SEO strategies can be applied to any business with a focus on local, national or international audiences. It’s important to understand which of these are most suited to your business targets.

Local SEO

Local SEO is an effective and strategic process that focuses on boosting online presence and promoting products and services to local customers within a specific geographic area. This strategy is used by many smaller businesses like plumbers and hair salons who are looking to profit from building brand awareness and local advertising to markets in their area. Sunset CT Projects, for example, aims to bring in foot traffic specifically in the Cape Town area by implementing local SEO strategies. The focus is on a limited reach, where users will be able to find services close to their location if the search optimisation is done correctly. When searching Google for keywords, a map with 3 listings better known as a map pack should pop up and direct users to the most fitting searches.

It’s extremely important that people are able to easily find your local business online. If the right SEO techniques are implemented, local SEO can grow your business by boosting exposure and increasing your website traffic. Essentially, a hype is created around your website as a result, and it should have enough visibility for the search engine to pick up that you’re a legitimate business in that specific area.

National SEO

National SEO is the ideal strategy for larger companies that are looking to reach as many people as they can. Unlike local SEO, it’s not limited to one area but provides search results in multiple areas with a primary focus on ranking broad keywords. Carpet City focuses on a broader reach at a national level, and aims to gain online traffic throughout the country. By providing unique content and services that captures the user’s eye, social media becomes a crucial platform for brand awareness. So, the higher the number of online traffic, the more likely it will generate profit.

There’s a higher level of competition associated with national SEO and it can seem like a difficult task to show Google that your business is among the best in the country. Even though this is a gradual and continuous process, an efficient marketing approach will be profitable to your business in the long term.

International SEO

International SEO is the process of optimising your website to allow search engines to easily identify the countries you are targeting in a certain location. It’s generally centered on e-commerce websites, creating brand awareness and distribution of products around the world. Zhauns is a great example of a company who distributes machinery to places all over the world. They create a great online experience for international visitors, and place importance on the content and language specifics for the audience in a particular area through utilising the correct strategies.

International SEO is often seen as more complex than local and national SEO, and can become frustrating to companies especially with all the time and planning it takes. On the flip side, it may be your competitor’s weakness and is an efficient way to expand your business by knowing if your website visitors comes from a different country than your location, and speaks different languages.