In general, SEO is something every young business owner should consciously think about. It stands for search engine optimization, and the primary aim is to improve your search engine presence. You do this by making your way up the search ranking spots until you’re near the top. The closer to the top you are, the more chance there is of someone clicking on your website and becoming a customer.

So, where do local SEO and national SEO fit into things? Essentially, you can think of them as subdivisions of SEO. They are both similar in their purposes but have a couple of key differences.

Local SEO Explained

Local SEO is a type of search engine optimization aimed at gaining local customers. This is perfect for any young business owners who are looking for customers in a specific area. For example, you run a local restaurant and rely on people physically coming to your location.

Perhaps the biggest difference is in how local SEO appears to consumers. If you opened Google right now and searched for ‘Italian restaurant’, what would you see? At the top of the page, there’s a map with various pins on it. Below the map is a list of local Italian restaurants corresponding to the pins. In essence, you’re shown the best Italian restaurants and where they’re located.

The same thing happens when you put a specific location after your search. The whole purpose of local SEO is to increase your visibility within a concentrated area.

National SEO Explained

By contrast, national SEO works more on a wider scale. Instead of appearing on a map in a specific area, you appear in Google Searches across the nation. Let’s say you offer graphic design services online. With national SEO, you want to appear in the top search results for somebody searching for ‘graphic design services’ regardless of their location.

This way, you can maximize your exposure on a national level. It’s not easy to optimize your national SEO as the competition is far greater than with local SEO. But, if you seek out national SEO services, then it’s very much possible to achieve great rankings.

All in all, the main difference between the two concepts is that local SEO works on a smaller and more condensed scale than national SEO.

Which SEO Should You Focus On?

This is actually very straightforward.

First, think about your target market. Are you selling to a market in a specific location, or do you open your business to anyone across the country? If you only sell locally, then you need to focus on local SEO with a bit of national mixed in as well. Why the national? It simply increases your brand awareness!

If your target market exists throughout the country, then national SEO is all you need to concern yourself with. There’s no need for local as you don’t rely on people coming to your business in a physical sense.

Hopefully, this explains the concepts of local and national SEO in as much detail as possible. Now, you know which one deserves more of your attention!