Local SEO for Retail Chains and Franchises

Local SEO is Good Complement to Store Locators

Thinking Beyond the Store Locator

It seems like every retail or franchise website has a “find a location near you” option now. You type in your location, and it spits back a list of locations sorted by their distance to you. Some smart marketers even take that a step further and enable you to click on the search results to see the location on the map. But I’m still amazed by how many people don’t take things one micro-step further – it would make such a huge difference in their local search engine optimization success. That’s what this post is about.

Here are some of my suggestions for improving the local search engine optimization (local SEO) results for your retail chains or franchisees…

Suggestion One: Create a Separate, Standalone Webpage for Each Store or Franchise Location

Sure, you might be thinking this would take a lot of work or cost too much to implement this local SEO strategy, but most of you already have 90% of the work done. If you have a “search by zip code” or other “find-a-location-near-you” option on your website, just hyperlink each location to go a layer deeper. Creating a separate web page for each of your locations can be automated through a content management system. Even if you don’t have a content management system, you can create a template that can be adapted for each location – saving hours of development time and thousands of dollars. For our customers, we develop a template set that maintains their brand standards, while providing variety for users and franchisees alike. We also provide varying levels of control and customization – enabling each location to have control over some aspect of content creation at the local level.

Suggestion Two: Localize Each Location to Appeal to Local Customers

If you’re going to have a separate web page for each store or franchise location, why not put some local content on that page? Let the store manager post discounts and specials for that location. Of course, provide a map, directions, local phone number, address, hours, a picture of the location, jobs for that location, and other local goodies on each page – but also consider publishing regular updates on this page to keep your local customers happy. In our opinion, this is what great local SEO is about.

Suggestion Three: Use a Unique Local Web Address and Page Title for Each Location

Let’s say you have a bunch of pizza franchises all over the country. If you had a single page for your location in Atlanta, Georgia, you may want to call the page: yourpizzacompany/location_atlanta_georgia_30318. You get the idea. You might also want to title the page “Pizza Company Atlanta Georgia 30318″. Both of these factors can contribute to improving your local relevance to search engines.

Suggestion Four: Link Your Local Directory Listings to Each Local Page

Use your unique page URL in Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Local.com, and regional or industry directories. The more of these directories and other websites that link to your individual pages, the better your location-specific pages will perform. Your location-specific page can also be used in conjunction with your PPC advertising and can serve as a landing page. It will most-likely cost less to advertise for “Atlanta pizza company” than “pizza chains.” Using your location-specific page, in conjunction with local PPC, can greatly improve your conversion and deliver better return on investment for your PPC spend.

Suggestion Five: Get Local Customer Reviews

Post reviews from customers in your neck of the woods. Get back to knowing your neighbors and reaching out to people within a 50-mile radius of your business. Use recommendations from review sites like Yelp! and Citysearch on your local pages – linking them back to your directory listing. Consider providing comment and feedback options on your local pages, to get more people to suggest specific locations for your business.

Suggestion Six: Be Thinking About Mobile & Local

Chances are you know somebody with an iPhone, or you’ve seen people in your area with them. The iPhone is just one of many new types of mobile devices that make it easier to use the Internet from the phone. There are also features with the device that enable people to search for businesses in close proximity to them, using “location aware” features built into the phone. If I want to see all the restaurants within a mile of where I’m standing, I can do that. As more people begin to use location aware services – or just mobile search from their phone – it will drive more and more local searches. An even better reason to make sure each of your locations is optimized for local search.

But Is It All Worth It?

If you’re a well-known brand name, you’ll probably be less interested in this approach. While McDonald’s could benefit from this type of local SEO program, people know to go to the McDonald’s website to find a location near them. If you’re a small 5-6 location burger joint though, you may want to create separate pages for each of your locations – optimized for each area they are in. You’ll be surprised how many people will discover your location and want to come in.

Just as location is so important in physical stores, so to is location important on the Web. You wouldn’t open one store to serve all your customers across the U.S., which is the equivalent of having one website to serve all areas of the country. Create local sites within your system, to drive more customers to the location closest to them.

And… in case you’re wondering, it’s not as expensive as you might think. An agency specializing in local search engine optimization (yes, like Radius Online) can manage the local search for each of your locations for as little as $79 per month. If you can increase Web and foot traffic for each of your locations, your business will grow and prosper.

Closing Thoughts

You don’t have to follow all these steps to be successful with local search, but you should consider creating a separate page for each of your locations. We’ve done this for several large retail chains and seen them grow their business exponentially at the local level, which all trickles up to drive the bottom line. If you’d like to learn more about how we help companies develop and implement cost-effective local search engine optimization programs, please visit us at http://www.radiusonline.com.

Are you a retail chain or franchise system with great ideas for how to leverage local search? Post your comments below to add value to this post. Thanks for reading!