Outsourcing Google Ads for your franchise brand

In brief: outsourcing paid search

• Outsourcing Google Ads gives your franchise brand one account structure with local campaigns per location.
• The account stays with head office; we manage it through your Manager account.
• We charge a fixed management fee, not a percentage of the media budget.
• We allocate budget using an explainable key per location.
• You receive a monthly report with costs and customer actions per location.

Why do franchise brands outsource Google Ads?

Because Google Ads for a chain is more complex than for a single business. You have brand campaigns, local campaigns, location assets, budgets per location and franchisees who sometimes advertise themselves. Without specialist knowledge, budget leaks away to keywords without purchase intent or to locations that compete with each other.

In our experience, almost every audit reveals the same mistakes: franchisees bidding on the brand name, campaigns targeting the whole of the Netherlands, and no measurement of phone calls and direction requests. The most common causes are set out in why local Google Ads produce no leads.

How do we set up your Google Ads account?

We work with a Manager account (MCC) in head office's name. Beneath it sit a brand campaign, generic national campaigns and local campaigns per location or cluster. We link location assets to the Google Business Profiles, so every ad shows the correct address. Where it fits, we use Performance Max with store goals.

How do we allocate the advertising budget across locations?

With an allocation key that can be explained to the franchisee advisory council. We often combine a fixed base budget per location with a variable part based on search volume and goals. Franchisees can top up locally for promotions; that remains separately visible in the report. More on this trade-off in splitting the marketing budget between franchisor and franchisee.

What do you keep in your own hands when you outsource Google Ads?

The account, the data and the decisions. We carry out the work; you decide on budget and priorities. Every month you receive a report per location with costs, customer actions and cost per lead, and every quarter an evaluation with recommendations. If you would like to understand the channel better first, read local search advertising.

What does outsourcing Google Ads cost?

There are two cost items: the media budget that goes straight to Google, and our management. For management we quote a fixed monthly price based on the number of campaigns and locations; not a percentage of the media budget, so we have no interest in higher spending. See what franchise marketing costs or start with a free scan of three locations.

How does the handover of your Google Ads account work?

In four steps, without campaigns stopping. First we get admin access via head office's Manager account. Then comes an audit of structure, keywords, conversion tracking and budgets per location. After that we fix the biggest mistakes, and only then do we build out the local structure further. After the first month you receive a report with the starting position and the first improvements.

How do we measure whether local ads bring in customers?

We measure conversions that genuinely say something about customers: phone calls, direction requests, appointments, bookings and forms, per location. Where possible we compare the trend with the locations' turnover figures. That way you see not only what a click costs, but also what a customer costs and which locations get the most out of their budget.

Who is behind this approach to outsourcing paid search?

Behind this page is a permanent team without changing account managers. Founder Gijs Bodenstaff (Local SEO specialist since 2010, Google Product Expert, author of three books on the local visibility of chains) is head office's point of contact. Angela analyses visibility and leads per location, Elisabeth manages local advertising, Peter builds local authority and ten regular freelancers look after profiles and reviews. Every figure on this page has a source; where we speak from our own experience, we say so.

Read more about the team: about Franchise-Marketing.nl; the author's background can be found under Gijs Bodenstaff.