Organic SEO vs Local SEO
In terms of SEO, there is a major difference between Organic SEO vs Local SEO. Knowing the difference could be the difference between a poor performing website versus a great performing website.
What's The Difference?
In terms of SEO, there is a major difference between Organic SEO vs Local SEO. Knowing the difference could be the difference between a poor performing website versus a great performing website.
Let’s dig in and find out how these forms of SEO are changing how companies, Entrepreneurs, Freelancers and individuals market their good and services.
Prior to the advent of the Internet, businesses utilized a combination of methods to market their products and services, namely:
- Newspapers ads
- Magazines ads
- Radio ads
- Television ads
- Yellow Page ads
- Mailers
- Door knocking
- Cold calling
- Flyers
- Multi-Level Marketing
- Numerous Other Marketing Methods
Since the Internet has evolved, many of the above methods have gone the route of the cassette tape, the vinyl record and the Yellow Pages books; they are now extinct. The amazing thing is, with the Internet, businesses can now reach more potential clients, (often, instantly).
How so?
Because virtually everyone who makes the buying decisions is online! The Internet has become an essential tool for virtually everyone. Few places around the globe lack an Internet connection to the world. An Internet connection is how most people connect with others, learn about products or services, and make buying decisions.
If a person is curious about something, they automatically turn to their favorite search engine to get answers. Savvy companies take full advantage of this fact.
Let’s say you’re looking for a decent Chinese restaurant that’s near you, so you type in “Chinese restaurant near me” on Google. What you’ll see are listings of suggested establishments. How do these immediate results get prioritized over others? The answer is Artificial Intelligence Algorithms, and machine learning.
What Exactly Is Artificial Intelligence?
Put succinctly, it refers to the science of getting machines (computers) to think and make decisions that mimic the actions of human beings.
These machines construct complex algorithms that are used by search engines like Google and Bing to figure out which sites are most relevant to a user’s search query. This complicated process is what demanded the invention of SEO.
SEO is something business owners must participate in to ensure that their website ranks above their competition.
For the businesses that don’t take SEO serious; the net results can be staggering. Not engaging in the proper SEO can be their financial death kneel!
What are the net results? Your business will get lost among a sea of SEO optimized websites. That means, when people are searching for the products that you sell or the services that you provide, your website WILL NOT BE FOUND!
Let’s explore the difference between Organic SEO and Local SEO to see which scheme best fits your business.
What Is Local SEO?
SEO on the local level is the process of putting your business on Google Maps, now known as GMB Google My Business. It aims to target people who are looking for the products or services you can provide who are within your vicinity, like your town, city, or state. Having a ranked GMB page is critical if you’d like your business to thrive on a local scale.
The top local search results typically include a map directing the searchers to the top listed establishments. These listings also include their contact information, photos, as well as customers reviews.
For example, you’re looking for a highly rated HVAC specialist to hire, and you live in Portland, Oregon. In the search box, you might type in “HVAC specialist Portland” or some other configuration of that phrase.
Local SEO involves optimizing a website by adding geographically related keywords to its content. So the search results that you would get for “HVAC specialist Portland” as opposed to an HVAC specialist in Miami, Boston or Manhattan.
What Is Organic SEO?
Organic SEO is typically done by establishments that only exist online – meaning there’s no actual restaurant or store to go to physically. However, Organic SEO still deals with relevant keywords and using them to make a website more search engine friendly.
Here are some examples of businesses that are better served utilizing Organic SEO. A large printing manufacturer that services smaller printers. A T-shirt designer that services clients all over the United States. An online tutor who teaches ESL English as a Second Language to clients anywhere in the world.
These are all Internet-based businesses that do not depend on brick and mortar walk-in traffic to exist.
There’s an art to generating more traffic organically, and it takes time to see significant results. You can’t just pepper in a couple of keywords into your content and expect your search rankings to improve drastically; that worked in 2004, but not today!
There are numerous aspects involved in Organic SE, such as acquiring backlinks from reputable websites, having the right tag attributes, your social fingerprints, Internal linking, LSI keywords, as well as SEO optimized images.
Improving your ranking through Organic SEO doesn’t require you to pay to get listed. However, to rank, you will have to invest time and money, especially if you are in a competitive market or niche.
Organic SEO vs. Local SEO - The Differences Defined!
Now that you understand the two, we’ll list all their differences.
- Location
Organic SEO doesn’t rely on location. It could help, but that’s usually never the case. Most of the time, what increases rankings organically are backlinks from reputable and authoritative sources, SEO optimized content, and a well-planned social media blitz.
Local SEO, on the other hand, relies purely on geographical searches because there is an actual place that needs to be visited. Listings of businesses from other states would be irrelevant to users who are looking for services within their area.
- Local SEO and Organic SEO do not compete for the same spots on search engine results pages
Businesses perform Organic SEO to get their sites to rank as high as possible on SERPs, and these results usually last longer.
Local SEO targets what’s called a local listing pack or that box of three business listings with maps right at the very top of the SERP. It also aims to get as many consistent citations from other online places within the same niche that it caters to.
- Backlinks Versus Citations
It is imperative that you have to understand the difference between links and citations. Links that direct people back to your website builds up your relevance, especially if these links are in genuine and reputable sources.
How many quality links that lead back to your site is directly proportional to how high you will rank in the SERPs; it’s pretty straightforward.
Citations do not have to link back to your site; details about your business are merely mentioned. That means finding your business’ name, address, and contact information on other pages. How frequently gets a shout out determines your authority in your niche according to search engines. It proves that your business does exist in an actual location, and other people are vouching for it.
- Approach
Like we’ve discussed before, the point of Organic SEO is to improve your SERP rankings. You can do this through a couple of ways like tweaking your website format, its URL, the quality of its content, whether or not it has been optimized for mobile devices, creating an efficient link strategy and so on.
Corporations usually make it a point to have a department that solely aims to market their brand through Organic SEO. That’s because it takes a lot of work, time, and expertise.
The approach taken with Local SEO is a lot different. It targets only the places where local results are displayed and prioritized. So, one would have to use a tool like Google My Business. That’s on top of improving the relevant keyword density the website.
What’s also time-consuming about Local SEO is checking for inconsistencies. You want all your listings to display accurate information.
Results for Local SEO relies on consumer reviews as well. If your business generally garners positive reviews, Google will prioritize it over the other’s that don’t.
- Time
Organic SEO methods take more time to accomplish. Since you’d essentially be building up your reputation, we all know that this doesn’t happen overnight. It could take quite some time before other users recommend your services and link back to your website.
On the other hand, Local SEO is just a matter of claiming your GMB Google My Business page and optimizing your information. Of course, it will take time to get reviews from your customers, as well as citations but that shouldn’t be difficult, especially if your business is very streamlined, efficient and provides great service and products.
Organic SEO vs Local SEO! Which One Is Right For Your Business?
If you aim to cater to people from your region or you’re not quite ready yet upgrade your business by bringing it to a more global scale, then Local SEO is your best bet. At the very least, you want potential local customers to be able to find you as opposed to your competitors.
If you’re building up your online presence and want to generate traffic by creating credibility within your niche, then Organic SEO is your solution.
Both have their advantages, and any business would benefit from either one. The point of going through the trouble of making your business more visible online is to ensure that your business’ success. Since everyone looks for what they need on the Internet, it can’t hurt for you to put your business right at the forefront to address those needs.
