If you’re a franchise executive-even the CEO of your franchise organization, it’s crucial for you to know the basics of SEO for franchises. Why?
Because SEO is the digital heartbeat of your franchise website.
And done right, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will bring you some of your best leads.
But why do you need to know about SEO for franchises?
Because Search Engine Optimization, whether done internally or through a SEO provider, is an expense. And you need to know what you’re spending money on…and in this case, why.
With that in mind, I’m going to teach you the basics of SEO.
But don’t worry; I’m not going to get in the weeds.
I’m only going to show you the stuff you need to know.
Finally, SEO for franchises isn’t merely about ramping up your franchise website’s traffic; it’s akin to setting up a rendezvous between your brand and potential franchisees at that pivotal moment when they type in a query in Google.
What Is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of optimizing a website to increase its visibility and ranking on search engines.
Remember; when your franchise site ranks higher on search result pages, more people find you. That means more eyes on your franchise opportunity.
And more eyes = more opportunities to sell franchises.
It’s important because it helps drive organic traffic to your site which can potentially convert into revenue for your franchise company.
When your site ranks higher on search result pages, more people find you, which means more eyes on your products or services.
Additionally, a franchise website that has implemented good Franchise SEO practices can result in higher conversion rates and a better user experience for prospective franchise buyers.
And as an added bonus, your franchise website will benefit from a sustained stream of organic traffic for months or even years to come.
A Personal Note
I use SEO techniques to help my own website maintain high rankings.
My SEO tool of choice is SE Ranking. Type in your website:
Let’s continue.
My SEO involves researching keywords that prospective clients are likely to use when they’re looking for help buying a franchise, or in this case, Franchise SEO and Content Marketing services.
Plus, I ensure that everything from titles to meta tags to content is shaped in a way that convinces search engines my content is worth showing first. Then I check the backlinks pointing toward my website.
Because optimizing my own website for search engines, ensures that my business is visible to potential clients when they are actively searching for products or services related to what I offer.
This means increased visibility in search engines, more organic traffic, higher chances of converting leads into customers, and ultimately, improved revenue generation.
Top Benefits Of SEO For Franchises
SEO increases online visibility, driving more organic search traffic to your franchise opportunity website. It enhances brand credibility and authority in your industry, improving your website’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). Specific benefits include:
- Enhanced online visibility allows your business to reach a wider audience.
- Increased organic search traffic generates more potential leads.
- Improved website ranking increases credibility and trust among your target audience of would-be franchisees.
- Better user experience and engagement lead to higher conversion rates…more new franchises sold.
- Cost effectiveness compared to traditional marketing strategies.
- Long term results with continuous improvements in website performance and visibility.
- Competitive advantage over franchise businesses not utilizing the best SEO strategies.
- Valuable insights from analytics help in understanding customer behavior and preferences.
SEO Basics For Franchise Opportunity Websites
Setting up for SEO success is crucial in ensuring that your franchise website is optimized for search engines. From choosing a good domain to creating a positive user experience, there are several key steps you can take to set the stage for successful SEO implementation.
Choosing a good domain
When selecting a domain, consider using one that reflects your brand and is easy to remember. It should be short, relevant, and contain keywords related to your business or industry.
Do this because it will help your franchise brand with search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and make it easier for users to find and remember your website.
In addition, it’s good to opt for a domain with a .com extension, as it’s often preferred as it is widely recognized and can enhance credibility.
Note: you’ll need to ensure the domain isn’t trademarked or closely resembles another existing domain to avoid legal issues in the future.
Using the right website platform
You need to ensure that the website platform you choose is user-friendly and optimized for SEO. Factors like mobile responsiveness, load speed, and secure hosting are critical for success. For me, it’s WordPress, with hosting by WPX.
By utilizing a website platform with built-in SEO capabilities, I streamline the process of implementing critical on-page elements such as meta titles, descriptions, and headers. This helps in ensuring that my site is well-structured for search engines like Google, Bing, and Duck Duck Go crawl and index it effectively.
Creating a positive user experience
To create a positive user experience, your web team needs to focus on website usability and navigation.
They need to make sure your site is easy to navigate and visually appealing. And use clear and concise language to guide users through your franchise opportunity website, so they can find what they need quickly.
Additionally, optimize loading speeds for all devices and screen sizes for a seamless browsing experience. Again, that’s why I use WPX Hosting. It’s lightning-fast!
Finally, while implementing the things I shared above, make sure your web team only uses responsive design. Why?
Because it enables your website to look good and functions well on any device. That includes desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
In addition, you need to prioritize mobile-friendliness, as more and more users are accessing websites via mobile* devices.
*Around 65% of the visitors to the website you’re on now use their Smartphones/mobile devices to read my content.
SEO For Franchises: Plugins
Your web team and/or your marketing team should know about SEO plugins. All legit WordPress websites use them. Why?
Because once they’re setup, every time you write content, you’ll get real-time SEO suggestions and tips.
Additionally, Good SEO plugins help your writers manage their meta titles, descriptions and keywords for each page.
If you’d like to learn more about SEO plugins, check out this post on the Semrush blog.
SEO For Franchises: Getting On Google
Aspiring franchise owners can’t find your website…and the wonderful (hopefully) content contained on it, unless your site and your webpages are indexed by the search engines. This is truly basic SEO.
To get on Google, you’ll need to submit your website’s sitemap through Google Search Console.
