Marketing Monday Newsletter #8, Geo-Targeting: Local Versus International

December 30, 2023

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Geo-Targeting: Local Versus International

Choosing The Right Geographical Target

Geo-targeting is an important aspect of SEO and the amount of traffic your website receives depends on the search engine optimization strategy you choose to implement, whether local or global.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is the process of optimizing a website to generate leads and brand awareness within a specific geographic area. Typically, local geo-targeting is used for businesses that wants to target their customers in their current location. For example, if you are a plumber in Toronto and want to rank your website for ‘’plumbing services in Toronto,” then your website content and keywords need to be optimized for that location.

What Is International SEO?

International SEO is a way of targeting audiences from various countries around the globe, using different websites and search engines. This strategy is ideal for businesses that offer worldwide services, such as a shipping company.

The most important thing to remember with global SEO is that each website has to be optimized for the respective region and audience, so independent keyword research should be done for each area.

Your audience needs, behaviours, and interests in Australia may not be the same as those in China. Language and terms used can change from one location to another. Services and products may have different names, uses or popularity in different locations. Understanding and getting to know your target audience is vital for successful SEO implementation and is ultimately the determining factor in your site’s lead generation.

Local Versus International

There are stark differences between local and international geo-targeting, determining how well your optimization efforts perform. Let’s take a look at them to compare:Content needs:
Local efforts require minimal content as you focus on only one specific region. International efforts require high amounts of content as each area needs content and each website or webpage will need to be unique to its’ target region.Cost of SEO:
Local geo-targeting is low-cost since you are focused on a single website, whereas international geo-targeting can have high costs due to several websites needing optimization simultaneously.When to use it:
Local SEO is best suited to businesses with a target audience in a specific location, and international SEO is best for companies with target customers in various regions.

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Determining if your business is best suited to local or international geo-targeting is something we can help you with. Call me today for a free consultation from an agency expert to discuss your unique requirements.