Google Ads for a franchise network: how to allocate the budget between headquarters and individual outlets?

In a franchise network, the Google Ads budget involves two parties with different expectations. Headquarters wants to protect the brand and recruit new franchisees. Each franchisee wants customers in their area and wants to know how the advertising fee they pay is being used. The same account must therefore support national campaigns and local campaigns for 20, 50, or 200 outlets.

At Growth Room, we support multi-site networks with these choices. In the networks we audit, difficulties most often arise from budget allocation between zones. This article is aimed at marketing departments of franchisors. It explains what headquarters should fund, compares three funding models, proposes a calculation method for each outlet's share, and describes the account structure to implement. If you are looking for an Google Ads agency to manage your network's campaigns, these benchmarks will also help you write your brief.

Key takeaways

• Headquarters funds campaigns useful to the entire network: brand, national searches, and franchisee recruitment.
• Outlets fund, either alone or with headquarters, campaigns for their specific zone.
• Three models exist: common advertising fund, local budget per franchisee, or a hybrid model.
• A single account with a budget per zone works better than dozens of small accounts.
• Each outlet's share is calculated based on the potential of its zone: search volume and cost per click.

Why is the Google Ads budget difficult to allocate in a franchise network?

In a franchise network, three logics coexist:

• headquarters thinks about brand awareness, message consistency, and network development;
• franchisees think about local revenue and want to see the return on their contribution;
• Google allocates clicks by bid and geographic area, without regard for your contracts.

Without written rules, the same problems often arise:

• multiple franchisees bid on the brand name, driving up the cost per click;
• urban areas consume the largest portion of the budget, to the detriment of rural outlets;
• No one knows exactly how many customers each point of sale owes to advertising.

What should the head office fund, and what should the points of sale fund?

To decide who pays, the simplest approach is to look at who benefits from the search. A search for the brand name, or a search without a specific location, benefits the entire network. A search like "dry cleaner Nantes" or "gym near me" benefits a specific point of sale.

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Thebrand campaigns should remain managed by the head office. They are low-cost and convert well. If every franchisee manages them individually, the brand is purchased multiple times with different ads, and the cost-per-click increases for everyone.

Which funding models should you choose for Google Ads in a franchise network?

The common advertising fund

Franchisees pay an advertising fee to the head office, which manages all campaigns. With this advertising fund, the franchisor retains control: a single account, no bidding wars between franchisees, and consistent ads. In return, the head office must show each franchisee what their area has received and what it has generated. Without this reporting, franchisees in the most profitable areas feel like they are subsidizing the others.

The local budget managed by each franchisee

Each point of sale pays for and manages its own campaigns, often with a local provider. The franchisee sets their budget based on their activity. In practice, several limitations arise: widely varying skill levels from one location to another, ads that deviate from brand guidelines, budgets too small for automated bidding to work effectively, and neighboring franchisees competing for the same searches.

The hybrid model

The head office funds a national foundation (brand, generic searches, recruitment) using the common fund. Each franchisee adds a local budget, managed within the network's account, and can increase it if they want more customers. The head office maintains consistent ads, and the franchisee retains decision-making power over their budget. This model is suitable for most growing networks.

How do you calculate the Google Ads budget share for each point of sale?

An equal split seems simple, but it ignores the differences between areas. A point of sale in downtown Lyon and one in a town of 15,000 inhabitants have neither the same search volume nor the same cost-per-click. Five criteria can be used to allocate the budget:

• the search volume in the area, measured using Google's Keyword Planner;
• the local cost-per-click, which is much higher in large cities;
• the point of sale's capacity to handle additional customers (schedule, staff, stock);
• tenure: a newly opened point of sale needs a higher budget at launch;
• past results, as soon as three to six months of data are available.

