The battle for marketing investment is real. For many multi-location and franchise marketers, investing in a national and local search engine optimization (SEO) program is a no-brainer in terms of payoff, but limited budgets, stakeholder buy-in, and competing priorities often push SEO initiatives to the bottom of the list.
Yet when key components are done right, organic and SEO-driven growth can become your best (and lowest cost!) form of new customer acquisition. This blog post aims to guide multi-location and franchise marketers through the essential components to consider when launching a national or local SEO program.
And heads up – you won’t find any mention of meta titles or alt tags in this post. We’re going beyond the obvious and into what can really move the needle for your business and conquering a strong multi-location SEO strategy.
You don’t know what you don’t know. Starting with a full technical audit of your website is a great way to start gathering data on key areas that are holding visitors back from converting. The goal is to identify key areas for easy optimization, not to solve every error your website is throwing. Marketers can often get blinded by the errors and recommendations made by these types of website audits and reports, so we recommend evaluating it through the lens of ‘if we improved 3 key areas of the website to improve conversion rates, what would they be?’ At Netsertive we simplify this process by looking at key performance metrics such as:
Similar to a technical website audit, a UX and CRO analysis will identify additional areas where users get stuck. In an ideal world you have a strong understanding of your customers’ digital journey and the role that your digital presence, digital advertising, website and location pages play in converting that user. The discrepancy between your vision vs reality can be surfaced by understanding your user journey and experience, which provides valuable ideas for Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) or how to increase the percentage of visitors who convert. Key areas to look at include:
At Netsertive, other fun data we love to dig into to gauge a user’s website experience includes:
Ideally, what search engines prioritize as a good user experience maps to what your ideal customer’s digital journey looks like, to ultimately enhance user satisfaction and conversion.
Spending the first half hour of your day on two factor authentication probably makes you want to pull your hair out, but I guarantee it’s better than dealing with a cyber attack. 92% of IT leaders say cyber attacks are occurring more frequently today (Keeper Security) and it’s the Brand’s job to keep your network and systems secure. The main areas to evaluate and ensure are secure are:
It’s not sexy, but security matters and continues to grow in importance. Without it, you could be at risk of cybersecurity attacks and data loss.
The structure of your website has a large impact on SEO, especially at the local level. The biggest factor (and ongoing debate we’re ready to put to bed) is related to whether your site follows a Subdirectory or Subdomain structure:
At Netsertive we’re a huge fan of the subdirectory structure because of its SEO power. Search engines rely on well-organized content to understand your site’s hierarchy and topical relevance to searchers, and Subdirectories optimize your website’s structure and provide clear signals about the organization and depth of your knowledge and content. In addition, all of your locations can benefit from the domain authority built over the years, working double duty to drive more organic local leads to your site.
With Subdomains, Google treats them as distinct websites, which means they crawl and index subdomains separately and may not fully benefit from backlink building and other digital PR your main website has built over the years, not to mention that it can be harder to maintain your website overall.
But if we have subdirectories, how do I deal with duplicate content!? Ensure you have localized content on every location so that Google doesn’t flag you for duplicate content. At Netsertive, we use centralized bulk management tools to ensure that location pages follow a similar look and feel yet have localized reviews, testimonials, images, promotions and more so that location pages contribute to your local SEO strategy instead of dinging it.
While A/B and Multivariate testing is technically a part of a strong Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) strategy, it’s so important we gave it its own section. A/B testing is where you isolate testing to just one variable (a call to action for example), while multivariate testing means testing a combination of variations at one time. While both provide great ways to continually test, learn, and improve upon conversion rates, we love A/B testing because of it’s simple way to isolate one variable and clearly understand the impact of the change.
Very small changes can have outsized impacts when done over time. At Netsertive, simple A/B tests we look at related to websites include:
Even small changes, when tested and optimized over time, can lead to substantial improvements in conversion rates. By continually testing and refining elements on your website, you can make data-driven decisions that enhance user experience and ultimately drive better results.
We made it to the hard part! Doing local search engine optimization well across all of your business locations. This is often where multi-location and franchise marketers fall down, because of the multitude and complexity of local SEO tactics. While it can feel overwhelming, here’s the top items we recommend focusing on for the biggest impact:
With all of the recent changes in AI and Google’s search algorithm, establishing that core local infrastructure of local information across your website and digital properties is crucial. These are the inputs Platforms are looking at to inform their new algorithms and AI generated search results, which means if you don’t have it well structured and optimized you’re going to miss out.
“The more you’ve structured your data, the more search engines can parse it, the higher all of your pages will rank” Aazir Munir, Product Manager at Netsertive
Last but certainly not least, let’s dive into Off-Site SEO, which involves actions taken outside of your own website that impact your search engine rankings and influence how people discover and engage with your content. This includes backlink building, keyword strategy, content development, and digital PR to increase domain authority and SEO over time.
Unique Differentiator: The key to excelling in Off-Site SEO is to identify your unique differentiator and ensure it is infused into your tactics. In a competitive digital space, understanding who you are and what makes you different is crucial to establishing high domain authority specific to your niche. You can’t be everything to everyone, and building meaningful, specific content and authority in your domain is how you win with SEO.
1. Link Building: Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable sources to enhance your site’s authority and relevance. Build relationships with industry influencers, local businesses, and authoritative websites to earn these valuable links.
2. Quality Content: Generate high-quality, relevant content that aligns with your site’s goals and keyword targeting. Conduct competitive link gap analyses to identify opportunities for content that will attract backlinks and improve your search visibility.
3. Digital PR: Engage in digital PR to increase your domain authority over time. This involves securing mentions and links from authoritative sites and publications. Digital PR helps improve your brand’s visibility and credibility online.
Managing Off-Site SEO for multi-location or franchise brands can be complex due to the scale and diversity of locations. Here’s how to approach it effectively:
1. Cohesive Strategy: Develop a cohesive off-site SEO strategy that aligns with your overall brand identity but also allows for local customization. This ensures consistency while catering to the unique aspects of each location.
2. Local Backlinks: Prioritize building local backlinks for each location. This enhances local SEO and helps each location rank better in local search results. Collaborate with local businesses, organizations, and influencers to acquire these backlinks.
3. Localized Content and PR: Tailor your content and PR efforts to highlight the unique offerings and events of each location. This approach not only improves your local SEO but also engages the local audience more effectively.
With thousands of tactics and tweaks available, it’s essential to focus on what matters most. Identify the key elements that will have the biggest impact on your SEO efforts and measure their effectiveness. Start with the most critical aspects and gradually expand your strategy as you see results.
We Scale Local Marketing for Multi-Location Brands
