Franchise SEO: 5 Common Mistakes

Top 5 Most Common Franchise SEO Mistakes

As search engines adopt new algorithm updates there are changes and practices that directly affect your site. Navigating SEO for franchise websites on a corporate and microsite level has additional considerations. With over 25 years of experience, CyberMark has been at the front lines of all the search engine algorithm updates and observed web best practices to give our clients the best organic results. Read on for common franchise SEO mistakes and how these search engine penalties affect your ranking.

 

Missing TMH – Or Infrequently Updating

Congratulations! You’ve ranked highly on Google or other search engines! Now what? This is where the click-through rate comes into play. The best way to increase the click-through rate for your site is by creating original and enticing Title and Meta Tags for each web page on your site.

But wait, there’s more! You got that click and now have a user on your site – but you’re not done yet. Creating accurate and targeted header tags not only help you rank but also keep users on your site. Having a ‘wall of text’ can overwhelm the user and doesn’t lend itself easily to skimming – which most users on a site do.

Duplicate Content

Another extremely common SEO snafu we see with franchises is duplicate content errors. With microsites having a lot of similarities to the corporate site, it might feel like there isn’t a lot of room for customization. However, there are many ways to generate original content across all of the pages of your microsite.

  • Utilize location-specific keywords
  • Repurpose any potential ‘duplicate content’ and customize it to your location/customer while keeping key information
  • Optimize title, meta, and header tags to create something unique for your customers

Low Word Count

Another SEO party foul is low word count. When browsing the internet most users are in the discovery or research stage of the conversion journey. This is where targeted SEO Internet Marketing comes into play. Potential customers are going to browse the internet for services and companies and will need as much information as possible to make informed decisions.

Having a low word count can create two dilemmas. The first is a search engine interpreting a page with a low word count as a ‘404 error’ page in which there is no relevant content available to the user. This makes your page less likely to rank and make it into the screen of your potential customer. The second error occurs when a user does come across a page with low copy and there isn’t enough information to answer the user’s questions or the copy isn’t up to date. This causes the user to leave the site and continue their search elsewhere. Ouch. After multiple users leave a site with low copy, a search engine will make note of this and give priority to other sites that have lower bounce rates.

Google Analytics

The data doesn’t stop with your sales or business metrics. Website analytics reporting is a crucial step in achieving successful SEO internet marketing for your franchise. Being able to learn what pages people are viewing and what they are searching for will help you bridge the gap between the content on your site and the needs of your customer. The practice of checking weekly or monthly sales should be applied to your analytics reporting just as much.

Managing your NAP Across Your Local Listings & Websites

Your name, address, and phone number are some of the most important pieces of information in maintaining your online presence. Having this information only on your website or microsite isn’t enough. For every franchise or business location, you need to utilize as many local listing platforms that are available. The best part of these platforms? Most are free!

  • Apple Maps
  • Bing Places
  • Google My Business
  • Yelp

Local listings help tremendously with local SEO and capture that map-based search traffic and drive it to your site. Take advantage of local SEO and put your business on the map!

Contact Us

At CyberMark we have mastered the art of Franchise SEO. From maintaining brand standards to making your website as search engine friendly as possible, we have the know-how to place your business at the top of the search engine result page.  Contact us today to get your franchise ranking!

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CyberMark
http://www.cybermark.com
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