When you think about marketing your business online, you will need to use some form of SEO. But which type of SEO should you use? There are multiple types of SEO to choose from. For instance, you can think about using organic SEO. With organic SEO, you will make changes to your site that will ensure that it reaches a higher point in the SERPs. In cases like this, it’s possible that as soon as you get on page one, you see a huge increase in traffic to your site. The big benefit of this form of SEO is that it’s free. You don’t have to pay for it based on the number of people who visit your site. In fact, it’s quite possible to set this service up for yourself with no cost involved at all. Although, it’s debatable what type of effect you’ll achieve by doing this.
The other option would be to use paid SEO. Paid SEO is slightly different and includes tactics like AdWords among other things. With paid SEO you pay based on how many clicks you receive on your site. So, if your site is more successful, you should expect a higher price for this service. The problem with this tactic of course is that if you have a terrible design for your website, you could get a lot of clicks and very few actual purchases. As such it could end up being a huge waste of money.
Of course, the big difference between SEO is local and international. If you complete international SEO, you’ll be looking for customers all over the world. Local, well, the clue is in the name there. But it is worth exploring the different ways that these two forms of SEO work and how to use them effectively.
Going Global
Let’s start by thinking about global SEO. Global SEO is perfect for businesses that can sell to people absolutely anywhere. Or even to those who will be selling and offering their products or services nationally. An example of this might be an online ecommerce company or a major international corporation. Take Coke as an example. Since you can buy Coke virtually anywhere, it makes sense for the company to market across the board. Although, you might find that various offers and such are only marketing at people in certain areas. But that’s a discussion for another day. For now, we need to think about how to make global SEO a success.
The problem with global SEO is the level of competition you’ll be facing. You could be up against millions of companies and they will all by vying for the same customers, hoping that their site reaches the top of the SERPs. You can see how oversaturation could be an issue here and that’s why old school forms of global SEO are no longer effective.
In the past if you wanted to reach a global market online, you could use keywords and links. This was the main focus of how to adapt and change your website. These days things are quite different. Instead of keywords and links you should be focusing on overall content, ensuring that it is appealing and exciting for online users. It should also be highly shareable and this isn’t just about quality levels. You need to make sure that it connects with audience that you’re aiming for.
Its true to say, content marketing has become the number one tool in the arsenal of online marketers and business owners alike. It’s not the only way of creating a buzz around a global business online of course. There are other options too such as social media promotion.
A lot of companies these days are hiring social media marketers to ensure that networks are always used to connect with customers and guarantee that they hit the right spot. This can be about the right content, but it might also be based on ensuring that the right tone is used to encourage customers to interact.
Local SEO
Before we get into local SEO, it’s worth pointing out that local companies can still use international forms of marketing and they often work quite well. For instance, AdWords can be used to great effect if regional identifiers are included in the keywords that are bid on. This is also often quite cheap for local companies too because key phrases with regional words are often less popular and therefore more competitively priced.
But there is also specialised forms of SEO purely for local businesses. Take Dwell Time Ranking Effects on SEO as a good example here – the more time someone spends on your webpage, the better your page is going to be ranked in Google’s search results. And if a local searcher spends more time with you, because you have more to offer, or you’ve simply got a better website, the better you’re going to rank over other businesses in your area. So, what type of businesses should use this form of marketing. Well, any company or organisation appealing to local customers should consider it. SEO for dentists, doctors and nurses will always be based on local techniques. But what type of techniques are we talking about here?
Well, you should definitely be on Google Business. Google Business is essentially the online phonebook. It will give your customers information about your business including your website, your contact numbers and a lot more. Setting up Google business looks simple at first, but there are quite a few hoops to jump through. And if you don’t make the right decisions, you can give yourself a serious handicap on the market.
For instance, you need to think about location and the reach of your business. Google will let you set this yourself so you need to think about where you can focus your marketing to be and how far you think customers will travel. Opening times are important too. You can gain the upper hand by setting later or earlier opening times when there are fewer businesses available.
Finally, there are the reviews. It could be argued that reviews are going to be more important and perhaps detrimental to local service companies. A few negative reviews in Google, and you could have serious problems getting customers to use your service. You need to make sure you are responding to any negative feedback promptly, assuring other customers of the quality of your service.
Hopefully, this has helped you understand the difference between global and local SEO and allows you to use both effectively for your business.
