National Vs. Local SEO. Which Is Right For You?

If you're a business owner, you may be wondering whether you should be focusing on national SEO or local SEO. After all, there are benefits to both approaches. National SEO will help you reach a wider audience, while local SEO will help you attract customers in your immediate area. So, which one is right for you? Let's take a closer look at the difference between national SEO and local SEO so you can make an informed decision.

National SEO vs. Local SEO: The Basics

Let's start with the basics. National SEO is the process of optimising your website to rank highly for searches that are conducted on a national level. This could include searches for your brand name or searches for keywords that are relevant to your industry. Local SEO, on the other hand, is the process of optimising your website to rank highly for searches that are conducted in a specific geographic area. 

If you're thinking about starting a local business, then it's important that you focus on local SEO. After all, people who conduct searches on a national level are not likely to be interested in your products or services if they're not located near you. On the other hand, if you're thinking about starting an online business that ships products or services to customers nationwide, then it's important that you focus on national SEO. 

Understand the Differences Between National SEO and Local SEO

Have you ever wondered whether there is a difference between national SEO and local SEO? This article will help you to understand the differences between these two modes of online marketing.

Let's take a look at some of the key differences between them.

Target Audience

As the name implies, national SEO is broader, and it targets a larger audience. It’s like a general store that sells everything from soup to nuts. Local SEO, on the other hand, focuses on serving up relevant content to people in a specific geographic area. It’s like going into the grocery store down the street: you know what products are available there and how much they cost because you live nearby.

If you want great results from your digital marketing efforts—and who doesn't?—local SEO is where it's at! With local SEO your business can compete with larger competitors across multiple categories and services by targeting specific audiences as opposed to just throwing money at advertising campaigns that may or may not work well for you over time.

Local SEO also tends to be more effective than national ones because it allows companies or individuals to provide enough space for discovery without having too much competition between each other right away - making it easier for them both individually to get started quickly without having as many problems finding something new later down the road when things really start getting tough (like most businesses do).

Keyword Research

Keyword research is an important part of both local and national SEO. It's how you find the best keywords for your website that will help you get higher rankings in Google.

However, there are some differences between local and national keyword research. Local keywords are more specific—they're usually location-based words like "London car dealers" or "Oxford pool builders." National search terms tend to be much broader—they include keywords like "ski resorts", which could refer to any ski resort in the UK, not just one specific resort. Because of this difference, it's important that your local marketing strategy focuses on different types of keywords than its national counterpart does.

Competition

The competition for local SEO is much higher than that for national. That’s because the area in which you are operating is smaller, so there are more businesses competing for a smaller share of the market. On the other hand, with national SEO, you may be competing with hundreds or even thousands of other companies in your industry, but those companies are geographically dispersed across a wide territory.

The differences between these two strategies can affect how you approach your marketing strategies and what type of results you will see from each type of strategy.

Website Design

A national website design needs to be more generic and flexible because the content can be used by anyone across the country. It will likely have a contact form on the homepage and a map with directions, but it won’t need to include things like a phone number or physical address. You should use accurate information in your contact form without focusing too much on what is specific or unique about your business. A national website might also have an email address at the bottom of each page so that customers can easily get in touch with you if they need help or answers.

A local website is going to require more specialised design elements that reflect your business name and target audience within a specific geographic area. Your map should include address markers for your office location(s), along with other nearby locations you may service (e.g., schools). If there are multiple locations within one city, then add distinct markers for each specific building where services are provided; do not just create one large marker for all offices combined into one large yellow blob! Include physical street addresses instead of PO boxes when possible; this adds credibility to both visitors who might want some way of contacting you offline, as well as search engines who may trust this information over others without such identifiers attached thereto.

So, Which Is More Suitable?

As you can see, there are many differences between these two types of SEO strategies. Each has its own pros and cons, so it really depends on your business and your goals as to which one is more suitable for you.

If you're just starting out, then local SEO might be a better option because it's easier to get started and you can focus on a smaller area.

If you're an established business with a national presence, then national SEO might be a better option because you can reach a wider audience.

It really depends on your specific situation. The best way to decide is to talk to an SEO expert and see what they recommend for your business.

Get More Traffic And Leads With Our SEO Services

If you're looking to get started with SEO, Position1SEO can help. We offer a FREE SEO audit, and we'll be happy to give you a call and discuss your needs.

We specialise in helping businesses grow by ranking them higher on Google. We'll work with you to make sure that your website is optimised for mobile users as well as desktops. Our team of experts will do everything they can to get your site ranked on page 1 of Google search results so that you can start getting more traffic and leads from customers who are searching for what you have to offer.

If you'd like more information about our services or would like us to get started on your project today, please contact us at 0141 404 7515.

If you're interested in learning more about SEO, be sure to check out our other blog posts on the topic. We have a range of articles that can help you get started with SEO, learn about the latest trends, and more. Thanks for reading!