Both local and national SEO have their place, and it is mainly dependent upon the needs of your business. The size of your business, the location, as well as the products and services that are on offer should all play a role in the decision as to which is best for you. Whether your business is set up to offer these services on a national basis is another critical factor to consider.
1. Benefits of Local SEO
Local SEO does not necessarily mean that you need to use an SEO consultant located in your area although this is recommended as they will have a better knowledge of your location, the surrounding areas, target market as well as your local competition. The reason that SEO experts so highly endorse local SEO is that it optimizes your website according to location and therefore an increase in a search engine ranking will reflect this. It will also increase your ranking according to searches “near me.” Read more about near me SEO here: https://clutch.co/seo-firms/resources/9-steps-to-rank-for-near-me-searches
In other words, when an internet user types if the name of your location (or near me) with their search criteria, your web address is more likely to appear at the top of the page. This means that although you may not rank highly on a national level for the products and services that you offer, you may rank highly according to your location.
It is therefore advisable for all businesses to employ localized SEO techniques to improve their ranking on a local level even if they are a national or even international company. A national company has the added benefit of being able to optimize their web pages according to multiple locations.
2. National SEO Benefits
Just because a local SEO strategy may suit the direct needs of your business better, it does not mean that your website cannot benefit from some national optimization. Simply using the techniques employed in local SEO will increase your overall national ranking simultaneously.
This is because national SEO employs the same techniques without the mention of a location. There is a wide range of SEO techniques that are integrated into both strategies to achieve enormous success in improving a search engine. However, local SEO may use a few additional strategies such as listings on local directory platforms, Google Maps, citations, reviews, social media, etc.
Your expert SEO consultant should be able to advise you as to which strategy is optimal for your business. A local SEO consultant or agency should be able to tailor a package to suit your unique requirements. This strategy should be evaluated and assessed regularly to determine what is working and what isn’t relevant to your specific business.
Your SEO strategy may, therefore, undergo a few changes to the techniques and an overall plan that is used in either local or national optimization. Constant analysis of the methods as well as the competition and your unique target audience are all essential to local and national SEO and should be reported to you regularly.
