As a small business owner, you have a lot to juggle. When it comes to marketing your business, deciding between local SEO and general SEO can be a major decision for your company. We've broken down the differences between the two so you can choose which is best for your company.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO is a type of search engine optimisation that focuses on making sure that your website appears on the first page of search results for customers searching for products or services in your local area. Local SEO is an important part of your digital marketing strategy because local customers are more likely to convert.
You will spend a varying amount of time each week working on getting better at local SEO, which we will dive into in just a moment. For now, it is worth understanding each area of the Local SEO process. SEO disparities That's right — every single local search engine optimisation process works differently, whether you are using it for your own website or marketing an SMB’s website. Here are some of the differences to keep in mind when you are working on getting your local SEO right.
NAP: What places should I list on my business listing?
This really comes down to your research. Start by asking customers: “Who is our ideal customer?” This will benefit everyone because it will help you to acclimatize your business to the people who would be searching your name. This may involve writing existing customer emails, conducting focus groups or running surveys. Finding out what name they are using when searching online is an insight into their personality and will also help you to establish whether a compliment/disparagement type of response will be appropriate.
Content: Should I create my local landing pages or just use one page?
At present, you can have two different classes of pages: local landing pages and category pages. You also have the option of building your business page, which will create your own landing pages on top of main category pages.
For our example of Mr. X, we will assume he has two addresses: 123 Main Street and 123 Main Street Business. Perhaps rather than having just one page for your business, you then decide you only want third party reviews for 123 Main Street, it is better to create the site with two pages also.
What is general SEO?
General SEO is a term used to describe the foundational elements of search engine optimization. These elements include things like on-page and off-page factors, technical SEO and content.
On-page factors are the specific elements on a page that impact the search engine ranking. A page optimizes itself with good on-page elements to increase both the number of relevant pages that are indexed and the quality of those pages.
General SEO is about more than just on-page factors. It includes many technical elements that include on-page and off-page elements, as well as the technical components of a website that affect the performance of search engines and users.
Example: Content that’s optimized for general business
Business information pages perform better when they link to industry-relevant landing pages.
Choose the best route
The best general SEO route for your business depends on whether you want to:
Build local links to limited pages on your website.
Build local links to content on other websites hosted in your country.
While each of these options is fine for some small to medium scale businesses, if the steps are extensive or you want a notable local search boost you may want to consider a small SEO agency to help you course correct. If you're looking to host your international content on a content management system (CMS) then you'll want to do a bit more work to set everything up for maximum international search rankings, and that work will most likely include external linking of your content so that it's included in the main chain of backlinks of a website.
Determining the best route for your local business will differ based on how much authority your business has in the small to medium market within your country.
How can you use both in your business?
By using both social media and email marketing, you can connect with your audience and give them a consistent stream of new content and messages that they’re interested in. When you use both channels, you can also get more insight into your audience and see what messages and posts resonate with them.
Traditional SEO focuses on the location of a page when figuring out its value. Local SEO takes a more holistic view of the local ecosystem. You want to look at things from a different perspective. This flexibility allows you to target users on all types of devices, because you’re not just thinking about how they arrive at your website.
The local SEO process includes:
Researching your target community.
Finding geographic keywords that your competitors rank for.
Analyzing how users search for local topics.
At this point, most businesses realize they need both a good local SEO and a good general SEO. You also need to decide which tool will be most effective for you.
While some people prefer to use specific tools for both local SEO and general SEO, 99 percent of small business owners use local SEO for all aspects of the process. Plus, it’s easier and more scalable to hire an expert for general SEO. So professional SEO agencies tend to outrank smaller companies since there’s more competition.
If you decide to get a local SEO agency to help you with your small business strategy, make sure they have experience with the local SEO process. Size will often determine what tools they recommend. Online directories are among the most popular, followed by Google My Business, Bing, and Yahoo Local. Many small businesses begin their search with a GMB listing and eventually move to a new one created by a reputable company.
Each tool may have its own pros and cons, but knowing how keywords are mapped is essential for both local SEO and general SEO. If you’re unsure which tool to use, start implementing one of the suggested hacks below.