Search engine optimization focuses on improving discoverability and boosting profitable conversions. To maximize these conversions and minimize waste, marketers tailor campaigns to target audiences that are most likely to engage with a product, service or brand. A lot goes into this process, including the geographical location of the audience.
There are two types of SEO: global and local. One casts a wider net while the other is regionally confined. To make sure you are investing in the appropriate marketing strategy, it’s important to understand the key differences between each option.
Global SEO
As the name suggests, this kind of SEO focuses on a global scale. If your company ships, sell or competes internationally, it is probably the right SEO strategy for you. Likewise, if you are looking to boost brand awareness or target prospective customers worldwide, your business should invest in a global SEO strategy, which focuses on global, large-scale keyword phrases. Global SEO is sometimes referred to as Enterprise SEO.
Local SEO
If your goal is to target people in your community or a limited region, local SEO is an appropriate marketing strategy. In essence, you can only benefit from local customers or clients. It does you little good to get visitors from Europe or another state a thousand miles away. If you can benefit from this sort of broad geo traffic, on the other hand, local SEO may not be enough.
Some companies that should consider local SEO are doctor’s offices, coffee shops, retail stores, restaurants, local attorney’s offices, contractors or any other businesses that rely on geo-specific community business. To achieve optimal impact, SEO should be tailored by geography, usually to a town, city, state or region.
Local SEO Strategies
To boost rankings for local businesses, marketers adopt a few fundamental strategies:
Local Keyword Targeting
Local keyword searches will often incorporate local qualifiers, such as “in,” “nearby,” or “near me.” For instance, a roofing company operating in Denver may target “best roofer in Denver,” “Denver roofing company,” or “new roof Denver” and optimize key landing pages for these keyword phrases.
Content Creation
While local SEO strategies can benefit significantly from blog posts, most content creation usually focuses on other pages, including product, service, and location pages.
Google My Business
A significant part of local SEO, Google My Business management is a fundamental force for driving targeted local traffic to a website. Proper management includes making sure all company information is up-to-date and accurate. Marketers also focus on bolstering a company’s GMB profile with customer review acquisition and Google posts.
Listings Management
Beyond GMB, a business’s name, phone number, and address should be listed in key spots throughout the web, including dozens of directories.
Global SEO Strategies
To boost rankings for global businesses, marketers adopt broad strategies that target potential customers in every part of the world. They focus on broader keywords and publish content that appeals to wider audiences without as much regard for their zip codes or country codes. The campaigns are still highly targeted to optimize engagement and minimize waste. They just operate without the same geographical limitations you would have with a local campaign.
So, which types of companies need global campaigns? It could be anything from a t-shirt company to an airline. Basically, if the company can benefit from gaining traffic all over the world, it should consider a globally focused campaign. If not, it needs to limit its scope to target the right customers.
When Things Overlap
Sometimes, global brands may want to incorporate a local and global SEO strategy to fully exploit their marketing potential. Examples may include hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and other types of chain establishments with multiple locations.
Likewise, there are instances where local brands may want to engage in limited global campaigns to boost page authority. A local real estate company, for instance, may want to globally optimize a blog post about current housing market conditions to attract a large number of backlinks and enhance their brand’s reputation as an expert in the field.
The Bottom Line
Huge globally-focused corporations invest millions of dollars in SEO to boost brand recognition and increase their market share. At the same time, local businesses also have a strong need to improve searchability, elevate brand awareness, and increase new client connections, even if the scale is much smaller and regionally confined.
It’s important to have a knowledgeable ally to help ensure that you are taking advantage of every opportunity and investing your marketing dollars wisely.
At Sympler, we create and harness dynamic marketing technology to provide tailored solutions based on your unique challenges and goals as a business. Our proprietary, AI-driven software streamlines campaign data to provide efficient and superior insights that outmatch our fiercest competitors in the digital marketing space.
Not sure whether global or local (or both) is right for you? Contact us today for a free analysis!
