Modern franchise brands can’t afford to ignore the importance of their digital storefronts, so here are five crucial aspects you need to consider when building your online presence.
Local businesses are discovering an increasing demand for their products and services via the internet and popular search engines such as Google and Bing. During global lockdowns, the web was the only way to shop for many consumers, creating a requirement for businesses to learn and improve where their web pages appear when a possible customer performs a keyword search, or to close shop.
What is local search engine optimization?
Basic local search engine optimization (LSEO) is the term used to describe the process of optimizing website content and online profiles to improve keyword rankings. Improving positions in Google Maps and the “3-Pack” of Map listings in a Google search is centered around four specific focal areas: trustworthy business data, online reputation, frequent mentions of the business’s data by third parties, and local page optimization.
“To not have an SSL certificate is to make it blatantly clear to website visitors that their security is not important to you”
Local organic SEO and standard listings below the Map listings requires greater emphasis on:
1. The helpfulness of the page itself
2. Mentions and links from other websites
3. How users interact with the listing compared to alternatives
Website security
Nearly every franchise website uses a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate to create a one-to-one secure connection between the web server and the end-user. To not have an SSL certificate is to make it blatantly clear to website visitors that their security is not important to you, particularly as a result of web browsers such as Chrome and Edge alerting the searcher of insecure content even before they visit the website.
With every website in the recent local page test containing a secure connection, it’s safe to presume that you’ll have a 100 per cent higher probability of outranking a listing void of an SSL.
The attributes that website security address are primarily user search behavior when being selected for offering security, and helpfulness for creating the desire to stay on the page and not return to the search result and choose an alternate listing.
Privacy
Similar to data security, privacy is becoming increasingly important to internet users, ergo the reason you may be seeing more cookie permission popups to address requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Even more recently, Google Chrome browser and Apple have warned advertisers that the days of third-party tracking cookies are coming to an end.
To address privacy concerns, businesses can offer a frequently updated privacy policy wherever and whenever visitors are required to share personal information, such as web forms and online chat tools.
Accessibility
Many SEO specialists are myopic when it comes to addressing accessibility issues by only focusing on adding keyword-infused alternate text on images. While alternate (alt) text can play a role in website accessibility, its role is small compared to other areas of optimization that address the needs of visual and hearing-impaired visitors.
Below is a list of a few focal points that franchise businesses should be paying attention to:
• Page and layout color pallets
• Font sizes, colors, and the ability to enlarge text
• Navigation tags, such as the