That’s because doing so helps Google understand the structure of your website. Once the robots in the backend understand that structure, your site will be crawled and its pages indexed. that includes new pages and blog posts. Wait. You do have a blog on your franchise website, right? I hope so.
Because having a regularly updated franchise blog does wonders for SEO. Why?
Because Google and the other major search engines LOVE fresh content!
Finally, submitting a sitemap also allows your team to monitor how many pages have been indexed, identify any indexing issues, and receive valuable insights about crawl errors* or other problems that may be hindering my site’s performance in search results.
*Sorry. Getting into the weeds a bit here. Your website team knows this stuff.
The Importance Of Implementing SEO On Your Franchise Website/Blog
After conducting thorough keyword research, the next step is to create high-quality, human-written content that incorporates those keywords. Optimizing on-page elements like title tags, meta descriptions, and headers is crucial for SEO success.
Wait. Did you see the bolded words above?
As you probably know, AI is being talked about and used a lot.
And while the technology is still young, you will use it. But here’s the thing.
A small number of marketers and writers are using AI Software to write content. And they have no problem selling it to you.
So be careful when you hire outside writers. Get references.
Because Google doesn’t like articles and webpages solely written by AI.
Here’s a wonderful example of what I mean.
In addition to creating useful, valuable content for your visitors and potential franchisees, your website needs high authority backlinks. Why?
Because links from reputable websites play a significant role in improving your site’s search engine rankings.
Specifically, if Google sees your site getting mentions and links from authoritative websites, it usually means your website has authority, too.
For instance, a few years ago, one of the editors at The New York Times asked me to write an article about a topic affecting the franchise industry. I gladly did it, and my website received a backlink from The New York Times website. And more authority in the process. Better rankings too.
Measuring Your SEO Success
In SEO, you won’t know don’t know where your website stands unless you keep an eye on your progress. You do that by measuring it over time.
You need to measure things like:
- Tracking visibility
- Analyzing organic traffic
- Session duration
- Bounce rate
- Monitoring conversion rates
All of those things help you gauge the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.
And by regularly assessing these metrics (and lots of others), you can make informed decisions to optimize and improve your website’s performance in search engine results.
More SEO Basics
Understanding the nuances of organic traffic, session duration, and bounce rate is crucial for assessing the effectiveness of your SEO strategy.
With that in mind, here’s a simplified breakdown for quick reference:
Organic Traffic
Description: the number of visitors who land on your site from a search engine result, not including paid ads.
Why it matters: indicates the health and reach of your SEO efforts. More organic traffic often equates to higher relevance and authority.
Session Duration
Description: average length of time a user spends on your site during a session.
Why it matters: longer sessions can imply more engaging content and better user experience, both of which are favored by search engines.
Bounce Rate
Description: the percentage of visitors who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
Why it matters: a lower bounce rate suggests that your content is aligning with user intent and your site is easy to navigate. And it helps your ranking.
Finally, you need to focus on these metrics using analytics tools to refine your SEO strategy and ensure you’re on the right track to meet your business objectives.
Monitoring conversion rates
After analyzing organic traffic coming in to your franchising website, session duration, and bounce rate, the next step in measuring SEO success is monitoring your conversion rates.
In a nutshell, this involves tracking the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action on your site, such as making a purchase, filling out a franchise information form, or signing up for your newsletter.
By monitoring these conversion rates, you’ll be able to gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your Franchise SEO efforts and identify areas for improvement.
Utilizing web analytics tools to track conversions and understanding which keywords or pages are driving the most conversions will help you make data-driven decisions to optimize your website for better results. In this case, getting prospective franchisees to request more information by filling out your form.
Regularly reviewing conversion rates also allows you to identify trends over time and recognize any changes that may impact your business goals.
Finally, with this information at hand, Franchise Executives can focus their resources on strategies that drive higher conversions and maximize the return on investment from their Franchise SEO efforts.
Great Quotes About Search Engine Optimization From Experts
“SEO is no longer just a job title, it has become part of everyone’s job description”
– Rand Fishkin
“SEO isn’t about ‘how do I get keywords into Google,’ it’s about understanding how many people search for information and finding a way to get in front of them.”
– Danny Sullivan
“It’s much easier to double your business by doubling your conversion rate than by doubling your traffic.”
– Jeff Eisenberg
“Google doesn’t care how much time and effort you put into your content. They care about the user experience.”
– Brian Dean
“No website can stand without a strong backbone. And that backbone is technical SEO.”
– Neil Patel
“If you’re going to build a website, make sure to have a website that Google would be embarrassed not to rank for its main keywords.”
– Barry Schwartz
“The success of a page should be measured by one criteria: Does the visitor do what you want them to do?”
– Aaron Wall
“Today it’s not about ‘get the traffic’ — it’s about ‘get the targeted and relevant traffic.”
– Adam Audette
“It’s important to look beyond rankings and rather ensure a website is usable for everyone.”
– Ruth Everett
Conclusion
To conclude, understanding the basics of SEO for franchises is crucial for your website’s success. Implementing effective SEO strategies can significantly improve your site’s visibility and that all important organic traffic.
By consistently measuring and analyzing SEO success, franchise businesses can optimize their digital marketing strategies for better results and increased conversion rates for new franchise candidates.
Understanding these fundamental principles is essential for franchise executives looking to enhance their online presence and drive business growth through effective search engine optimization techniques.
You just need to do it right.
