It is 7:00 p.m., it has been a long day, and you really don’t feel like cooking dinner. There is one solution to the problem that is virtually always the best option. Pizza. So, you go online and type “stuffed crust pizza” into your search engine.
Local SEO Results for Stuffed Crust Pizza
Most likely you will see a map at the top of your search result with a number of dots on it, representing pizza places in your area. Below that map, in the same box, there will be the names of three or four pizza places along with their contact information. This is what successful “local SEO” looks like. You have searched for something in your area and google has used the information provided online by businesses, to give you the results you were searching for.
Organic SEO Results for Stuffed Crust Pizza
Below the box containing the local pizza places, there will be additional results. These may be more pizzarias, but among these results you will find stuffed crust pizza recipes, reviews, videos and more. These are information oriented results rather than location. They are “organic SEO” results.
The Difference Between Local and Organic SEO is Intent
- Local SEO focuses on location based results. This is ideal for brick and mortar businesses that have a physical location through which they conduct the majority of their business. It is intended to guide consumers to a particular location or in a particular location.
- Organic SEO is better suited for informational sites, service industries, or businesses that are more active in ecommerce. This means that they sell products online rather than at a store or have a service area rather than people visiting their office. The intent is to provide information to the consumer, whether it is how to grate cheese, where to purchase a pizza cutter online, or local handyman services.
How Do You Rank for One Rather than the Other?
The key to ranking for Local SEO is having your location consistently listed with the company name, address, and phone number at bare minimum. Engaging in active and successful Reputation Marketing will also be instrumental in boosting local rank and driving consumers to your business. Additional factors apply but this is a great place to start.
Organic SEO is heavily dependent on keyword recognition, optimal readability, quality content, and other important SEO factors. That does not mean that businesses wanting to rank for local SEO should ignore these methods of optimization, but they are crucial for organic SEO.
Is it Possible to Rank for Both Local and Organic SEO?
Yes. It is possible to do both. The hiccup for some businesses may be the lack of physical address. If an online business is looking to rank in a specific location to target that market, but their headquarters is not in that area, that will be difficult. The address is a vital element of Local SEO. There are some ways to get around the issue to rank for both, so do not count it out if your business is one that could benefit from a specific location market. Our team at Tree Ring Digital can assist you with this.
How Soon Will Your Company Move Up in Page Rank?
Once optimization has been achieved it may take a while for the search engine to crawl a site and shuffle the rankings. This is the same for local and organic. The size of the specific market and what your competitors are doing is also a factor, but rest assured that it is worth the effort to invest in SEO as you probably realized when selecting your stuffed crust pizza. Which pizzaria did you choose? . . . Probably one of the top three in your local search results. That is where you want to be if you have a local business. And if you are looking to rank organically, right underneath that box is where you want to make your home.
Your pizza should be there any minute. Go relax, eat, and think about where you want your business to be. When you finish, give us a call and we’ll help you get there.