Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is how businesses make their websites more visible on search engines like Google or Firefox. Think of SEO as a tool that helps people find you when they’re searching online. If done well, SEO boosts your business’s chances of appearing at the top of search results, meaning more eyeballs on your website and more potential customers.
But here’s the thing: not all SEO works the same way.
The way you optimise for local searches, like when someone nearby searches for “coffee shop near me” is fundamentally different from someone searching for your products or services across the world.
That’s where local SEO vs. global SEO comes in. Understanding the difference helps you decide the best way to reach the people you want to attract, whether in local or global markets.
With that basic understanding, let’s discuss local SEO and global SEO and the differences between them to help you choose the right approach for growing your business.
What Is Local SEO?
As the name implies, local SEO is about reaching people near your business. Think of it as targeting customers in your own neighbourhood or city. When someone searches for something nearby, like “bubble tea near me” or “best carpenters in [city]”, search engines pick up the keywords of the users and pop up relevant businesses in the area.
This is huge for local businesses because it helps connect you directly with people in your area who already intend to buy or interact with your business. Ultimately, it is about making sure that locals find you easily when they look for what you offer. Let’s discuss about what local SEO entails.
Local SEO Essentials
Connect With Local Audience
Whether it’s targeting a city, neighbourhood, or specific region, local businesses thrive on attracting nearby customers or foot traffic. This applies to places like coffee shops, salons, and service providers such as plumbers.
Local SEO is about connecting businesses with people in the area actively searching for nearby services or products.
Localised Keyword Strategy
Imagine you’re on vacation in a foreign country, craving the famous local cuisine you heard so much about. You pulled out your phone and searched for “best restaurant in [city]” or “local cuisine in [town]”, and a plethora of nearby restaurants showed up.
Nearly all search terms for local SEO include “near me” or location-specific words. By incorporating these location-based keywords, businesses can make it easier for search engines to show their website to nearby searchers.
Local-friendly Website Structure
A local-friendly site structure makes it easy for search engines and users to find location-specific information about your business.
For example, a restaurant chain might create individual pages for each city or neighbourhood it serves or actively promote special events in its local areas. This structure helps search engines understand which page is relevant to users in specific locations and boosts your chances of showing up in local searches.
Plus, a simple “Contact Us” or “Find Us” page with a map and precise details about each location helps guide visitors straight to your door. This setup keeps everything clear and easy to find for both search engines and people.
Creating Community-Focused Content
Content for local SEO often includes locally relevant information like community events, neighbourhood news, or area-specific guides. If you run a hardware store, post a guide on “DIY Projects to Get Your Garden Ready for [City’s] Spring,” or share a calendar of workshops hosting events.
This kind of content keeps your website relevant to the locals, helps people see you as a valuable resource, and builds trust. It also shows your store isn’t just about selling products and supporting the community’s needs and projects.
Establish Local Citations And Links
Citations are online mentions of your business’s key details: name, address, and phone number (often called NAP). Think of them as digital breadcrumbs that lead people to your store and signal to search engines that your business is legitimate and reliable.
These consistent and widespread citations help improve your local SEO, making it easier for nearby customers to find you.
What Is Global SEO?
Global or International SEO aims to reach customers across multiple countries or regions. Instead of focusing on a single area, this approach is about making your business visible to people worldwide.
If you have products or services with a broad appeal, global SEO helps you connect with international audiences and expand your reach. For businesses that have already hit the ground running, having an effective international SEO strategy helps in entering new markets.
Global SEO Building Blocks
Tailored Keyword Research for Global Reach
When targeting multiple countries, keyword strategy becomes more nuanced and precise. Take American English and British English for example.
Someone in the U.S. might search for “vacation rentals,” while someone in the U.K. could look for “holiday lets.” Global SEO involves in-depth research on search term variations and understanding the different slang or local customs.
Optimising for Different Search Engines and Platforms
While Google dominates globally, some regions have their popular search engines. For instance, Baidu is widely used in China, and Yandex is popular in Russia.
Optimising your content for these platforms, using region-specific keywords and following platform-specific SEO guidelines, can help you capture audiences on non-Google search engines. This may also include setting up business profiles on local directories or using local review sites that are popular in specific countries.
Cultural And Regional Focused Content
Complex and carefully curated, global SEO goes beyond simply translating content. It’s about creating a culturally relevant experience that speaks and appeals to the locals.
