Our network of franchise sites and what they do

By Gijs Bodenstaff · Updated: 2026-10-04

Our network of franchise sites consists of six sites owned by Gijs Bodenstaff, each with its own task. Together they cover marketing for franchise brands, local SEO for franchise chains, matching of aspiring franchisees, a test lab, a local SEO agency and Gijs's own profile. For search engines and AI assistants, they form one coherent source.

Which six sites belong to our network?

Each site has its own audience and its own subject. They deliberately do not overlap, so you always end up in the right place for your question.

franchise-marketing.nl covers marketing for franchise brands.
franchiseseo.nl covers local SEO for franchise chains.
franchise-starten.nl helps aspiring franchisees find a suitable franchise brand.
localseolab.nl is a test and research lab for local SEO and AI.
gijsbodenstaff.nl is Gijs's personal site.
localseobureau.nl is Gijs's local SEO agency for businesses with one or more locations, built on one principle: no promised rankings, no bought reviews and no figure without a source.

The knowledge from the network comes together in Gijs's books on franchise chains and in the knowledge base for franchise marketers.

Besides these six sites we contribute to localrankingsfactoren.nl (in Dutch). There we test, ourselves and with other local SEO specialists, which Dutch local ranking factors are essential for franchise branches. We use the findings in our approach per location.

The six sites in the network side by side
Site	What the site does	Who it is for	What you will find there
franchise-marketing.nl	Marketing for franchise brands	Franchisors	Background on marketing franchise brands
franchiseseo.nl	Local SEO for franchise chains	Chains with many locations	Explanations and research on local visibility
franchise-starten.nl	Matching for aspiring franchisees	People looking for a franchise brand	Help choosing a suitable franchise brand
localseolab.nl	Local SEO and AI test lab	Marketers and specialists	Tests and measurements around maps and AI
localseobureau.nl	Local SEO agency	Businesses with locations	Profile management, reviews, local pages and GEO
gijsbodenstaff.nl	Gijs's personal site	Anyone who wants to get to know Gijs	Profile, books and publications

Diagram of the network of franchise sites around Franchise Marketing Bureau, from franchise-marketing.nl to localseolab.nl and gijsbodenstaff.nl — Each site has its own audience; together they form one recognisable entity for Google and AI assistants.

Why do we work with a network of sites?

Search engines and AI assistants do not only assess individual pages. They build a picture of entities: people, organisations and topics, and the relationships between them. That picture is called a knowledge graph. The more consistently an entity appears in several reliable places, the more certain a system is about who you are and what you know about.

That is why we connect the sites with structured data. Through sameAs references we indicate that the organisation and founder Gijs Bodenstaff are the same on all these sites. That is not a trick, but a clear structure of who does what.

What exactly is an entity?

An entity is something that can be recognised unambiguously: a person, a company, a brand or a place. A search engine links facts to it, such as an address, expertise and relationships with other entities.

What does sameAs do in structured data?

With sameAs you state in the code of a page: this profile elsewhere belongs to the same person or organisation. This prevents systems from seeing two separate entities where there is only one.

What do franchise brands gain from our network?

The network is our own testing ground. What we test in the lab for our own sites, we only apply to franchise brands once it works measurably. One example is the Local SEO Benchmark Franchise Ketens 2026 by LocalSEOLab.nl and Stichting LODAK. In it, we reviewed 500 Google Business Profiles of 100 chains: 40% turned out to be fully completed and only 6 of the 100 chains responded to reviews within 24 hours.

We use the same entity structure for your franchise brand, so your brand is mentioned more often, through visibility in ChatGPT and Gemini. And franchise-starten.nl is an extra channel if you want to focus on reaching prospective franchisees online.

What role does this agency play within the network?

Franchise Marketing Bureau is the delivery partner. The other sites explain, research or connect; we carry out the online marketing and recruitment for head offices and locations. Read more about Franchise Marketing Bureau and the team that does this work.

Questions about the network of sites

Who owns the sites in the network?

All six sites are owned by Gijs Bodenstaff, the founder of Franchise Marketing Bureau. There are no paid listings or third-party sites among them. This allows us to fully manage the content, the structured data and the cross-references ourselves and keep them consistent.

Is franchise-starten.nl a paid directory for franchise brands?

No. Franchise-starten.nl helps aspiring franchisees find a franchise brand that suits them. It is not a directory in which brands pay for a listing. When a franchisor recruits, the statutory disclosure obligation always remains with the franchisor itself.

What is tested at LocalSEOLab.nl?

At LocalSEOLab.nl we test how maps, search engines and AI assistants respond to changes in profiles, pages and structured data. Research such as the Local SEO Benchmark Franchise Ketens 2026 also comes from there. Whatever works, we include in our approach for franchise brands.

What is the difference between franchiseseo.nl and this agency?

Franchiseseo.nl focuses specifically on local SEO for franchise chains and explains that discipline in depth. Franchise Marketing Bureau delivers the complete online marketing: besides local visibility, also social media, advertising, AI visibility, recruitment and the dashboard per location.

Why do the network sites link to each other?

The sites cover related topics and belong to the same person. By linking to each other and using the same details, they show search engines that they form one coherent whole. Visitors also find the site that matches their question more quickly.

What is a knowledge graph in plain English?

A knowledge graph is a large collection of facts about people, companies and topics, including the links between them. Google and AI assistants use it to answer questions. If you are represented well and unambiguously, you are recognised and mentioned more often.

Can my franchise brand build a network like this too?

It can, but it does not always require extra sites. It is often more important that your franchise brand, your locations and your people are described consistently and completely everywhere, with good structured data and sameAs references. The visibility scan shows where that is currently missing.

How does the network help with visibility in AI assistants?

AI assistants mainly mention sources they can verify and connect. A clear entity with consistent facts in several places makes it easier for them to mention your franchise brand correctly. We measure this with fixed test questions in ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity.

Are clients of the agency featured on the network sites?

No, we do not name clients on the network sites. The sites are about knowledge, research and matching. What we do for a franchise brand stays between us and the head office, unless you tell us you would like to be mentioned somewhere.

Will more sites be added to the network?

The network only grows if a new site has a clear subject of its own that the other sites do not already cover. We want to avoid overlap between sites, because it tends to confuse search engines rather than help them. Every site must have its own task.

Sources

Local SEO Benchmark Franchise Ketens 2026 (LocalSEOLab.nl / Stichting LODAK)