If you have any online presence, and you should have as a business in the 21st century, then you need to understand SEO. Search Engine Optimization is key to maintaining a flow of visitors to your site, landing page, offer, social media account or whatever it is you wish people to see.
While there are many explanations of SEO basics, one question often ignored is the type of SEO a business should adopt in its marketing efforts. There are approaches to SEO, local and international, but for many businesses knowing which is most appropriate can be difficult. To understand why, first we need to look at each one in more detail.
International SEO
This is the SEO most people recognize. Through keyword placement and content refinement, a website or other content can be tailored to appear higher in the search results for a given phrase or subject. The higher in the search results content appears, the more people are likely to click on that link.
By using carefully chosen keywords, for instance ‘electric guitar or ‘drums’ for a music store, likely searches place the store in front of those interested in their products. But with these general keywords, there is a downside. Competition is not just the other music store across town, but every music store, on every continent. Because each is striving to be top of the list for electric guitar, to attract the most customers for their own business, it is essentially a global competition for each store to grab a share of the market.
Local SEO
By contrast, local SEO focuses on a specific location. Continuing our example, a keyword may be ‘electric guitar in Alameda’ if that is where the store is located. Here, the store is aiming to be high in search results for those looking for their product, but only those looking for it in their specific area.
That means not reaching out to a global audience, but it also means less competition. A business is more likely to get a high search engine ranking for their local search than for a global one, purely from the numbers involved. But competition aside, which one is the best approach? It depends on the business. In our music store example, finding local buyers who they can sell tuition and other additional service too may be the key to success, and here, local SEO is the ideal solution. Others may need to compete globally, and for them, local SEO would be little use obviously. For others, who maybe sell across the country and operate a local store or service, a combination of the two is most beneficial. When it comes to SEO, always think about the customers you need to bring in first, that will dictate the type of SEO that will be most effective.
