Local Vs Global SEO – How to Make the Right Choice for Your Online Business

Search engine optimisation is often a go-to route for leveraging your online presence. Ranking high in search results can drive massive visibility and traffic to your website. However, not all SEO can produce equal results. Understanding the nuances between global and local SEO is crucial to match your strategies with business goals.

Defining Local and Global SEO

First, what exactly is local versus global SEO?

Local SEO focuses on optimising your website and content to rank for searches in a specific geographic area like a city, region or country. The intent is to be discoverable by nearby customers looking for local products or services. Ranking for keywords including a location is the objective.

Global SEO casts a wider net, optimising your site to rank well in search engines universally. The aim is visibility and traffic from broad, international searches not tied to any particular place. Industry terms and product keywords are targeted.

Ranking locally helps attract nearby customers who can visit your physical business. Global SEO builds brand awareness and site traffic from virtually anywhere in the world. Both are invaluable based on your offerings.

Key Differences and Strategies

There are distinct differences when optimising locally versus globally. Here are some of the most crucial:

Targeted Keywords

Local SEO prioritises keywords that include city names, streets, neighbourhoods, zip codes and other geo-modifiers like “near me”. Add your city or region to product terms like “computer repair Denver”.

Global SEO focuses on broad industry keywords without location aspects. Universal product terms like “laptop repair” or “computer service” are optimised to capture a broader range.

Localised Content

Local SEO requires location-optimised content like city-specific pages and blog posts. Feature your neighbourhood or town prominently. List your full address, phone number and opening hours.

Global content appeals to international audiences so avoid location references unless useful worldwide. Focus on universal topics and trends.

Citations and Directories

Build local citations by registering with directories like Google My Business, Yelp, Tripadvisor and others relevant to your geography. Maximise local directory profiles by adding photos, services, and hours.

Global SEO doesn’t depend on local citations. But claim and enhance your business profiles on widely-used international directories to build signals.

Link Building

Earn local links from neighbourhood resources like local chamber directories, sports team rosters, city event calendars and local organisation pages. Piggyback on community goodwill.

Global link-building focuses on authority industry websites, leading publications and global business directories relevant to all markets.

Technical Factors

For local SEO, ensure technical elements like local schema markup, geo-tagged images and local SEO plugins like Moz Local are implemented. This telegraphs location relevance.

Technical SEO services for global websites involve traditional optimisation best practices. Local technical factors generally don’t boost global presence.

Mobile Optimisation

Mobile-friendly, fast-loading websites are mandatory for local and global SEO, given Google’s mobile-first indexing. For local, enable location permissions for custom “near me” mobile searches.

Multilingual Content

Local SEO may call for translated content if targeting an area with multiple languages. For example, you need to provide a Spanish website copy to rank in Hispanic neighbourhoods.

Global SEO success often requires fully translated and localised websites in multiple languages targeting different countries.

Google Business Profile

Vigorously complete and optimise your Google Business Profile (GBP) listing for every location. It is the epicentre of local search domination on Google.

GBP doesn’t impact global SEO. Focus efforts on traditional SEO and content optimisation to maximise worldwide visibility.

Choosing Between Local and Global SEO

When developing an SEO strategy, businesses must decide where to focus their efforts – targeting local or global audiences. Here are some tips on choosing the right approach:

First, analyse your existing customer base. Do most sales come from your local area or from national and international sources? Understanding current demand helps allocate SEO resources accordingly.

Next, consider your offerings and capabilities. For local businesses like retailers, restaurants and professional service providers, optimising for local SEO to drive foot traffic makes sense. Companies selling digital products globally will prioritise global SEO. Factor in your product distribution range.

Also, evaluate competitors. If other local businesses rank well for your target keywords, doubling down on proven local SEO tactics can help you grab share. Low local competition means focusing nationally and internationally may yield better returns.

Finally, map keywords to match your priorities. If you want to attract more Singapore-based customers, target more “Singapore SEO” and “SEO services Singapore” keywords. Have wider ambitions? Scale up global keywords without geographic modifiers.

Align SEO strategies with your target markets for the best ROI on time and resources. With strong execution, businesses can achieve both local and global visibility – it just requires strategic optimisation based on business goals.

What to Avoid in an SEO Company in Singapore

It is also important to know what to avoid when choosing an SEO company in Singapore. Many SEO agencies are not reliable, and some may involve actions that will deteriorate your SEO ranking. 

Here are some key things to steer clear of when choosing an SEO company:

1. Guarantees of Instant Results: Avoid companies that sell instant or overnight results at all costs. However, SEO is a long-term strategy, and no one ensures success overnight. Many of the agencies that make such claims have questionable methods that search engines could penalise for misrepresenting their sites as credible.

2. Lack of Transparency: It is a sign of warning if an SEO company is not ready to disclose its tactics and outcomes. You should be able to get reports, analytics and a clear explanation of what is happening to your site.

3. Overemphasis on Keyword Stuffing: Using old-fashioned SEO schemes, such as adding too many keywords to a site, is detrimental to the site‘s search engine position. Run away from organisations that only emphasise the use of keywords in the absence of quality issues and user experience considerations.

4. Black Hat SEO Techniques: Examples of black hat SEO techniques include buying backlinks, cloaking, or hidden text among others that can attract serious penalties from various search engines. The white hat SEO approach is the only approach that a reputable SEO company should follow, and this method should be based on search engine guidelines.

Local and global SEO both aim for search visibility but require distinct strategies based on geographic scope. Assess your customer locations and business goals, then allocate time and resources accordingly between local and global efforts. With the right balance tailored to your niche, your website and brand can gain recognition both in your backyard and far beyond. 

Visit OOm Singapore for a know-how SEO solution to empower your business.