We recommend combining a fixed base per point of sale to ensure a minimum presence, with a variable portion calculated based on the area's potential. Let's take an example: a network of 20 points of sale allocates €15,000 per month to its Google Ads budget for local. It sets aside €6,000 as a base (€300 per point of sale) and distributes the remaining €9,000 according to the search volume in each area. A point of sale whose area accounts for 10% of the network's searches receives €300 plus €900, for a total of €1,200 per month. The distribution key is then reviewed quarterly based on actual results.

Before distributing, verify that the total budget is sufficient. At Growth Room, we recommend a media budget of at least €2,000 to €2,500 per month to obtain actionable data on an account. To estimate this amount for your sector, our article on the budget to plan for your Google Ads campaigns details the calculation.

Should you have one Google Ads account per franchisee or a single account for the entire network?

Twenty accounts at €300 per month each generate too few conversions for Google's automated bidding to adjust effectively. A single account for the network, with one campaign and budget per area, aggregates data from all zones. Each franchisee can still view the results for their own location.

If separate accounts are necessary (due to direct billing to franchisees or different legal entities), the head office can link them to a manager account in Google Ads. This allows them to maintain an overview of all accounts and apply the same negative keyword lists and rules to everyone.

This is what we did for EVA, a franchise network of virtual reality esports arenas. Each location had its own advertising accounts with no common structure. We audited, restructured, and harmonized these accounts, then launched campaigns across 7 cities with a model to be replicated for every new opening. In 3 months, the Google Ads campaigns generated 438 bookings with a ROAS of 9. The EVA case study details the acquisition model implemented.

How should campaigns be structured so that each point of sale receives its fair share?

The account must then be organized so that each area spends its allocated budget. A single campaign targeting the whole country concentrates spending in areas where clicks are cheapest, regardless of the network's needs. Therefore, local campaigns must be separated by area, each with its own budget.

Déménager Facile, a moving quote comparison site, is not a franchise network, but we applied the same geographical logic to their account. Their campaigns were reorganized by department and city, with separate ad groups for similar queries like "moving Lille" and "mover Lille." In 2 months, the account generated 425 leads for a cost per lead average of €29, almost three times less than before. The breakdown of Déménager Facile's campaigns shows the complete structure.

For a franchise network, we apply the following rules:

• one campaign, or group of campaigns, per point of sale or group of nearby points of sale;
• a geographical targeting aligned with the actual catchment area, by radius or by municipality, with no overlap between neighboring franchisees;
• ads that mention the city and link to the point of sale's page, rather than the site's homepage;
• Google Business Profiles linked to the account, to display the address and directions in the ads;
• Performance Max Performance Max campaigns with a store visit objective, when the network has enough points of sale and data;
• negative keywords so that a local campaign does not capture searches from the neighboring city.

How can you measure results by point of sale and report back to franchisees?

A franchisee is more likely to accept the allocation if they see the results in their area. Conversion conversion tracking must therefore be set up for each point of sale:

• tracked calls with a unique number per establishment;
• forms and appointment bookings linked to the local page that generated them;
• directions requests and store visits, when Google can measure them;
• if possible, sales data imported from the POS or CRM to calculate a cost per customer.

Headquarters can then share a dashboard showing the budget spent, the number of leads, and the cost per lead for each area. These figures serve as a basis for discussions with franchisees and for quarterly adjustments to the allocation key.

What mistakes should be avoided when allocating a network's Google Ads budget?

• Letting multiple franchisees bid on the brand name independently.
• Distributing the budget equally without considering the potential of each area.
• Creating too many small accounts that do not generate enough conversions.
• Launching a national campaign without segmenting by area.
• Directing all ads to the homepage instead of the specific store page.
• Showing franchisees only clicks and impressions, without leads or sales per area.

A network budget should be managed as a single account

For an allocation to be accepted, headquarters must be able to explain it, and every franchisee must be able to verify it. Three decisions are enough to implement it: the list of campaigns funded at the national level, the calculation method for the local budget, and the dashboard shared with franchisees. The allocation is then adjusted each quarter based on results. Our Google Ads expertise for networks follows these steps: auditing existing accounts, structuring by area, and then centralized management with tracking per point of sale.