Certain colours or phrases may have positive associations in one culture but not in another. Creating a tailored experience for each audience builds trust and keeps users engaged, which is crucial for international growth.
Structuring Your Site For Multiple Regions And Languages
For international audiences, a well-organised site structure is pretty much essential. Common options include:
Subdomains (e.g., us.yoursite.com): Separate versions of your site for different regions, making it easy for search engines to recognise country-specific content.
Country-Specific Domains (e.g., yoursite.co.uk for the U.K.): These domains show search engines and users that your content is tailored to a particular country.
hreflang Tags: These HTML tags help search engines show users the correct language version of your content based on their location. This prevents users from landing on a page in the wrong language, improving their experience and also reducing frustration.
So we have discussed the difference between local SEO and global SEO, but which strategy works best for your business?
When Local Seo Makes Sense
Local SEO is most effective for businesses that serve customers within a particular geographic area. Here are some situations where local SEO is likely the better choice:
Brick-and-Mortar Businesses
Local SEO is the way to go for businesses that are reliant on foot traffic or walk-ins, such as gyms, retail stores, or cafes. These businesses benefit from showing up in local search results because it connects them directly with people in the area who are ready to buy.
Service-Based Businesses With A Defined Service Area
If your business offers services within a limited area, like a real estate company or home services, local keywords and directory listings can help you target nearby clients effectively.
Online Businesses Targeting a Specific Location
For online businesses aiming to dominate a particular city or region, local SEO is a powerful tool. Even if a business operates entirely online, targeting local customers through local SEO can provide significant advantages, especially when international shipping cost is not a concern.
Competitive Local Markets
In some cases, competing within a crowded local market may require a specialised local SEO strategy. Law firms and medical service providers often face intense competition within their industries, so local SEO helps these businesses stand out and attract clients looking for nearby services.
In general, local SEO should be the top choice if your business requires a physical presence or if customers need to be in the same area to access your services.
When Global Seo Is The Better Option
If your business has an international reach or serves customers from different parts of the world, global SEO is the right path. Here’s when global SEO is typically the best fit:
E-Commerce Businesses With International Shipping
For e-commerce businesses that ship internationally, global SEO helps attract shoppers from different countries by making the online experience easy and familiar for each audience. This means translating content into local languages, using keywords people search in other regions, and creating dedicated pages with relevant details like shipping costs and delivery times.
Imagine a customer in France finding your products listed in euros with a “Free Shipping to France” offer. Now, that would be an attractive offer.
Digital Services And Software
Companies offering digital services, such as SaaS (Software as a Service) products, or cloud-based tools, are ideal candidates for global SEO. Since these services can be accessed from anywhere, an international SEO approach helps these businesses attract a diverse, global customer base.
Businesses Expanding into New Markets
If your company is already established locally but planning to expand into other countries, global SEO can help pave the way. By targeting specific international markets with tailored content and localised websites, you can begin building brand recognition and customer trust in those regions.
Brands Targeting Multiple Cultures Or Languages
Companies that want to connect with customers from various linguistic or cultural backgrounds benefit from global SEO. This often involves creating multilingual content, adapting keywords for different dialects, and using technical SEO elements like hreflang tags to ensure the right language version appears in search results.
Coca-Cola, which famously launched the “Share a Coke” campaign, where they personalised bottles with popular names in various languages and specific cultural references. By creating localised content in each country’s language and optimising it for regional keywords, Coca-Cola made their campaign universally engaging while still resonating with local audiences.
Brands in High-Demand Industries
Certain industries, such as tourism, hospitality, and international retail, naturally attract customers from different regions. Businesses within these industries can leverage global SEO to attract potential customers from around the world, especially by highlighting travel destinations, international shipping options, or region-specific services.
When A Mixed Approach Might Work
In some cases, a combination of both local and global SEO strategies might be the most effective solution. A hybrid approach allows businesses to reach both local customers and a broader audience online, making it ideal for companies with diverse customer bases. Here are some business situations to consider.
National Chains With Multiple Locations And An Online Presence
For businesses with multiple physical locations, like hotel chains, gyms, or retail franchises, a mixed approach works well. Local SEO can help attract customers to specific locations, while global SEO promotes the brand on a larger scale, reaching travellers or online shoppers who may not live nearby.
Businesses With Local And International Services
Some businesses offer both local and international services, such as a digital marketing agency that provides consulting to local clients while offering remote services to international customers. In this case, combining local SEO for nearby clients with global SEO for international outreach can help maximise visibility.
