Local SEO vs. Organic SEO: What’s the Difference?

The game of search engine optimization has gotten more complicated–but also more rewarding.

To understand the difference, Google: “lunch near me.”

These three words have a rare 100 score on Google for May 2021, meaning that they have never been more popular as a search term. As COVID-19 restrictions relax around the world, that score has rebounded from a 27 score in April 2020, as people look to eat out once again.

It also serves as a perfect example of local SEO, which can be essential to the success of your location-based business. Simply defined, local SEO is the process of ensuring that your business appears when people search for local options.

Using Google, the largest search engine in the world, local SEO will help your business to appear in search results, in the ads that appear above the search results, and Google Maps.

On the other hand, organic SEO is what happens when a physical location doesn’t matter in your search terms. 

Test this by Googling: “facebook.” The top search results will be a direct link to the social media site, rather than trying to take you to the nearest Facebook offices. Of course, if Facebook offices are what you seek, then including “near me” or a specific city will leverage Facebook’s local SEO settings.

All Businesses Need Organic SEO

As you likely know, SEO is the process by which a search engine understands the content on your website. Ignore SEO at your own peril: in 2013, Google servers and search functionality went down for just 5 minutes. During that time, traffic on the Internet decreased by a whopping 40%, as people who could not get Google to work abandoned the Internet altogether. 

If the idea of alt text and meta tags makes your eyes cross, there are a lot of tools that can help streamline or even automate the process. If you use Wix, Weebly, Squarespace or similar content management systems, then the ability to fill in SEO tags is very simple. If you use a more robust platform like WordPress, then you may want to upgrade to one of the plugin tools like Yoast or RankMath. Regardless, don’t press publish until you’re happy with the SEO.

Local SEO Should Be Accurate

Local foot traffic and direct consumer sales may not be a key part of your business strategy, but that doesn’t totally remove the need for local SEO. Perhaps you like to interview job candidates at your warehouse, or you have the occasional B2B client drop by for a tour. 

Local SEO should always be kept up to date, just in case these individuals would rather Google your location than pick up the phone and ask.

Hire a Connecticut Marketing Agency That Can Improve Your Online Visibility

Whether it’s local or organic SEO, there’s always room for improvement in helping your message reach your target customers. This process is worth tracking over time, particularly as Google and other search engines refine their algorithms and emphasize certain bits of code over others.

Consider investing in a relatively cheap way of tracking your Google ranking, SEO scores and even domain authority to make sure that your business website is capturing customers that may never find your business otherwise.

KLR is more than just a marketing agency. We can help with branding, provide SEO services, consult on social media marketing, video production, creative services and more. Contact our team for help measuring and optimizing your search engine visibility.