What Is the Difference Between Local SEO and General SEO?
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Abdul Wadood
In digital marketing, SEO plays a significant role in driving organic traffic to your website. While both local SEO and general SEO improve your website’s visibility on the SERP, they have distinct focuses and techniques. If you want to know the difference between local SEO and general SEO, you have come to the right place.
In this article:
Local SEO
The primary goal of local SEO is to increase foot traffic to your physical store or generate leads from the local community. If your target audience is local, you should design a website and write content that specifically appeals to them.
Here are some examples of local searches.
- best digital marketing agencies near me
- why are gutters important in the New York City
- best gutter installation companies in the New York City
General SEO
General SEO aims to get universal traffic, so you should design your website and write content accordingly. The competition for general SEO is high, so you’ll need to put in more effort to make your website stand out.
Difference Between Local SEO and General SEO?
1. Target Audience
The target audience differs for both. Local SEO targets a local audience, while general or organic SEO aims to optimize your website for a national or global audience.
If you serve customers in a specific geographic area only, local SEO is what you should focus on. An example of a business that needs local SEO is a standalone restaurant in New York City or a group of restaurants in New York City.
If you serve customers in a broader geographical area, like the whole country or different parts of the world, you should choose general or organic SEO. Some examples of companies that require general SEO include KFC, Walmart, and BMW.
2. Keyword Targeting
Local SEO involves targeting keywords relevant to the local area and including location-specific terms in the title, content, meta description, and image alt text. You can add a zip code, city name, or state name to make the keywords location-specific.
General SEO focuses on targeting broader keywords that aren’t specific to any location. The keywords are selected based on relevance, search volume, and competition.
Pro tip: You don’t have to find keywords yourself. Advanced SEO tools like SEMRush can help you with it. The tool will provide a keyword’s search volume, competition, trend, and intent for a country. It’ll also suggest you other keywords.
3. Google Business Profile (GBP)
Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly known as Google Business Manager (GBM), plays a vital role in local SEO. You should set up your GBP correctly to appear in local search results. Add your business address, phone number, website, and business hours to GBP.
For general SEO, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO are crucial factors.
4. Reviews and Reputation Management
Reviews on your GBP and other major directories matter for local SEO. You can attract many potential customers with positive reviews. If your business has a lot of negative reviews, Google won’t rank you in local search results. Thus, reputation management is an essential part of local SEO.
Search engines don’t consider reviews on GBP or other directories for general SEO. So you don’t have to worry about reputation management.
5. Competition
The competition for local SEO is significantly lesser as you only have to compete with the businesses in your area.
For general SEO, the competition is significantly higher. You’ll have competition from brands all over the world. You should produce high-quality content and use the right SEO strategies to make your website stand out. It may take a long time to drive a good amount of traffic to your website, especially if your business is in a highly competitive niche.
| Basis of Differentiation | Local SEO | General SEO |
|---|---|---|
|
Target Audience |
Local audience (within a city or state) |
National or global audience |
|
Keyword Targeting |
Target local keywords or add zip code, city name, or state name to make a keyword location specific. |
Target broader keywords that aren't specific to any location. |
|
Google Business Profile |
Required |
Required |
|
Reviews and Reputation Management |
Required |
Required |
|
Competition |
Low |
High |
Conclusion
The primary purpose of both local SEO and general SEO is to rank high in the search results, but they take different approaches. In local SEO, you optimize your website to attract customers within a specific area (city or state). In general SEO, you optimize your website for a national or global audience. You can choose between two depending on the nature of your business.
