Franchise local marketing playbook
The short answer
Give every franchise location its own Google Business Profile with the same name and category rules across the chain, its own page on your website, and its own review link. Then agree in writing who owns the profile login, who replies to reviews and who pays for what.
By Reputant · Updated October 31, 2026 · 4 min read
What does Google say about chains and franchises?
Google's guidelines for representing your business cover chains and franchises on one page. Three points matter most for a small franchise.
- One page per location. Do not create more than one page for each location, in one account or several.
- All locations in the same country must have the same name, and locations that provide the same service must have the same category.
- A franchisee may use the parent brand name when it is an authorized and fully dedicated seller of the branded product or service.
The same page covers other cases, such as practitioners and service-area businesses. Read it in full before you create or change any profile.
Can a department inside a location have its own profile?
Google says publicly facing departments that operate as distinct entities should have their own page, and that the exact name of each department must differ from the main business and from the other departments.
If your franchise unit is one business with one team, it is one profile. If you are unsure, our suggestion is to read the departments section of the guidelines before you create a second profile at the same address.
Who owns what between the franchisor and the franchisee?
Your franchise agreement is the first place to look. The points below are our suggestions for what to settle in writing, and they are not legal advice.
| Job | Franchisor | Franchisee |
|---|---|---|
| Brand name, logo and photos standard | Sets the rules | Follows them |
| Profile login and who can change it | Agrees the rule in writing | Keeps access for their own unit |
| Profile hours, phone and address | Checks for errors | Keeps them current |
| Review requests | Provides approved wording | Sends them after real visits |
| Replies to reviews | Gives tone guidance | Writes the replies |
| Location page on the website | Provides the template | Supplies local facts |
Settle one more thing early: what happens to the profile and its reviews if a franchisee leaves. Write it down while everyone is on good terms.
What should a franchise location page include?
Each unit needs its own page on your website with its own address, hours, phone number and local details, not the same text with the city swapped. Our guide to location pages covers what to put on them.
Link each profile to its own location page, so a customer who finds the Main Street profile lands on the Main Street page.
How should a franchise handle reviews?
Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking, in its page on improving your local ranking. Every unit builds its own rating from its own customers.
Our suggestion is a shared request message from the franchisor, with each unit sending its own review link. See managing reviews across multiple locations for the weekly routine.
Reputant keeps each location's review campaigns, reviews and rank grid separate in one account. It does not roll all locations into one report, and locations are added one at a time.
What is a simple set-up checklist for a new unit?
Run this list when a new franchise location opens.
- Create the location's own Google Business Profile with the chain's agreed name and category, and verify it.
- Agree in writing who holds the owner login.
- Fill in hours, phone, address and photos from the brand standard.
- Build the unit's page on the website and link the profile to it.
- Make the unit's review link and brief the team on the request message.
- Add the unit to your review tool and set one person to reply to reviews.
How does this fit with wider multi-location SEO?
The profile, page and review steps above are the base. Our guide to multi-location SEO places them in the full picture.