GEO and AI : The new era of local marketing for franchise networks

Nicola Cawet
17/10/2025

Reading time : 5 minute

Local marketing is no longer just a complement for franchise networks : it has become their strategic backbone.

Nine out of ten consumers search online before entering a store. Reviews, opening hours, photos and local signals now guide their choices.

With the rise of generative AI, local search is shifting. Engines now produce unique responses, based on reliable and structured data. For each brand, this is both a challenge and an opportunity: approaches must be adapted, target customers defined, and innovation embraced to remain visible.

At Mobilosoft, we help franchises thrive in this new era. A mission recognized by the Belgian Franchise Federation and by our nomination at the European Franchise Awards, proof that our local vision also shines at the European level.

Franchise and retail : why local marketing remains the key to thriving

Many marketing departments believe they have “ticked the local box.”

Yet the signals we observe in networks tell a different story:

Incomplete or unclaimed Google Business Profiles.
Inconsistent hours across Google, Facebook and Apple Maps.
Store locators not indexed, invisible to engines.
Customer reviews left unanswered, or handled without strategy.
Incomplete reports, masking the real problems of local visibility.

These gaps come at a cost: less visibility on Google Maps, fewer clicks on local listings, and ultimately fewer in-store visits. Not to mention being excluded by answer engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, …).

In Belgium, linguistic and cultural diversity forces brands to adapt their local management. Local expectations differ between Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders. At the European level, local and digital specificities make the challenge even more strategic.

Networks that cannot structure their data lose both online visibility and business performance, while those who anticipate transform this complexity into a real opportunity to thrive.

Combining SEO and GEO : the new digital playground

For years, classic SEO was enough.
Being in Google’s top 3 for a local keyword guaranteed visibility and traffic.

That model is over.

AI-driven engines, Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, Perplexity, no longer present ten blue links. They produce a single response. And that response no longer depends only on your SEO rank.

This is what we call Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

GEO is not a cosmetic extension of SEO. It is a shift in logic:

It is no longer your rankings that count, but your citations in AI responses.
It is no longer just your web pages feeding the engine, but also your local listings, reviews, social posts, multimedia content.
It is no longer your historical KPIs (clicks, impressions) that suffice, but new indicators: local share of voice, NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency, citation in AI blocks, freshness of customer signals.

In short : you can still “rank” properly in classic SEO… and disappear completely from AI responses.

GEO, an opportunity rather than a threat

For many networks, GEO first raises concern. And that’s legitimate: it disrupts years of SEO practices.

But for franchises, it is also a unique opportunity.

You already have powerful levers for success :

A dense network of points of sale.
Rich local data (hours, services, promotions, photos).
On-the-ground proximity, fueling authentic reviews.
A strong brand, offering consistency and credibility.

The challenge is not to create these assets. They already exist.
The challenge is to structure, harmonize and activate them so that AI can understand and use them.

The Mobilosoft answer : turning local marketing into a growth driver

For over 15 years, we have helped franchise networks transform their local marketing into a true business driver. Our approach is based on three pillars.

1. A platform designed for networks

We built a platform designed for multi-site franchises, not a generic solution.
It covers the entire local visibility cycle:

A structured store locator, optimized for SEO and GEO. Each store has a dedicated, indexable, fast page enriched with local information.
Multi-platform presence management (Google, Apple, Facebook, Waze, Bing, etc.) with automatic synchronization of key data (address, hours, services).
Customer review management : collection, monitoring, response, integrated into global steering.
Ability to launch local advertising campaigns, including programmatic, linked to local listings to drive calls, directions and visits.
Clear reporting that goes beyond impressions to detect struggling stores and guide corrective actions.

2. Powerful but controlled AI

We believe in the potential of AI. But we also believe in the need to stay in control.

Our AI is not a substitute for marketing teams. It is an intelligent assistance tool :

Generation of local content consistent with the brand DNA.
Detection of data inconsistencies across platforms.
Production of reports and especially automated suggestions in seconds.

What AI does better than us : managing volume, repetition, error detection.
What remains human: strategic arbitration between national and local, handling sensitive messages, consistency of brand image.

3. Human support

The best technology is useless if it is not adopted by teams.

That is why we make it a point to support our clients :

Training for local and central teams.
On-the-ground support for implementation.
Clear governance to define who does what between HQ, regions and stores.

Our mission is not to deliver software. It is to ensure that your franchisees gain value, that your local data is reliable, and that your results are measured and optimized.

Local innovation : a business opportunity at the European scale

A franchise network is not a homogeneous sum of points of sale.
Each store has its identity, its neighborhood, its customers.

In Belgium, this diversity is obvious : Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia work differently. In Europe, it is multiplied: local search does not look the same in Paris, Milan or Warsaw.

Our conviction: local marketing must combine three dimensions:

Consistency : a common foundation that protects the brand.
Local autonomy : flexibility that brings credibility and authenticity.
Digital structuring : a framework that ensures performance and management.

This hybrid vision earned us recognition from the Belgian Franchise Federation and our place as a finalist at the European Franchise Awards. A validation both national and European of our approach.

What awaits franchises in tomorrow’s retail

AI does not stop at text generation.
The next waves already include :

AI-powered voice search : Google and Bing are testing conversational experiences where the user speaks, AI responds, and the recommended store changes depending on context.
Multimodal search : text, voice, image and video combined. Consumers photograph a storefront or ask a voice question, and AI synthesizes the answer.
The role of the website : it is no longer just a showcase, but a database that feeds AI. A poorly structured website is not only invisible to classic engines—it is unusable by generative engines.

Networks that anticipate this evolution will gain visibility. Others risk gradually disappearing, without even noticing it in their SEO dashboards.

Conclusion : preparing the future of networks

Local marketing is no longer just a marketing lever.
It directly influences business performance and in-store traffic.

The question now is: how can you ensure your points of sale remain visible in AI-generated answers?

At Mobilosoft, we have built a complete approach :

a platform designed for franchises,
powerful yet controlled AI,
human support that facilitates adoption by different stakeholders (marketing team, agency, local network).

It is this combination that enables brands to anticipate ongoing changes, strengthen local visibility, and turn every interaction into a growth opportunity.

About Mobilosoft

Mobilosoft is a Belgian scale-up specialized in local digital marketing for franchise networks and points of sale. For 15 years we have supported brands in the centralized management of their presence, updating their information on all key platforms (Google, Apple, Waze, Facebook, Bing…) and boosting their stores through a complete solution and personalized support.