Differences Between Local SEO and Website SEO

Key Insights

• Local SEO targets customers in specific geographic areas, making it essential for businesses with physical locations or localized services.
• Traditional SEO focuses on improving website visibility globally, while local SEO emphasizes optimizing for local search results and Google Business Profiles.
• Citations play a crucial role in local SEO by reinforcing a business’s legitimacy through consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information across directories.
• The Google Map-Pack is vital for local businesses, as it highlights the top three local search results and drives significant traffic.
• Search intent differs between local and traditional SEO, with local SEO targeting immediate purchase decisions and traditional SEO catering to broader, information-seeking audiences.

With the majority of consumers using search engines to find products and services, most businesses—whether retail stores, restaurants, cafes, hotels, or fitness centers—rely on online search to increase traffic and sales. While traditional SEO helps businesses improve the visibility of their websites and rank higher in Google’s search results, it’s local SEO that can make all the difference when it comes to attracting customers from your geographic area to your store or service. For businesses with physical locations or those offering localized services (e.g., plumbers, wedding photographers), a local SEO strategy is essential for success. To understand the differences between traditional and local SEO, let’s examine the following five key examples:

1. The Role and Importance of a Website

Traditional SEO focuses on optimizing websites to rank higher in search engine results regardless of where the visitors are located. In contrast, local SEO targets a specific audience within a particular geographic area.

Most people searching for local businesses are less likely to visit a website; instead, they find the information they need directly within Google’s search results. For example, when someone searches for "cafes near me," Google displays the top local cafes, ranked based on three main factors: relevance, prominence, and distance.

In the Google Local Pack, users can find essential information, including reviews, location, directions, phone numbers, and business hours. This often reduces the need to visit the website itself.

In conclusion, if your business relies on general traffic from across the country or globally, you should focus on optimizing your website with non-location-specific keywords. However, if you depend on local customers, prioritizing your Google Business Profile and using localized keywords on your website is crucial.

2. Backlinks vs. Citations

In traditional SEO, quality backlinks are crucial for improving a website's search engine rankings by enhancing its credibility and authority. While backlinks remain important for local SEO, the primary focus shifts to building local citations.

A citation is an online mention of your business, including its name, address, and phone number (NAP). Citations signal to Google that your business is legitimate and established, much like backlinks do in traditional SEO.

It’s vital to ensure consistency across all your citations. Inconsistent NAP information across directories and social media platforms can harm your local SEO rankings.

With an Obenan subscription, you can manage all your listings from a single dashboard, eliminating the need to manually track and update citations across various platforms. This service ensures NAP consistency across all directories, enhancing your local SEO performance.

Learn more about our Listing Technology!

3. Google Map-Pack (Google 3-Pack)

Traditional SEO primarily focuses on improving a website’s rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). In contrast, local SEO aims to get your business featured in local listing packs, such as Google’s Map-Pack (also known as Google 3-Pack), which highlights the top three local search results.

The Google Map-Pack is designed to make it easier for users to find relevant local businesses with minimal effort. To significantly boost your business’s local presence, you should focus on optimizing your Google Business Profile, encouraging positive reviews, and engaging with your customers online. These efforts can help you secure a spot in Google’s Map-Pack, driving more local traffic to your business.

Learn more about local SEO with our Complete Local SEO Checklist!

4. Search Intent

One of the key distinctions between local and traditional SEO is the search intent of the user. Local SEO targets individuals actively searching for products or services in a specific area, often with the intent to make a purchase immediately. These users typically include location-based terms such as "near me" or the name of a city in their queries. On the other hand, traditional SEO caters to a broader audience who may not be looking to make an immediate purchase. These users are often seeking information, researching services, or engaging with content. Traditional SEO helps make your business visible to these users, potentially converting them into future customers.

5. SEO Strategy

Traditional SEO strategies focus on both on-page and off-page optimization of a website. This includes creating quality content, building backlinks, and optimizing elements such as title tags, meta descriptions, and anchor texts.

Local SEO strategies, however, concentrate on promoting your business within local searches. This involves optimizing your Google Business Profile, submitting your business to local directories, seeking online reviews, engaging on social media, and ensuring your website is mobile-friendly.

Summarizing Our Insights

Despite their differences, both local and traditional SEO are essential for enhancing your business's online visibility. However, for businesses that rely heavily on local traffic—particularly those with physical storefronts—local SEO offers significant advantages by attracting highly relevant, purchase-ready customers from your immediate area. For optimal results, businesses should consider integrating both traditional and local SEO strategies to maximize their online presence and reach their target audiences effectively.

Local SEO requires a lot of time and effort as well as the neccessary know-how! Thus, we are dedicated to help you succeed by doing the heavy lifiting of local SEO for you! With Obenan you get an All-in-One Solution that allows you to manage all your local SEO efforts from one dashboard, automating all important processes and receiveing personal support from our local SEO experts!