GBP listing.
Answer Common Questions
Ensure customers get the information they need and exhibit your expertise by answering frequently asked questions. Having a section devoted to these queries can also help search engines better understand the searcher’s intent. If a consumer’s search query matches a question on your page, it will rank prominently, bringing a highly targeted audience that is interested in what you offer to your site. Content here can also be repurposed into blog content, allowing you to expand upon the answer or take a different perspective on the topic.
Calls to Action
If you want customers to contact you, invite them to get in touch and provide several ways for them to do so. Make sure the phone number, social links, address, and email information is readily available and correct.
Showcase Your Social Presence
Snippets of what goes on behind the scenes accompanied by user-generated photos and content not only makes you more interesting to customers, it encourages them to engage. This interactivity, in turn, boosts credibility in your niche, improving your ranking in Google and other search engines over time. Include widgets for platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yelp and Foursquare to further bolster your SEO.
Link To Citations and Top-Tier Directories
A vital element to your franchise location landing page is linking out to popular directories that your business is listed on. If your company is listed on citation sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, Yellow Pages, Home Advisor, or any other popular and credible directory, be sure to include external links to those sites on your location page. Google trusts these citation sites, so by linking out to them, you are increasing your chances of ranking higher in search results when a local business search is performed.
Utilizing Yelp listings, Facebook Local Pages, Google Business Profile, and other popular sources of consumer information is key to a franchise marketing strategy. They help you attract customers and build strong brand recognition. Linking to these pages from your site can boost credibility and establish your authority, which can help you appear at the top of the search results.
Feature Local Reviews
These days, people trust their peers about the quality and performance of a company more than advertisements. Collect reviews for this specific franchise location, whether that entails looking on Yelp and other popular review sites and/or providing current customers with incentives to provide reviews about your business, and feature these on your location page. Avoid pulling reviews about the company as a whole; if you can gather reviews for each specific location, you will come across that much more trustworthy to your customers.
Contact Us Today
If you are ready to improve your shop’s ranking and use effective franchise marketing techniques to grow your business, contact V Digital Services today. We can help you create SEO friendly pages, attract more visitors, and build local brand recognition.