Organic SEO vs. Local SEO

Organic SEO vs. Local SEO, which will suit your business best? As a small business owner, your main goal in online marketing is to reach the greatest possible number of potential customers. There are several strategies that you can utilize to achieve that goal including PPC, social media, local SEO and organic SEO.

What’s the difference between Organic SEO and Local SEO?

Both local and organic search seek to provide searchers with the best user experience. However, the two have a few key differences.

In organic search, the main focus of the work involved revolves mainly around your website. The work includes providing useful and relevant content, link building, improving domain authority, and providing social proof. It is ideal for business owners who want to reach customers from all over.

Local search, on the other hand, revolves around a specific location. It is beneficial for businesses with a physical location.

In organic search, links play a crucial role as these help search engines determine whether your website offers value to users. Links also reflect the trustworthiness and reliability of your website.

“The more quality links that your website earns from trustworthy websites, the better your online reputation will be.”

This is why quality link building remains one of the most important aspects of organic search.

Local search, on the other hand, depends heavily on citations. What are citations? Citations refer to the mentions of your company’s name, address and phone (or NAP) in business directories and listings. Like links in organic search, the more citations a business has, the more it will be deemed trustworthy.

Although citations are not considered as votes, unlike links, these show search engines and users proof that your business exists and operates in a specific location. If you do not check and ensure that your NAP is listed consistently, search engines will think that your business information is unreliable.

In organic search, the algorithm of search engines focuses more on content while in local search, search engines focus more on your location and NAP.

As for indexing, search engines index your website pages for organic search. In local search, the search engines index locations.

In order to be successful in organic search, you will need to rely on the right mix of keywords. Local search, on the other hand, relies more on the consistency of your NAP in directories and listings.

Finally, in organic search, search engines are looking for social proof while in local search, the search engines are looking at the quality of reviews your business has garnered.

For a small business, which is better, Organic SEO or Local?

Ideally, you should invest in both. This will enable your business to reach more customers and improve your online presence.

However, if you are working on a limited amount of resources, you may need to focus on just one. Your choice will depend on the type of business you run as well as the kind of customers you are targeting.

So if you are interested in revamping your online search optimization, either Organic SEO or Local SEO, click here and get started with Littlejohn’s Web Shop today!