Pop art style image to demonstrate the difference between local SEO (man with phone) and traditional SEO (man with megaphone)

The Difference Between Local and Traditional SEO

Getting traffic but zero leads? You might be employing the wrong SEO technique! Successful SEO is all about relevancy. The keywords you’re targeting might not be as relevant as your offerings, your website might not be optimised for relevant keywords, or your SEO might target the wrong audience! Let’s explore the difference between local and traditional SEO.

SEO is a necessity to build strong brand recognition, but doing SEO for the sake of it is pointless.

When done properly, SEO gives your business visibility, authenticity, and credibility, with the right audience. In this blog, we will explain two aspects of SEO: local and traditional. Before diving deeper, let’s understand what they are.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO is the process of optimising local listings to rank in the local search results. It involves getting reviews, filling in the right details, and optimising it for local keywords.

Any business that has a physical location must opt for local SEO. In most cases, local SEO is for both national and small businesses. Looking to improve local SEO?

This blog is written for you.

google local pack sydney digital agency

What is Traditional SEO?

Traditional SEO is the process of optimising your website for search keywords, which may be local, national, or international.

It involves optimising metadata, content, backlinking, website architecture, and more. Traditional SEO is important because it ranks your website on the 1st page of Google. And nobody knows what’s behind the second page!

google local pack sydney digital agency 2

Benefits of Local SEO

There are countless benefits of local SEO for small businesses. And if your business has more than one location, that is also for you. Let’s look at them:

1. Relevant leads

Any business that ranks in Google local packs for keywords related to their products or services has a higher chance of getting relevant leads than any other way. Local SEO is the process of optimising Google’s local profile to help you generate relevant leads.

2. Improved conversion rate

As discussed earlier, local SEO helps get relevant leads. Relevant leads improve the rate of acquiring customers. It also reduces costs and improves the ROI of your marketing efforts. Companies that want to rank higher in search engine results need to consider the keywords used in the search and the location of their target audience.

3. Helps you gain local authenticity

Local SEO is a way for businesses to establish their authenticity by targeting the local audience. Local SEO can help businesses get found on Google and other search engines, allowing them to stand out from the crowd.

4. Get better local visibility

An unseen business is stagnant. Local SEO helps you gain more awareness about your products and services among your potential customers. Local SEO also benefits people who want to promote their brand in their local community. It can help improve the awareness and visibility of their business on Google’s local listings.

Benefits of Traditional SEO

Traditional SEO is invaluable. It has immense benefits over any other marketing channel. In some ways, it also encompasses local SEO. Traditional SEO is also highly competitive. If you want to sell internationally or have an eCommerce business, traditional SEO is the best option for you. Traditional SEO works well for small businesses like our agency, but it requires investing in a quality website.

1. Highly relevant traffic

If your website is optimised for relevant keywords, then traditional SEO is the way to help you get highly relevant traffic. Once you rank for certain keywords and users like your website, it will boost your website visits that are relevant to your offerings.

2. Long-term benefits

Targeting highly competitive keywords? Traditional SEO is a long-term game. But consistency pays off. Ranking for highly competitive keywords gives a greater ROI than any other channel. It not only gives you more leads but also establishes credibility. It can help you close higher-ticket clients. Hence, it has more long-term benefits.

3. You can market to any stage of marketing funnel

There are three types of keywords available for most search queries. 1) Informational 2) Transactional 3) Commercial

It encompasses every stage of the funnel, whether top, middle, or bottom. With informational keywords, you can create blogs around them. You can optimise your services page for commercial keywords. Transactional keywords are mostly used by eCommerce businesses.

Want to know more about marketing funnels? This blog can help you.

4. Helps you get coverage at reputed sites

Traditional SEO involves link building. It is the process of building and earning quality links that helps improve ranking. You can even get coverage on reputed sites with the help of PR. It gives wide exposure to your brand and enhances ranking.

The Key Differences Between Local and Traditional SEO

Local SEO Traditional SEO
Best suitable for local small businesses. National businesses can also leverage local SEO. Good for medium and large-scale businesses. Also, for small-businesses, if they have a website.
It doesn’t require website. Google, Bing, and Yahoo local listings are required. Requires high-converting website and Google, Bing, and Yahoo local listings. 
Local citations are required to enhance ranking. Along with local citations, strategic link-building is required to improve ranking.
A/B testing is not necessary. Optimising Google’s local profile is required. A/B testing and continuous optimisation are needed.
Local SEO doesn’t encompass traditional SEO. Traditional SEO encompasses local SEO to some extent.
Searchers are looking for products/services locally. Searchers may want to solve problems, look for brands, or search for national/international services.
Local search results are affected by geographic location of searcher and service area of business. Traditional SEO answers specific queries to the users. It may be local, or national, or non-location based.

Looking for a result-driven SEO agency?

With 10+ years of experience in digital marketing, we know how to get results with both techniques. We’ve worked with local and international customers to improve their search presence.

We are a renowned digital marketing agency, competing with agencies with much bigger marketing budgets, yet we are ranking on the first page of Google for numerous keywords. Have any questions? Email us at contact@sydneydigitalagency.com.au.

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