If you already know some things about Search Engine Optimization or more commonly known as SEO, you know that two types of it exist. And if you didn’t know that, now you do! There are local SEO and organic SEO. But what is the difference between them and which one is better to use for what? If this is the question that is currently going through your mind, you came to the right place. We are here to tell you everything you need to know about the difference between Local SEO vs Organic SEO.
What is SEO?
If you are someone who has stumbled upon this blog post somewhere on the internet and clicked out of curiosity, you might not even know what SEO is. And even for those who do know, refreshing your knowledge is never a bad idea. The first thing you need to know is that SEO stands for “search engine optimization”. SEO is used for any website that you can think of. It is basically something that increases both the quality and quantity of website traffic on your website. Not only that, but it also adds exposure to your brand through non-paid search engine results.
Get to know the basics of SEO
Even though its name is related to your browser and the internet, SEO is more useful to people rather than to the internet and browsers. SEO is about understanding what people are searching for online. It is about the words people are using when searching online and the type of content they wish to see when searching. So, basically, having a good SEO means that you are able to provide the audience that you have with content that they were searching for. This is going to make them come back to your website which adds more website traffic. And more website traffic means that your website is going to appear higher up in the search on your browsing engine.
Your website can appear on the page by you simply paying for an advertisement. But as that costs a lot of money and is not something everyone can do, making sure your SEO is good can be enough. It might all sound complicated now but reading these last few sentences again is going to make this all much easier to understand.
What is organic SEO?
Now that you know more about what SEO is, it’s time for us to start the discussion on the difference between local SEO vs organic SEO. And organic SEO is the first in line as we already mentioned something related to organic SEO. Paying for your website to appear on the first page is not something everyone can afford. And in order for your advertisement to go through, your website needs to be good. But if you have an OK website with an amazing SEO, it can appear on the first page of the search without you having to pay for it. This is an organic SEO.
Before, the ads were clearly labeled, but nowadays it is becoming less common as search engine result pages have changed over the years. Nowadays, search engine result pages have plenty of advertising and more dynamic organic results formats than before which makes spotting organic SEO websites much harder. But new things have appeared too such as People Also Ask boxes and image carousels. And the changes that are happening are making online searching more efficient and helpful. That is also why new SEO updates are appearing all the time.
What is local SEO?
What is logical to some people might not be logical to others and that is definitely the case with local SEO. Local SEO is basically factor that help a website appear when someone searches for services in a locality online. It is something that makes your website easier to access for people in your locality. This is something that is going to help you with increasing website traffic and boosting your business locally. Which is everything some businesses need.
Is local better than organic?
Now the question that you might be having is whether organic or local SEO is better and which one to focus more on. And this is truly a tough question to answer as plenty of factors influence this. First of all, when deciding between local SEO vs organic SEO, you need to focus on the type of business you have.
If you offer certain services such as moving, delivery, cleaning, etc., focusing on organic SEO is pointless. It would be much better to focus on local SEO as you need the people in your locality to know about your business. But if you have an online store that has worldwide shipping, organic SEO is what you want to focus on more. But focusing firstly on local SEO and then later on organic SEO is also a good plan.
How to do local SEO?
Do you want Google to recommend your business? Then you need to allow Google to have easy access to details about your business. That is what optimizing your Google Business page is for. You also need to have a good enough internal linking of your site. This means linking your website to your website on your website. You also need to pay attention to HTML tags, a mobile-friendly version of your website, optimization of the content, metadata, etc. Using Google Map citations is a good idea too.
How to do organic SEO?
Now that you know the difference between local SEO vs organic SEO we can conclude. If you want to focus on organic SEO, you firstly need to have a unique, valuable, or engaging website to begin with. Your website also needs to be original as well as the content on your website. Make sure your website has titles that are clear and relevant to your website. Use alt attributes to describe images on your website if you are focusing on organic SEO.