The practice of optimizing your website for search engines like Google’s organic search results is known as search engine optimization or SEO. More visibility and visitors to your website result from higher rankings. For franchise businesses, local SEO and ranking higher in location-based searches can drive more customers to your local store or service. Here are the seven most important SEO tips to improve your rankings:
1. Optimize Page Titles And Meta Descriptions
Your page titles and meta descriptions are displayed in the search results, so they need to be compelling. The page title should be 60 characters or less and include your keyword. The meta description is a short summary of the page content in 150-160 characters. It should also include your keyword and motivate searchers to click. These on-page elements are key to getting clicks and ranking higher.
2. Focus On Keyword Optimization
Do research to identify the best keywords and phrases for your business and franchise location. These should be relevant to what you offer and the terms people actually search for. Prioritize location-based keywords for local SEO for franchises. Optimizing your page content, including titles, descriptions, headings, alt text, and content around your target keywords. Use the keyword at least once in the opening paragraph, and 2-4 times total in the content. Make sure your keywords appear in a natural way, not forced.
3. Write Compelling Content
Publish informative, high-quality content on a regular basis. Long-form content that provides value to readers helps to rank higher and educate your audience. Include your keywords in your blog posts, service pages, location pages, and any other site content. Fresh, frequent content also gives search engines a reason to crawl your site more often, so aim for publishing 2-4 blog posts per month at a minimum.
4. Build Internal Site Linking
Internal site linking helps to connect pages on your website together, so search engines see your site as an inter-connected network of information around a central theme. Link from your content to other service pages and location pages on your site. Use your keywords or variations in your internal anchor text. This also helps create easier navigation for users.
5. Gain High-Quality Backlinks
Earning high-quality backlinks from authoritative sites in your industry helps rank higher. Pitch yourself as an expert source to be interviewed or contribute a guest post. Build relationships with related businesses to exchange links. Submit your latest content to industry niche sites and directories. Gain local links by sponsoring community events or teams. However, avoid low-quality links and only link to authoritative, relevant sites to keep your link profile clean.
6. Optimize Page Load Speed
A fast-loading website improves user experience and your search rankings. Optimize your images, remove plugins that slow your site down, and enable caching and compression to speed up your page load time. A slow site frustrates visitors and can result in higher bounce rates, which search engines see as a poor user experience. Most search engines now use page speed as a ranking factor.
7. Go Mobile Friendly
With more people accessing the internet via mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website responsive to all screen sizes is critical for your search rankings and accessibility. Ensure elements display correctly across devices, text is readable and links are clickable for mobile visitors. Google favors mobile-friendly sites in rankings to provide the best experience for all searchers regardless of the device being used.