Location pages serve as a gateway to your franchisees. These pages help prospects and search engines find relevant information about a specific location, including brand offerings, operating hours and contact details. In creating location pages, a local SEO company advises that you localize your page content, include specific name, address and phone (NAP) details on each page, leverage store locator widgets and include social proof.

Leverage geo-specific keywords on your pages to gain higher visibility in local search results. For instance, if your dental clinic is based in Austin, TX, you’ll want to target “dental clinic in Austin, TX,” and other related search terms in your website content. Besides the city name, you can also target nearby tourist destinations, local landmarks or regional names to increase your chances of showing in local search engine results pages (SERPs).

Avoid duplicate content at all costs; brainstorm creative ways of getting service pages to rank in different locations. Garrett also advises that you defer to your franchisee’s judgment on local colloquialisms and dialect. For instance, think about how different parts of the country call carbonated drinks soda, pop or coke. But make sure to test local dialect queries in Google to see how they perform differently.

To create awesome content for your local landing pages, be sure to produce content based on your target audience’s needs. Use keyword-rich titles, headlines and location descriptions. Another important part of the local SEO guide that you should follow is to showcase your expertise by answering the frequently asked questions (FAQs) about your brand offerings. More importantly, make your calls-to-action (CTAs) prominent and locally relevant.

The Geolocation API is an HTML5 feature that, once enabled, lets you find out the geographic coordinates of your site visitor’s current location. Using this feature, you can direct all country- or city-specific website visitors to your specific location pages. Schedule a consultation with a local SEO agency with vast experience in web development and franchise marketing to find out how to leverage the Geolocation feature to your advantage.

Claim and verify your listings for all locations to avoid misleading information about your brand from surfacing on the internet and inspire brand confidence. To streamline your verification process, you can leverage Google’s bulk verification requests or hire a Google My Business agency to assist you with your GMB SEO.

Keep your profile updated with any changes in relevant information, such as your franchisee address, phone number and operating hours. Harris also highlighted the importance of creating content relevant to your local audience and posting it on your GMB profile to boost your brand authority. Do you own a restaurant or a home restoration company? Upload pictures showing off what you do so potential customers can see.

Google has laid out clear guidelines in managing GMB profiles. To avoid getting penalized or suspended, be sure to follow these rules to the T, from Google My Business setup and optimization to ongoing GMB SEO management. These include providing complete and accurate business information, localizing your GMB SEO content and updating your listings as needed.

Statistics show 90 percent of consumers read online reviews before choosing a local business (Search Engine Land). Harness the power of customer reviews to strengthen your Google My Business profile and encourage audience engagement. Reach out to your best customers to request reviews and have a review response strategy in place to improve customer relationships and quickly address any negative feedback.

Use the GMB dashboard or GMB Insights to monitor your GMB SEO performance and gather actionable insights to power your next marketing efforts. These tools give you access to your GMB profile’s performance statistics, including web pageviews, customer actions, relevant search queries and top search types.

Google has rolled out GMB updates to help enterprise businesses and different market players provide a better brand experience to their target audience. Among these new features are the Google Guarantee badge certification which tells prospects you are a legitimate business and the Covid-19 Google Post, which enables you to update your business information if it has been impacted by the pandemic. Take advantage of these GMB features to boost your local SEO performance and attract more organic leads.