As more and more people rely on online search for finding anything from a product, service, or business, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a great way to be found by potential customers.

 

If you are a business owner or marketer, you may have some experience in digital marketing and SEO. But what is a Local SEO and how does it differ from regular SEO?

What Is SEO

SEO is the process of bringing more traffic to a web-based business or service, both in quantity and quality. It is also called organic SEO. Organic SEO deals with technical, on-page and off-page SEO to improve the rankings on the relevant search page. It benefits a wide array of services, businesses and industries, no matter how big or small.

What Is Local SEO

Local SEO is the process of increasing the visibility of a business or service in a specified local geographic area. It is more targeted to reach local customers based on proximity, relevance, and prominence. Nowadays, even when the user does not type the ‘near me’ intent, search engines like Google use matching for local searches to understand and provide the relevant local services based on the keywords. In addition to Google Ads and organic SEO, a local search result page has a local SEO 3-pack that displays the top three location-based results.

A Comparison Between SEO and Local SEO

SEO and Local SEO are the same in many ways except for the few add-ons that Local SEO has.

SEO

• Regular or National SEO focuses on improving visibility on a broader horizon on a national or global level. In other words, it is a complete web service that may not necessarily have a physical store or specific location.
• The valuable strategies are finding relevant keywords, creating valuable content, and improving other web optimisation factors like page load speed and user experience.
• Improving the domain authority by earning backlinks from credible websites and directories is highly beneficial.
• Typically, in organic SEO, the search engines will pull out websites with the most relevant and valuable content based on the search queries. This content may not be location specific.

 

Local SEO

• Local SEO works to target improving the visibility of a website in a specified location. In short, it targets the local market.
• The valuable strategies are using relevant local keywords, adding location-specific website pages, providing NAP citations (name, address, phone), and including or managing reviews. Most importantly, adding and optimising the business or service in Google My Business (GMB) and other relevant local directory listings and map services.
• In Local SEO, search engines will pull out websites or services from a specific location. This is primarily geared towards being near the user’s location.

 

Does Your Business Need Local SEO?

National and Local SEO employ similar strategies but for different requirements. So, how do you know whether your business needs a Local SEO strategy? If you are a business or service with a physical office or shop front in a specific location where you want to attract customers, you should focus on local SEO. It is the easiest and cost-effective way to reach local customers who can readily buy or use your services.

Without an impressive Local SEO campaign, search engines may miss your business and so will your potential customers. Therefore, you need an expert local SEO company to optimise and manage the Local SEO for your business.

For more queries and information on Local SEO packages, contact the Blackbox Design & Digital team based in Melbourne and Perth.