The biggest difference between local and international SEO is scale. While local SEO focuses on keywords and the target audience within a narrow geographical area, international SEO targets audiences in diverse geographical regions. Local SEO is a process of optimizing a website to generate leads and brand awareness from local search. Local search engine optimization is best for a city or region with a local focus.
It's best suited for small businesses that want to target their customers in a specific location or area. Global SEO or international SEO aims to attract potential customers to your business from all over the world. Because the target audience is international, your website may need to segment several pages or have translation options to satisfy audiences in all countries. This global SEO strategy has the obvious benefits of enormous sales potential if your company can serve customers who are in any of your target countries.
Your company may have to face fierce challenges in terms of competition. Global SEO always focuses on generic keywords on a large scale, with which all the localization efforts were made, which will not help your website get the top positions worldwide. While you may receive more traffic, the number of leads will be low. A detailed plan and strategy should be created and discussed before opting for international SEO.
This is where local and global SEO come into play. These two types of SEO are exactly what they seem. Local SEO focuses on creating an online presence in a local area, while global SEO focuses on creating a topical presence anywhere in the world. Both types of SEO are valuable in their own way.
The most practical type of SEO you can pursue depends on the services you promote and the level of competition within your industry. Increase your local SEO visibility with easy directory distribution, review management, listing updates, and more. While you may rank high in a national SEO campaign, your customers are likely to be in the local area. However, a global SEO strategy is a much more comprehensive approach to local search optimization, so it's essential to focus on best practices for your business.
And since other countries have different search engine algorithms, you might want to focus on international SEO while maintaining a local plan. Depending on your company's objectives, international and local SEO can help you increase sales internationally. If you're a business owner looking to increase your online visibility, it's essential to understand the difference between global and local SEO. If you have a website aimed at a global audience, one of the most overlooked pieces of international and local SEO is link building.
Google uses artificial intelligence to prioritize local results, so your position on Google is based on the elements of your site that Google considers most relevant to the local area. On the contrary, local SEO, the level of competition of the products or services you offer on your website, will not be the same as international SEO. For example, a small business with a physical store can benefit from local SEO, while a large company with a global presence can benefit from international SEO. While local SEO doesn't use links, it does use citations to validate your presence in the geographical area.
Both methods can increase your online visibility, but local SEO is more effective if you can't compete with other sites.