When starting a business, there are many different digital marketing methods to explore. Sometimes, it can be overwhelming for an entrepreneur to pick which is best for their company.
If you’re considering SEO, there are two types of it that you need to understand. You have local SEO and national SEO. Choosing which one is better for you is really for the experts to decide on.
One thing you must be aware of with SEO is that it is a short-term solution to making money. SEO can take up to 6 months before you start to see the benefits of it. Nonetheless, the results you receive can be earlier, depending on the competition. You must understand that it can take a long time, especially if you have never had any on-page SEO on your website before.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO is where you target geographical locations with your keywords. For example, if you are a digital agency, you want to search for a digital agency in London. If you are a blinds company, you may choose areas around your workshop in London such as blinds in Surrey or blinds in Watford.
Local SEO is much better for businesses that have just started their SEO campaign. The reason is that local SEO is less competitive compared to national SEO. If you want to drive traffic to your website as quickly as possible, we advise local SEO.
Another point is that you don’t need a workshop or office in these locations. If you offer your services to these locations, you can optimise for these locations. This allows you to drive more traffic to your website and is qualified traffic.
What Is National SEO?
National SEO is far more competitive and you will have to compete with hundreds, if not thousands of businesses who have also optimised for these national terms. If you are an ecommerce website that offers your product across the UK, we advise you to pick national search terms.
National SEO can take much longer before you start to get results, especially if you are a new business with a fresh website. The reason is that websites on the first page for those key terms are old domains with years and years of natural link-building.
How To Optimise Your Website For Local SEO Key Terms
It is believed around 46% of users search for local terms when browsing the internet. This will usually be services in their local area however, they may also search bars, restaurants, hotels and shops in their local area. This is why local SEO is essential for your business.
Optimising for local search terms is essential however, you need to have the correct strategy in place to be successful. Furthermore, you need to ensure you reach the relevant locations. It is pointless ranking well for cities that are hundreds of miles away from you where you don’t offer these services. The question is, how do you optimise for these local search terms?
Think about finding shops in your area. What are the things you search for? If you are searching for a clothing store, you would likely search “Clothes shop near me”, “Clothes shop in my area”, and “Clothes shop in London ”. Geographical keywords will have a small number of searches, depending on your sector. Optimise your content for these relevant search terms to start ranking for them. You will then see the benefits of traffic and conversions once you start to rank on the first page.
Once you have started ranking well for your primary location, it is time to get creative with the other areas you wish to target. Find the locations that can guarantee you the most traffic. However, you also want to view the competition on the search engine results page. You must work through these pages, to ensure you drive even more traffic to your website. Once you receive more traffic, you will see more conversions and enquiries. The more pages you have, the better.
Is National SEO Relevant For Your Website?
The short answer is yes it is. You should always optimise your website for national key search terms. However, make sure your local pages are separate from your national pages. This allows you to have more pages on your website plus gains even more traffic to your site. These local search terms will be your “quick wins” whilst watching your national search terms climb the rankings.
How To Optimise For National Terms
Optimising for national search terms is similar to how you would optimise for local keywords. The only difference is you wouldn’t include geographical search terms. You also would avoid optimising the content for “Clothes shop near me” and “Clothes shop in my area”. Target keywords that you specialise in. For example, if you specialise in womens maxi dresses, that would be your key term. If you have other styles of dresses then you would create different pages for these to showcase those products.
The Pros and Cons of Local and National SEO?
The main positive of local SEO is that it is more targeted. Therefore, your website will receive qualified traffic. The more qualified traffic you receive, the more revenue you generate. Furthermore, local SEO is far less competitive, especially in small areas. The largest cities will be more competitive but these terms shouldn’t require a long time to rank well.
National SEO will reach a larger audience however, these are far more competitive search terms. The only issue with these large search terms is that they take longer to reach the top. Furthermore, you will require a large budget for your SEO campaign. We advise you to get your local SEO in place before you start focusing on the national key terms.
To Conclude
Search engine optimisation is one of the best forms of digital marketing. However, it can require a large budget before you see the results. If you are confident in your content writing skills and understand the basics of SEO optimisation without your website being penalised, you can do it yourself on a local level. However, when you want to expand your business, you would require an SEO agency.
Local SEO can be a great way to get your business on the map. Plus, there are many different ways to go about it. There are many local SEO tips to ensure you are optimising your page for the correct things to attract organic traffic to your website.
