Local SEO Checklist for Franchisees & Multi-Location Brands

A local SEO checklist for a multi-location franchise has to be run once per location, because Google ranks each location on its own. The fourteen checks below cover the Google profile, the location page, reviews and tracking. Work through one location a day, put a date on every fix, and flag the items the franchisor controls.

The checklist

1. Profile: one per location. Search the address and the brand name on Google Maps. Every real, staffed location has exactly one verified profile, and no closed or moved location still shows as open.
2. Profile: the name on the sign. The business name matches the storefront sign and the brand's naming pattern, with no neighborhood or service words added (Google's guidelines).
3. Profile: one primary category everywhere. Every location carries the same primary category, the one for the service most new customers walk in for. Secondary categories go only on locations that offer that service.
4. Profile: hours and holiday hours. Regular hours match the sign on the door, and special hours are entered before each holiday, location by location.
5. Profile: the link opens the location page. Each profile's website link goes to that location's page, not the brand homepage.
6. Profile: photos of this location. The building as seen from the parking lot, the door they will use, the space inside and the staff, so a first-time customer recognizes the place when they pull up.
7. Website: one real page per location. Address, hours, phone, directions, the services this location offers, the people who work there and its own reviews.
8. Website: location markup. Local business structured data on each location page, with the same name, address and phone as the profile (Google's local business markup).
9. Website: the phone test. Open each location page on a phone. Call, directions and the booking or order button each work in one tap.
10. Listings: the same details everywhere. Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and the directories your brand uses show the same name, address, phone and hours.
11. Reviews: a link per location. Each location has its own review link, and staff ask every new customer the same way (Google's tips on reviews).
12. Reviews: a named replier. Someone at each location answers reviews within a set time, inside the brand's response guidelines.
13. Tracking: tagged links. Each profile's website link carries a tag naming the location, so your analytics separates search visits by location (Analytics setup).
14. Tracking: results per location. Calls, direction requests and new customers from search are reported for each location every month.

What to fix first

Fix what turns a customer away at the door before anything that only improves rankings. Each problem below has a deadline, because a fix with no date tends to wait until the next planning meeting.

Items 5, 7 and 8 often sit with the franchisor's web team, and sometimes item 1 does too. Ask which ones they control before you start. Then send one written request per location with the change, the reason and the date you need it. A request with a deadline gets scheduled. A complaint in a franchisee meeting usually does not.

How often to review

Tie the reviews to the events that change your locations, not only to the calendar.

• Every month: check items 4, 11, 12 and 14 for each location. Hours drift, review requests stop when staff change, and the monthly numbers show which location needs attention.
• Before a new location opens: run all fourteen for the new location, so its profile and page are live and verified ahead of opening day. Then check its neighbors, because a new location changes which of your locations Google shows to customers between them.
• When a location moves, closes or changes owner: run items 1, 2, 5 and 10 the same week. Old addresses and old owners' phone numbers are where duplicate listings come from.
• Before annual planning: run the full list across every location and bring the results to the meeting, so next year's local budget goes where the gaps are.

For a deeper look at the website side, the SEO audit guide for multi-location brands adds an hour of checks with free tools. The Google Business Profile page covers how we run profiles across locations.

How VETS Growth Marketing helps

We run this checklist across every one of your locations, then turn it into a dated plan: the fixes we make in your accounts, and the change requests we write for the franchisor. Everything we touch stays in your name. We report each month in new customers per location, so you can see which fixes paid off. Book a growth consultation and we will run it for your locations with you.