By now, you probably know that a SEO strategy is crucial and that you cannot just follow some search engines guidelines when you feel like it. Nonetheless, for any search engine optimization campaign to be successful, you need to establish if you are focusing on global or local SEO.
So, your SEO efforts will differ based on the scale of your search engine optimization goals
That being said, in order to map out any SEO strategy, you don’t just need to know who your target audience or who your competitors are, but also the type of SEO that your business needs.
Are you ready to upgrade your SEO game? Then, keep reading!
What Is Local SEO?
As the name suggests, local SEO focuses on the process of optimizing a website in order to target the community around you and increase brand awareness from local searches.
Did you know that 97% of people discover information about local companies online rather than from other sources?
So, it’s safe to say that if you have a physical location where visitors can walk into, you will benefit from implementing a local approach in your SEO strategy.
Want to find out more about the benefits of this SEO tactic? Then, check out our article on the advantages of local SEO.
Having said that, small businesses that want to target people from the local area are the ones that will benefit the most from a local SEO strategy. If 97% of people learn about local businesses from the internet, then imagine how many small and local business owners do not get the recognition they deserve just because they don’t rank well in search engine results pages. After all, 75% of users don’t scroll past the first page of search results.
That being said, there are a few steps that need to be undertaken for local SEO strategies to be effective.
1. Conduct Keyword Research
Let’s say that you are a café in Pittsburgh and you want to rank for “the best cafés in Pittsburgh” or “study cafés” in Pittsburgh”. How do you want to do that if you aren’t integrating relevant local keywords on your page?
Moreover, long-tail keywords are fundamental because they are specific. While they may not have a high search volume, users who search for them will be more likely to be interested in your small business. It’s also helpful to prioritize keywords that include geographical locations so that you can target prospective customers from that specific location.
2. Create Listings on Google My Business
Create listings for your company on Google that will be added to Google Maps and Search.
From hours of operation to contact information or address, all of these details and more are crucial if you want to provide prospective customers with all the information they might need. In fact, businesses that add photos are more likely to receive requests for directions than those that don’t.
Creating Listings on Google My Business can not only help with raising brand awareness but also with building a local audience and authority in the local market. After all, you are not only increasing website traffic with local SEO but also foot traffic
Want to find out more? Check out our article on improving your website’s SEO efforts with Google My Business.
3. Ensure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly
Did you know that 76% of smartphone users conduct local voice searches at least once a week?
With people spending more and more time on mobile devices, mobile searches increase, hence it is imperative to treat mobile-friendliness as a priority. In fact, Google implemented mobile-first indexing, so a responsive design is crucial if you want to rank high in search engines.
Discover your website’s mobile-friendliness with Google’s Test.
What Is A Global SEO?
Also called international SEO, global SEO focuses solely, as the name suggests, on boosting your website’s visibility on a global scale. Essentially, with a global SEO strategy, you are trying to appeal to a worldwide target audience and attract customers internationally via global search engines.
For instance, while Google dominates the market share, there are other search engines, you should be optimizing for if you want to compete within the global market.
This is exactly why this type of SEO is perfect for businesses that are not limited to specific locations. Still, global SEO also means more generalized targeting. For example, since international SEO focuses on large-scale generic keywords, the competition level will also increase.
Therefore, to successfully face global competition, your international SEO plan needs to be airtight. After all, you’ll need to optimize your particular website and content for multiple audiences around the world.
Global SEO has huge potential sales prospects if implemented properly. Want to learn how to do that? Then, keep reading!
1. Establish The Countries You Want to Target
How are you supposed to attract potential customers from another country if you haven’t done your research first?
You can start by checking out the geographic report in Google Analytics and discover where your visitors are located. This way, you can see where it would be smart to expand your business.
2. Employ URL Structures for International SEO
After you decide which countries you want to target, you can utilize one of these ULR structures to target a particular country.
ccTLD – Two-letter codes that indicate to search engines and users in which country a website is registered. For example, while .us shows that a site is registered in the United States, .jp indicates that it is registered in Japan.
Subdomain – Once you implement a subdomain in your ULR structure, your web cont is placed on a separate “third-level” domain. However, this domain may or may not receive link equity from the primary domain.
Subdirectory – If you use subdirectories in your URL structure, the web page content will be positioned in a specific subdirectory or subfolder.
gTLD – General top-level domains like .org, .com, .net, and more are usually used to target different international audiences, based primarily on the languages they speak, by appending a URL parameter.
3. Use Hreflang Tags
You can indicate to search engines in which language your content is available by using hreflang tags. You are basically telling them which version to show based on the country or the language.
Language targeting is key for global SEO, so you should treat it as a priority. It’s also important to tailor your content to the audience’s culture by using local timezones and currencies.
Keep in mind that visitors should ideally not notice international SEO techniques.
Pick the Right Type of SEO for Your Digital Marketing Strategy!
There’s no such thing as wrong SEO, but there is such a thing as the wrong type of SEO for your business. This is why it is fundamental to establish if your business would benefit from global or from local SEO.
Do you want to act global, or are you a localized business that wants to attract customers from a specific region?
No matter the answer, you can reach your digital marketing goals with a SEO plan tailored to your business type and aims.
Don’t know where to start? No need to worry, the CadenceSEO team is here to upgrade your SEO game!
What are you waiting for? Book a free consultation with us today!
