Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a key element of digital marketing that helps to ensure your company’s website reaches your target audience. There are many different SEO strategies available to marketers and businesses, but two of the most common are organic SEO and local SEO.
Let’s take a closer look at the difference between organic and local SEO and how they can help you increase your visibility online.
Local SEO is centered around generating relevant search results based on a specific geographical location. This strategy is especially important for businesses with a brick-and-mortar storefront, or those that offer services within a particular region. All local SEO efforts are tied to a geographical anchor and are aimed at bringing people to your physical location. Common local optimization tools include geo-focused keywords, Google Business listings customer reviews, and more.
Organic SEO, on the other hand, is a strategy used to improve the visibility of your website in an attempt to drive more traffic to it. The majority of this traffic comes from search engines like Bing or Google. Therefore, organic SEO works to improve your website’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), aiming for placement at the top of the first page. To do this, SEO strategists rely heavily on keywords – namely niche, long-tail opportunities. Without the geographical limitations inherent with local SEO, organic SEO allows you to draw potential customers to your content from anywhere in the world.
That being said, both strategies are critical in ensuring your business is reaching its target audience. It’s wise to use all available elements of Digital Marketing to accomplish the long-term goal of staying relevant and visible to your potential customers. These can all be fine-tuned to fit the unique characteristics of your business and its clientele.
In terms of execution, local and organic SEO can have several overlapping components. For example, both strategies require well-researched keywords that should be incorporated into high-quality content. And while organic SEO execution comes from implementing relevant tag work and content, local SEO takes this a step further by tying these elements into Google Business listings.
To see success with a local SEO campaign, your business’s information must remain up to date at all times. Outdated and inaccurate information decreases your reliability and makes it much harder for potential customers to get in contact with you. Local SEO strategies also rely on and encourage customer reviews, as businesses with a large number of positive reviews typically appear higher on SERPs.
In addition to traditional searches, many individuals are utilizing virtual assistants (like Siri and Amazon’s Alexa) to get information. Therefore, it’s important to keep voice search strategies in mind for both local and organic SEO. Consider queries such as “grocery stores near me” for local campaigns, and questions like “what is organic SEO vs. PPC?” for organic strategies.
If your business serves your local community, hammering out a solid local SEO strategy will become a cornerstone of all your digital marketing efforts. Local SEO is unique in that it affords your brand the opportunity to make more targeted connections with potential customers. Modern search engines tend to prioritize locally based search results for users, so your local SEO strategy is paramount if you want to build brand recognition in your local community and establish a core customer base.
Another benefit of honing in on your local SEO strategy is that there is far less competition for better organic SEO results on the web. Instead of competing with similar brands all over the country (and even globally), a solid local SEO strategy will position you as an authority in your niche based on your geographic location. Once you define your target area, your local SEO strategy should work toward bringing local customers to your brand through their search results.
Developing an effective local SEO strategy may seem daunting at first, but the right marketing team behind your brand can help you gather the local mentions and web references you need to start climbing search result page rankings. Local SEO also provides unique opportunities for marketing campaigns based on local events and consumer trends in the local community.
Modern digital marketing practically demands some type of video content delivery strategy, and youtube is the go-to platform for developing a video content hub for your brand. Video SEO can seem challenging at first, but the potential is extraordinary when you consider the sheer numbers of YouTube views and the potential for positive interactions with viewers. YouTube generates billions of dollars in revenue for advertisers across all industries, and it would simply be foolish not to take advantage of this opportunity.
The rules for video SEO are pretty much the same for written content: develop high-quality content that resonates with your core audience and speaks to their needs, goals, interests, and desires. Relevancy and tone are also crucial considerations. Think about the types of customers you serve and brainstorm ideas for a video content strategy that will hit home with them.
How-to guides, product showcases, ranking videos, “slice of life” clips, and behind the scenes videos are all possible options for almost any company. As you build your viewership, collect organic search result hits, and earn more interactions with viewers on the videos you upload, your video SEO strategy will begin to evolve, and you’ll find room to refine and improve your content over time. The right YouTube SEO service can help to configure all the proper facets of video SEO behind the content for your videos to rank well as quickly as possible.
All of your SEO efforts – regardless of whether they’re local or organic – must be ongoing. There is no “all done” moment with digital marketing, simply because things are always changing. With local SEO in particular, you’ll want to remain aware of any new locations, moves, and store openings. That way, you can ensure that all phone numbers, addresses, and even local schema markup can be adjusted accordingly.
Whether you run a brick-and-mortar storefront or an eCommerce site, the Zero Gravity Marketing team can help you develop an effective SEO strategy. For more information about our local and organic SEO services, contact us today!