Unifying a Brand: A Franchise SEO Strategy for 50+ Franchisees
Client: A national HVAC franchise with 50+ independent owner-operators.
Challenges We Faced
The client’s franchise model created a conflict between corporate and local, resulting in a digital mess:
No “Map Pack” Ranking
They had a GMB, but were completely absent from critical medical directories like Healthgrades, Vitals, and Zocdoc.
Brand vs. Local Conflict
Franchisees were creating their own “rogue” websites and GMBs, competing with the corporate site.
No Corporate Control
Corporate had no way to manage brand consistency, and franchisees had no GMB or SEO expertise.
Massive Duplicate Content
The corporate site provided “canned” content, so all 50+ franchisee sites looked identical to Google.
Poor Local Rankings
Because of the duplicate content and infighting, very few locations ranked for “AC repair near me.”
Scale Your Franchise SEO
“Need to get all your franchisees ranking? Our Franchise SEO Services balance corporate control with the local results you need.”
Our Approach – How We Solved These Challenges
Franchise SEO Services
We developed a “Corporate-Local” strategy. We created a WordPress Multisite that gave corporate brand control while allowing franchisees to customize a unique “About” and “Local Projects” page.
Multi-Location GMB Management
We migrated all 50+ GMB profiles to a central agency account. We gave franchisees “manager” access but retained “owner” control to prevent NAP changes.
Local Landing Page Creation (at Scale)
We created a “parent” template for all core services (“AC Repair,” “Furnace Installation”) and then programmatically created 50 unique versions for each location, inserting local keywords, reviews, and office photos.
Review Management Platforms
We deployed Birdeye across all 50 locations, allowing franchisees to request reviews for their specific GMB profile, not the corporate brand.
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Service Calls (All Locations) | 120/mo | 950/mo | +691% |
| Locations in “Map Pack” Top 3 | 0/mo | 42 / 50 | +740% |
| Organic Leads (from Local Pages) | 15 / 150 | 500+/mo | +1150% |
Free Multi-Location Audit
“Not getting leads from all your locations? Book a Free Franchise SEO Analysis and let our multi-location SEO company build your strategy!”
Advice for Marketers & Brand Owners
- You need a “Corporate-Local” balance. Franchise SEO fails when it’s all corporate control or all franchisee chaos. A multisite or templated system is key.
- Control your GMBs. A franchisee changing their GMB name to “Best AC Repair in [City]” can hurt the entire brand. Centralize GMB ownership.
- “Canned” content is duplicate content. You must create unique, localized service and location pages for every franchisee.
- Local reviews are for local businesses. Your Review Management Platform must be set up to send reviews to the local GMB, not the corporate one.
Extra Factors That Made It Work
- The WordPress Multisite build was the key. It solved the brand control vs. local uniqueness problem.
- Centralizing GMB ownership was a political challenge but the most important technical fix.
- Using Birdeye to empower franchisees to get local reviews built trust and rankings.
