Google Maps Management
Choosing a Google Maps Management Agency for a Franchise: What to Check Across Locations
As a franchise grows, keeping every location's Google Maps information up to date can become difficult for head office to handle alone. Agency proposals can look much the same on paper, making it difficult to judge which company can handle your brand's day-to-day needs.
When choosing a Google Maps management agency for a franchise, compare the locations and tasks covered, how the agency will work with company-owned stores and franchisees, and the records it will provide for each location. A monthly fee or a combined view count may hide problems at individual stores, or leave essential work outside the quoted price.
At BlinkAd, we ask about the current state of each profile and what head office wants to resolve, as well as the number of locations. The questions below can help you compare proposals from any agency.
Start with your store list and ask what the agency will manage
A proposal that says “all locations managed” still needs a clear scope. Updating an existing store's information, helping register a new location, and dealing with duplicate listings or access problems are different jobs.
Send each agency the same list of store names, addresses, and current Google Maps links. Ask it to identify the work needed at each location. A store that needs its hours corrected will involve a different workload from one whose ownership or access needs to be resolved first.
You can then compare whether the following tasks are included and how they will be handled.
| Area to compare | What to ask the agency |
|---|---|
| Core business information | Which details will you check and update, such as store names, addresses, opening hours, and websites? |
| Photos and posts | Which locations will use head-office materials, and how will you collect store-specific materials? |
| Review replies | Which reviews will you answer, and how will you handle issues that need confirmation from a store? |
| New and changing locations | What is included when a store opens, moves, or closes, and what will cost extra? |
| Problems and access | How far will your support go when access or duplicate-listing problems arise? |
Match your current needs to these tasks. Also ask how often the work will be done and where head office should send requests.
Check how company-owned stores and franchisees will work together
The person managing a profile, and the cooperation head office can expect, may differ between company-owned and franchised stores. A contract with head office does not automatically give an agency access to every franchisee's Google Business Profile.
Ask how the agency will identify the current owners and managers and arrange the access it needs. Google distinguishes between owner and manager roles; managers can carry out many tasks, including editing information and replying to reviews. The operating agreement between head office and franchisees, and the permissions in each Google account, need to be checked separately. Google's guide to profile owners and managers
The agency should also be able to handle shared brand information and location-specific exceptions. Your brand introduction may be the same everywhere, while days off, menus, and booking methods differ. Ask which head-office requests will apply across the network and who will obtain confirmation from each store.
It helps to agree who checks and approves changes. This is a working arrangement between the business and its stores. Google's manager role does not automatically require head-office approval before an edit is made.
Ask for location-level records alongside the overall figures
To understand what an agency actually does, ask for a sample report or work examples it is authorized to share. You should be able to see the following for each location.
- What information changed this month, and whether the change is visible on the public profile.
- How far agreed tasks such as photos, posts, and review replies have progressed.
- Which problems are still being handled, and what head office or the store needs to provide.
- Which measures and time periods were used to compare customer responses.
Business Profile performance can include activity from both organic results and Google Ads. Clicks on the call button are different from connected calls, and direction requests are different from store visits. Look for a report that explains these definitions. Google's guide to Business Profile performance
When reviewing results, also ask which locations and dates were compared and whether ads were running. Knowing the conditions behind a figure makes it easier to decide how useful the example is for your own stores.
Compare quotes through to new-store additions and the end of the contract
Two agencies with the same base fee may cover different amounts of new-store work, photography, advertising, or problem resolution. Give them the same location list and requested tasks, then compare what is included and what costs extra.
Google Business Profile itself is free. An agency fee pays for the management services provided, so those services should be clear. Google's third-party policies require clients to retain ownership of their profiles and be able to regain control when the management relationship ends. Google's third-party policies
Before signing, confirm how head office and stores will retain account access, and which records and permissions will be handed over at the end. Google may review profile edits, so check that the agency distinguishes finishing a task from seeing the change appear publicly. Google's explanation of profile edit reviews
Look for an agency that explains its scope against your actual store list, shows the work done for each location, and accounts for how head office and franchisees operate. That gives you a useful basis for comparing the proposals.
Explore BlinkAd's Google Maps management service and tell us how many stores you want to manage, the mix of company-owned and franchised locations, and the issue you want to address first. In a franchise Google Maps management consultation, we can start by working through the tasks your business needs.