Companies Serving Both Niche And General Markets
If your business targets both specific regions and general markets, a hybrid strategy might be the right fit. For example, a company selling specialty food items might use local SEO to promote products at local farmers’ markets while also implementing global SEO to reach international food enthusiasts.
Industries with Seasonality Or Regional Popularity
Businesses in sectors where demand fluctuates by region or season can benefit from a mixed approach. For example, a travel agency might focus on local SEO for popular domestic destinations during certain seasons while also using global SEO to attract international clients year-round.
Growing Businesses Exploring New Regions
Companies that have primarily operated locally but are starting to explore international markets may benefit from a phased approach. Starting with local SEO in your current area, you can gradually implement global SEO as you expand, targeting one new region at a time. This way, you can balance resources while building an international presence.
Challenges And Limitations Of Each Strategy
While both SEO strategies have their advantages, they also come with unique challenges.
Challenges For Local SEO
Tough Competition In Your Area
If you’re in a busy area with lots of similar businesses, it can be tough to stand out. Local SEO is all about competing for the top spots in search results, and big or well-known companies might already dominate.
Keeping Your Info Consistent Everywhere
Your business details, like NAP, need to match exactly across different online platforms. Making sure your info is consistent everywhere can be time-consuming but is crucial to avoid confusion.
Getting Enough Positive Reviews
Reviews matter a lot for local SEO. However, asking customers to leave reviews and managing them, especially the negative ones, is hard work. You need to keep asking for positive feedback and respond politely to any bad reviews.
Managing Multiple Locations
If your business has more than one location, you need separate listings, pages, and content for each one. This can get confusing, and it takes effort to ensure that every location gets the attention it needs to rank well.
Challenges for Global SEO
Language And Cultural Barriers
It’s not just about translating words; it’s about making sure the content fits each country’s culture and language preferences. What works in one country might not make sense in another, and you need to be aware of local customs to avoid making mistakes.
Building Links From Different Countries
You need local websites to link back to yours to rank well in other countries. However, getting links from trusted sites in each country can take time and effort. You’ll need to build relevant relationships with influencers or relevant websites in each region.
Following Local Rules And Regulations
Different countries have different rules about data privacy, advertising, and online business practices. For example, Europe has strict rules (like GDPR), and China has its own internet laws. Staying on top of these regulations requires extra time and resources.
Managing Budget And Resources
Global SEO can be expensive and time-consuming. Translation, technical adjustments, and local content require both budget and time. For smaller businesses, balancing global efforts while keeping costs under control can be challenging.
Each approach requires careful planning to address these challenges and ensure the strategy delivers results without excessive costs or complications.
Conclusion On Local SEO Vs Global SEO
Ultimately, deciding between local SEO and global SEO depends on your business’s goals and audience. Each approach has unique benefits and challenges.
By understanding these differences and applying the right strategy, your business can achieve its growth goals, whether that’s attracting loyal local customers or expanding into international markets.
Best SEO understands that implementing local and global SEO strategies is time-consuming and difficult for many businesses. Our expertise in working with local businesses and international clients makes us the perfect choice for your SEO services needs. Get your Free 30-minute strategy session with us today!
Frequently Asked Questions About Local SEO vs Global SEO
Are Backlinks Important For Local SEO?
Yes. Local backlinks from trusted regional websites or local influencers help build authority and improve local search rankings for businesses.
Should I Use Google My Business For Global SEO?
Google My Business is more beneficial for local SEO. For global SEO, focus on optimising your site for region-specific keywords and global visibility.
Is Global SEO Suitable For Small Businesses?
Global SEO is typically more suitable for businesses with international reach or ambitions, but small businesses aiming for global exposure can still benefit from the right approach.
Are Local Directories Effective For Global SEO?
Local directories are most effective for local SEO but may not impact global SEO as much unless they have an international reach. For global SEO, focus on region-specific directories and international backlink opportunities.
Is Global SEO More Expensive Than Local SEO?
Yes. Global SEO generally requires more resources, such as translating content, managing multiple regional websites, and adapting to various search engines, which can increase costs.
Is It Necessary To Have Separate Websites For Local SEO And Global SEO?
It depends on your business size and strategy. Separate websites or subdomains may be necessary for large businesses, but smaller businesses can often manage with one website optimised for both local and global audiences.
