Everyone who maintains a business website has come to understand the importance of Search Engine Optimisation, or “SEO”. Without a good SEO regime you risk your website sinking to the bottom of the search rankings, which means potential customers simply will not find you. But not all SEO is the same and there can sometimes be confusion about “Organic SEO” and “Local SEO” so we thought it might be useful to run through how these approaches to search engine optimisation differ and what benefits they offer.
What is “organic” SEO?
Organic SEO refers to the aspects of Search Engine Optimisation that are focused on improving the visibility of a website to the algorithms which power the popular search engines. The aim of Organic SEO services is to raise the position of a website on the search engine results pages. Generally organic SEO does not focus on the user’s location. The key features of the organic approach are:
Content optimisation
It is important in this approach to create high quality and relevant content for your web pages that answer user questions or concerns and addresses their priorities.
Keyword research
This is the process of identifying the keywords that your target audience will use when searching for businesses like yours and ensuring that those keywords are seamlessly embedded within the content on your webpages.
Building “backlinks”
Establishing links to and from other relevant and reputable websites helps to raise your profile and authority. This makes your site a more attractive target for search engine algorithms and helps build stronger relationships with your customers.
Getting the technical aspects right
Making sure that all of the technical aspects of your website are sound is very important to ensure a positive user experience. Fast loading times, being able to adapt to all kinds of devices and offering secure connections all help to deliver a positive “customer forward” experience.
Benefits of Organic SEO
Organic SEO delivers a number of easily quantifiable benefits. It will attract a wider audience from a wide geographic – potentially even international – base and enhances your websites credibility. Generally speaking these benefits last well into the long term, giving organic SEO a real edge over paid advertising.
What is “local” SEO?
Local SEO services focus on optimising your online presence to attract locally based internet searches. This approach targets users who are searching for goods and services in a specific geographic area and who are likely to visit your business in person once they have found you online. The key features of this approach are:
Local visibility
A local SEO approach will work to get your business listed in local directories and websites.
Local Kewords
Local internet searches will involve different key search phrases than you would expect from a more general internet search. A local SEO agency will identify those local keywords and make sure that they are featured in your site’s content.
Incorporating local reviews
Local customers will trust the opinions of other local customers much more than they will trust what you say about yourself, so good local SEO will incorporate testimonials from your existing local customer community.
Befits of Local SEO
Local SEO gives you greater visibility to your local community which drives more foot traffic to your doors. It can also help you to build a positive local reputation in a way that paid advertising simply never will.
In Summary…
Organic SEO aims to attract a broad range of customers by improving overall search engine rankings, local SEO is a more targeted approach aimed at a specific geographic area. Both strategies are highly effective as ways to maximize your online presence and ideally will be used in conjunction to achieve the best results.