Difference Between Local SEO and SEO | Expert Explained

In addition to SEO or Search Engine Optimization, these days you may also have heard of ‘Local SEO’. You’d be correct in thinking that this does indeed stand for Local Search Engine Optimisation, but what are the major differences between local SEO and SEO and why does your business need local SEO? Well, today, Seek Social – as a provider of local SEO services in UK will explain all of that for you. So if you’re ready, let’s get started!

Point 1: Difference Between Local SEO and SEO Explained

Of course, for ‘local SEO’ to have developed into a separate (yet still very much related) discipline, it must be different from standard SEO in some way – so, what are the differences between the two? The team behind Seek Social’s local SEO will explain that now.

Point 1.1: Standard SEO

This is what most people – including ourselves – are talking about when they say ‘SEO’, This is the art of undertaking tasks to improve the position in which a website or web page ranks on search engines. Such tasks are done with a view to improve the overall global ranking of pages and can include any and all of the various ‘on-page‘ and ‘off-page‘ jobs that the same expert team behind our local search engine optimization team UK businesses can rely on have told you about elsewhere on our sites – such as snippet composition or backlink building.

Point 1.2: Local SEO

We as a Digital Marketing Company is committed to provide great Social Media Marketing, web design and development, email marketing and Search Engine Optimization services worldwide. On the whole, we’ll still be doing the same tasks, and our SEO expert team will still be seeking to improve the ranking of a given page or site, but with local SEO we’re looking to do so in a specific place or set of places and influencing the ‘local’ search results pages for those places.

Point 1.3: The Difference Between SEO & Local SEO

That difference is what lies at the heart of local SEO. Where standard SEO seeks to influence a site’s standing on the ‘global’ results pages, local SEO is not concerned with them. The key difference is traditional SEO focuses on improving website ranking on a global scale while Local SEO brought opportunities to rank on local search queries within your area.

Point 1.4: Keyword research & geolocation

Just how is this achieved though? Well, as the team that let’s Seek Social offers top-quality local search engine optimization services UK wide can tell you – just like ‘standard SEO, great local SEO starts with great keywords. You can take your SEO to another level by researching great keywords. The difference between a good keyword for regular SEO and a good local SEO keyword lies in adding an element of geolocation. So, while your standard SEO keyword might be ‘top quality Chinese food, its local SEO equivalent might be ‘top quality Chinese food Manchester’ or ‘top quality Chinese food near me.

When you’re searching, the fact that you’ve included an element of Geolocation lets your search engine know where it should be looking (i.e. which set of local listings are relevant to you. At the same time – if like Seek Social you’re looking to provide top quality search engine optimization services UK businesses can rely on – adding elements of geolocation into the keywords that you optimise your pages for lets the search engine know which set(s) of local listings you’re relevant to, with the added upside that in your content, you’re constantly mentioning ‘what you do and where you do it for your human audience to pick up on.

Point 1.5: Why you don’t need your local SEO provider to be local to you

You might think that getting effective local SEO means that you have to go with a local firm – not so. It can help – especially as a local firm may know more about the lay of the land and be able to find more good local SEO keywords. However, because local SEO hinges on the keywords you use rather than where the person doing the work is actually located, a local search engine optimization services UK provider would still be able to provide quality local SEO to businesses in Texas (for example), as long as we were including elements of geolocation relevant to that area in our keywords. For example ‘Texas’  ‘in Dallas’, ‘near Houston’, and so on.

Point 2: The Benefits of Local SEO

Understanding how Local SEO is done is one thing, but of course, we also want to highlight the benefits of Local SEO to succeed your business. So read on as our team show you just how all the knowledge described here can help you succeed online!

Point 2.1: It’ll increase online visibility

The fact that you’re targeting your efforts around certain keywords that matter to you may mean that you see greater movement in some areas than others, but it’s important to remember that at its core, local SEO is still SEO. You’re still optimising your pages to be better seen, understood and liked by search engines, and so work undertaken by a good local search engine optimization services UK provider will still help you rise up the rankings on your search engine of choice and become more visible online.

Point 2.2: Google Maps To Improve Google My Business

The benefit of Local SEO is they can make you more visible on Google Maps too. People do use Google Maps in web searches in certain situations – a prime example would be a search for “SEO Company near me”. Here the person is looking for a specific service close by and they want to know how to get there. By using local SEO strategies, you help Google understand where the term ‘local’ or ‘near me’ stands for your business, meaning that you’re more likely to be shown in the results the next time someone uses such a term from a location near your business.

Point 2.3: Efficient use of resources

Finding someone like Seek Social – a provider of digital marketing services to help businesses succeed – can be especially important for new startups or businesses working on a tight budget, because it’s an efficient use of resources. If you want to learn the ins and out of SEO follow our blog regularly. For starters, you can check our SEO guide for beginners.

For Local SOE, instead of trying to rank on a global scale, you’re focusing only on the geographical areas that matter to you and discarding the ones that don’t. This approach also has the added bonus of cutting down your competition. For example, if you run a car hire company and you try to rank globally, you’re going to have to compete with (and beat) international giants like Enterprise, Hertz, Avis and so on, as well as other big national players from across the world. However, if you use local SEO to target specific places like Manchester, you take everyone who isn’t looking to rent cars to people in Manchester out of the equation, and out of the rankings that you’re looking to be competitive in.

Point 2.4: Greater relevance for businesses and clients

This point ties in nicely with the one above. Companies like Seek Social know that getting leads from online sources is great, but unless they’re someone that your company can work with, they do your business no good… After all, a roofer in Glasgow isn’t going to be looking for jobs in Penzance, and people in Penzance aren’t going to call in tradesmen from Scotland.

However, if you’re using a local search engine optimization to target specific geographical areas that matter to you, you’re more likely to be seen in those specific areas by people either based in or looking for services there. The leads you get from online sources are therefore more likely to be relevant to your business and where you operate, and more likely to be people you can actually help and do business with.

Point 3: What To Do If You Need Local Search Engine Optimization Services While In Uk 

If you’ve been convinced by the knowledge that our team has shared today, and you want to tap into some quality local search engine optimization services for your businesses, you can rely on us, then our advice is quite simply to get in touch with the experts at Seek Social today! Call us on 0161 761 1800, reach out to us through our contact page, or email ‘hello@seeksocial.co.uk’, and let’s talk about how we can help you find success online!