You’ve probably already heard of Organic SEO, Local SEO, and even National SEO if you’ve been actively marketing your business online. But you might find yourself wondering what the difference is between the two.
In this post, we’re going to walk you through the difference between local SEO and Organic SEO, as well as how they are related.
For your website to appear higher in the search engines, you have to optimize your website to optimize for popular terms.
But what if you want your website to rank in your home town or city?
Your website content must be optimized for the keywords that are commonly searched by the target audience. This is where local SEO services come into play.
What is a local search?
The difference between local and organic SEO is that local SEO has a geographical component.
When a user searches for service + location, search engines like Google know that they have local intent. Google wants to show its users the most relevant results for what they are looking for.
Here’s an example: When a user is looking for an automotive repair shop in Dallas, TX, Google will show the user the top 3 local repair shops within a specific area around where the user is physically located. Even if the user types auto repair shop without the word Dallas, TX, Google knows where this person is located and will provide the same results.
Without a strategic approach to local SEO content, your local business may be missing out on plenty of potential customers that are local to your area yet unaware that your business exists? You may think it’s difficult to have an online presence in the regional area, but it’s now possible with a local SEO strategy.
What Is Organic SEO?
Local results appear on top of organic results. When you search, you will find the top 3 local results, and under those results, you will find the “organic results.” These results that Google shows users might or might not have local intent. These results are also known as “localized organic results” because a user in Las Vegas, NV, might see different results than someone in Denver, CO.
What is National SEO?
National SEO is a term used when a business wants to rank in a specific country vs. a town, city, or specific areas. For example, if a business caters to anyone in the USA, they want to rank in very city and stater across the country. But this business might not care to rank in any other country. An enterprise serving people across the nation will often rank high on Google search and will have a large budget to do so.
Who Should Rank in Local vs. Organic search?
If your business has a physical location such as an office, store, or shop, you will want to rank in local search. Users will be looking to visit your local business or make sure that you can service e them in their area. Every local business should do their best to show up in the local map pack when a user is looking for a specific service or product.
But if your business serves people in more than once city or even country, you will want to rank for organic results for specific terms related to your service or product. This is where organic SEO can prove to be the most effective type of marketing for your business.
How can a local SEO marketing campaign help you?
Local SEO is a marketing campaign that focuses on local search terms that target the audience you wish to engage with. Local SEO uses key phrases that can be found by the targeted audience, using the Google Local service to identify the most popular local searches.
Local SEO is used for related local businesses using a range of keyword terms to identify relevant local listings. Your SEO campaign will target these local listings and the content to optimize the traffic to these listings.
Plus, every business should be doing everything they can to optimize their Google My Business listing, helping them rank on the local map pack. By adding your NAP details, opening hours, posts, images, you will provide the information that Google needs.
You can even let Google know if your business has any special COVID-19 requirements, such as special hours or other information. It would help if you also worked on getting as many reviews as possible to rank higher. We have found direct correlations between a business that ranks vs. those that don’t have reviews.
So what is local SEO, and how does it work?
When your website is optimized for a specific keyword, you may be surprised to learn that your website also ranks for other keywords related to your product or service.
This means that your website is visible on Google for relevant terms that are often entered by visitors interested in your products and services. However, Google will give very different rankings to these related keywords than those of your primary keyword.
This gives local SEO a good chance of getting more relevant search engine listings because Google recognizes this link and will then rank these links high and provide you with targeted visitors.
In addition to the high rankings, local SEO is also highly relevant to the audience, as they are entering their location details rather than just a keyword. Therefore, your local SEO is highly pertinent and relevant to the audience that it targets.
It is important to only focus on one or two keywords instead of rank for multiple ones. Suppose you target your audience with too many keywords and not enough of the relevant keyword phrases. In that case, your SEO marketing campaign will become ineffective, as your audience will lose interest in your brand.
If you’re thinking of starting local SEO, you should first conduct some long-tail keyword and phrase research. It is not necessary to only use local term phrases. But you can also use your city, state or country, or any other geographical region, and any relevant local searches to be found on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
It would help if you then looked at using related keywords within your niche so that your target audience can easily find the relevant information they’re looking for and avoid irrelevant keywords in your articles or website content. You need to target several keywords with each website, but you must make sure that you don’t use the same keyword in more than one or two variations in one article or page.
You may also want to consider using local SEO when you choose a domain name. The domains you choose should be related to your keywords and local terms, which will ensure that they are indexed higher by Google and get a better ranking.
You should also target your website content with local SEO, as this is where most people spend time searching for information on your product or service. Using SEO to write articles, blogs, and other pages on your website and creating Meta tags should include relevant keywords to increase your business’s chances of appearing in the local results.
Local citations will also help your business rank locally. By listing your business on local directories, you let Google know that your business can be trusted. Ensure that your name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across the web.
You may also want to take advantage of search engine optimization (SEO) software such as Semrush and SpyFu, write articles for other sites and submit them to the directories to improve your chances of appearing in the local map pack. Using social media to promote your website is also a great way to spread your name and brand and help your SEO campaign reach the right audience.
Does SEO still work?
According to a recent SEO study, about 78% of businesses believe that new customers find them through search engines than any other source. So yes, most definitely, SEO still works and will continue to work in 2021 and beyond.
But local search marketing is evolving, and small businesses need to stay on top of new trends and updates. SEO involves a lot more than just on-page and off-page optimization. A business needs to build trust and authority through backlinks, social media, and many other sources to dominate their industries.
If you are interested in learning more or would like help with your local SEO services, contact us today.
