When to Choose Local SEO over Organic SEO

Local SEO is SEO designed for businesses that rely on customers visiting their physical addresses. It means optimizing your business for search engines so that local clientele can find it. It differs from organic SEO in mainly one way.

Organic SEO focuses on a global market. This means it’s not useful for several types of business. If your business is walking or driving distance from 90 percent to 100 percent of your potential clients, then organic SEO is not quite useful for you. 

This applies to a range of solopreneur or small businesses. This includes:

• Dentists

• Doctors

• Plumpers

• Painters

• Movers

The needs of these businesses are specific when it comes to SEO. They require SEO tactics that appeal to a local audience. This means working with your Google Business Profile or GBP, as well as Google Maps.

In short, if you are a business that relies almost entirely on clients visiting your physical address within a relatively short distance, then you need local SEO.

In this article, I briefly discuss the difference between organic and local SEO. I also explain how small businesses can make effective use of local SEO to turn interested searchers into leads and customers. 

What is local SEO?

Local SEO is SEO that aims to take advantage of local customers for local services. Most Google searches are tailored to location. Organic search results for any given keyword for New York in the USA won’t necessarily be the same as those for New Delhi, India, although there may be some overlap. 

However, with local SEO, things are taken a step further. The search results for local SEO include four elements that are typically absent from organic SEO:

1. Map pack search results

2. Your Google Business Profile

3. A physical location

4. Customer reviews

1. Map Pack Results. These are also known as local pack results. They are a SERP feature that you have most likely come across. These are the list of search results that show up on the first page of Google when you do a local search.

For example, if you search “cafes near me” or “dentists near me,” the results you see show up in association with Google Maps represent the local pack.

If you optimize well for local SEO, this means your business will show up there. Underneath this local pack, you also can see organic search results with the typical blue links that we are familiar with. 

2. Your Google Business Profile. A GBP or Google Business Profile is a profile of your business that features on Google Maps. It describes:

• The nature of your business

• The types of goods or services you provide

• Its operating hours 

• Its location

• Its contact information (phone number and/or email)

A GBP allows you to post information and updates about your business, such as sales offers and special discounts. A GBP also allows you to link back to your website through CTAs or buttons labelled “learn more,” sign up,” and so on. 

3. Physical Address. Local SEO relies heavily on physical location. This is after all what the map pack is based on. This is different from local SEO where websites provide services or goods independent of their locations.

If you own a dentist practice, you won’t be able to provide services beyond the physical address of your dental clinic. There are businesses that have GBPs and operate without a physical address. However, for most local businesses,a physical address is expected. 

4. Customer Reviews. Customer reviews are closely related to the credibility of your business. The more customer reviewers you have and the more positive they are, the better your reputation. Presumably, this also means the more likely you are to rank for local search results. 

When to choose local SEO

Local SEO is important, especially if you have a business where the majority of customers are within walking or driving distance of your company. 

Here is what Google itself has to say about it:

• 30% of all mobile searches are related to location.

• 78% of those who conduct nearby searches on their phones will visit the business within a day.

• 28% of nearby searches end up with purchases

Organic SEO simply will not work for many of these businesses. Just think about it. Let’s say you are a restaurant owner. The food you produce is perishable within a day or two. You can’t ship it out to areas outside your immediate location.

The same thing is true if you own a dental clinic. Most of your clients, with rare exceptions, will end up being residents who live in the neighborhood or in nearby neighborhoods. 

Now, this varies depending on the type of business and location. Let’s take the example of a cosmetic surgery practice in a place like Miami. Such a business should expect clients from surrounding areas as well as clients from all over the US and other parts of the world.

This is because Miami is a place where the international demand for plastic surgery is high because of various factors such as relative affordability and supporting infrastructure. In this case such a business would rely on both local and organic SEO.

Therefore, only choose local SEO when your business has zero or limited potential for attracting a wider or international clientele. Otherwise, you should go with organic SEO and cast as wide a net as possible for searchers and potential leads. 

Best local SEO practices

So how to go about optimizing your site or business for local SEO? The solution lies in implementing basic organic SEO tactics and tactics that are specific to local SEO.

This includes the following: 

1. Setting up a GBP

2. Linking your GBP to your website

3. Setting up a system to acquire more reviews

1. Setting up your GBP. Your Google business profile is easy enough to set up. You first have to visit Google Business and create an account or log in to an existing one. 

If your business profile doesn’t exist yet, you can create a new one. Essential details should be typed in. This includes: 

• Your business name

• Address

• Phone number

• Website

You should also verify your business address through a postcard or other methods. Lastly, to add credibility, add business hours, photos, and other relevant information such as updates and special discounts. 

2. Linking your GBP to your site. You can do this by posting promotions and linking to your sales, article, and service pages on your site. This means writing SEO-optimized articles that you can post on your GBP. 

These posts can repeat the information in blogs and service pages on your site and link to these articles or blogs. Google keeps the way its algorithm works a closely guarded trade secret. However, it wouldn’t hurt to assume that these links from your website to your GBP would enhance the ranking of your site.

3. Acquiring more reviews. You should come up with a way to acquire more reviews. The more reviews you have, the more credible your business comes across. 

Of course positive reviews are ideal. However, you can’t expect all reviews to be five-star. Be proactive in responding to negative reviews and even telling your side. Customers can compare what negative reviews have to say compared to positive reviews and make their own judgments.   

Acquiring more reviews could mean making it easier for customers to leave a review. For example, if you are a restaurant, you can leave QR codes on the table that link to your GBP.

Some restaurants go as far as providing customers with a discount for five star reviews even before the meal is completed! I’m not saying you should do this, but it’s something to think about. 

However, bear in mind that Google frowns upon five-star reviews given in exchange for gifts, discounts, or free services. So, it would be best to keep things above board as much as possible. 

How EminentEdit can help with your local SEO

EminentEdit provides SEO content writing services aimed at optimizing either your organic blog or your Google Business Profile. We produce content that both the Google search engine and readers love.

If your business depends on all your customers visiting your physical address, then you need local SEO. At EminentEdit, we understand well enough how important it is to optimize for your local area. 

And we know exactly what it takes to make your business the first choice for local customers.  

EminentEdit provides SEO blog writing services that are: Fast Affordable Reliable More importantly, we are adaptable to your specific needs.

Get in touch with one of our representatives for help in optimizing your GBP. Contact Us We know what you want to say. We help you say it better.

Our local SEO and organic SEO services help with keyword research and in creating an effective overall strategy for your website and business. Our services include the following: 

• Help in building topical authority 

• Optimizing your GBP

• Editing existing blogs to improve SEO performance

• Making sure that your business ranks at the top of the local pack

Get in touch: CONTACT US AT EMINENT EDIT. Good luck with your content writing!

---

Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2025, April 29). When to Choose Local SEO over Organic SEO. EminentEdit.