Local SEO vs. Organic SEO: What’s the difference?

“What’s the difference between local SEO and organic SEO?”

Local SEO focuses on enhancing a business’s visibility in local search results to attract customers within a specific geographic area while organic SEO aims to improve a website’s visibility on a broader scale, targeting users regardless of their location. Understanding the distinction between these two strategies is crucial for businesses to effectively reach their desired audience and achieve their marketing objectives.

Whether you have a local business or want to be found by people far and wide, this article will give you insights on how to better optimise your website.

What is local SEO?

Local SEO involves optimising your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches. This process includes managing online reviews, ensuring consistent business information across directories, and optimising your Google Business Profile.

Notably, 46% of Google searches have local intent, highlighting the importance of local SEO for businesses aiming to attract nearby customers.

Google often displays local businesses prominently through the ‘Local Pack’ or ‘Map Pack,’ a section that showcases businesses related to the user’s search and location. Features that help local businesses stand out include high star ratings, a significant number of reviews, accurate contact information, opening hours and links to the company’s website.

When you run a search for a local service, you will see what’s known as the ‘local 3-pack’ listings at the top of page one of the search results. This panel (see the picture below) shows three local businesses that best match the search intent and the searcher’s location.

If the searcher clicks on the ‘More places’ option below the three listings, they will be taken to a longer list of local businesses, sorted by distance from the searcher’s location, and a view of where they can be found on Google Maps.

If you have a brick-and-mortar business that relies on footfall or a service-area business and your SEO budget is limited, then you may want to prioritise your local SEO over organic SEO. I’ll explain more about how you can do this later.

What is organic SEO?

Organic SEO focuses on improving the visibility of web pages in search engine results to attract traffic from users searching for relevant information, products, or services, regardless of their physical location. This strategy is essential for businesses that operate online or serve a broad audience without a specific geographic focus.

If you want certain web pages to rank highly to customers throughout the UK, for example, or even further afield, then your concern will be less about ranking for location and more about ranking higher for your products or services than competitors who could be situated anywhere in the world.

Common ground between local SEO and organic SEO

Both Local SEO and Organic SEO share foundational elements that help businesses rank higher in search results and attract more potential customers.

• High-Quality Content: Creating valuable, relevant content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience.​
• Backlinks: Ethically acquiring links from reputable websites to build authority and trustworthiness.​
• Technical Optimisation: Ensuring your website has fast load times, mobile responsiveness, and a secure connection (HTTPS).​
• User Experience: Designing an intuitive, easy-to-navigate website that provides a positive experience for visitors.​
• On-Site SEO: Helping search engines understand your content with well-crafted, optimised metadata, structured content and relevant, optimised images.
• E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Highlighting industry experience and credentials and sharing positive feedback will build trust and signal authenticity.

By making your business more visible on page one of Google (organic SEO), your business will also become more visible to local customers (local SEO) and vice versa.

Key differences between local SEO and organic SEO

Both Local SEO and Organic SEO aim to improve online visibility, but they differ in scope, strategy, and search results placement. Understanding these differences helps businesses choose the right SEO approach for their goals.

1. Geographical Focus

Local SEO: Optimises for location-based searches, helping businesses appear in local search results when users look for products or services near them.

• Example: A user searches for “best coffee shop near me” or “plumber in Manchester” and sees a list of nearby businesses in Google’s Local Pack.

Organic SEO: Targets a wider audience, focusing on search visibility regardless of location.

• Example: A user searches for “how to make sourdough bread” and finds content from various sources, including blogs, online stores, and recipe websites, not limited to their local area.

2. Optimisation Strategies

While both types of SEO involve content creation, technical optimisation, and backlink building, they differ in focus:

Local SEO Strategies

• Google Business Profile (GBP) Optimisation – Ensuring the business appears in Google’s local search results and Google Maps.
• Local Citations & Directories – Listings on platforms like Yelp, Bing Places, and industry-specific directories.
• Managing Online Reviews – Encouraging and responding to customer reviews on Google and other platforms to improve local ranking and credibility.

Stat: 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and positive reviews can increase conversions by 30% (Source: BrightLocal).

Organic SEO Strategies

• Keyword Research & Content Creation – Creating high-ranking, valuable content that answers user queries.
• Link-Building Strategies – Acquiring high-authority backlinks to improve domain reputation.
• Technical SEO – Ensuring a fast-loading, mobile-friendly, and well-structured website with proper meta tags and structured data.

3. Search Result Features

Local SEO Results

• Appears in the Google Local Pack (the map section at the top of search results).
• Features business name, reviews, address, and contact details.
• Prioritises businesses based on proximity, relevance, and reviews

Stat: 46% of all Google searches have local intent, meaning users are looking for businesses near them (Source: HubSpot).

Organic SEO Results

• Appears in standard search engine results pages (SERPs) without location-specific emphasis.
• Includes blog posts, product pages, and general website content.
• Ranking is based on relevance, authority, and keyword optimisation.

Stat: The top-ranking organic search result gets 39.8% of all clicks, while the Local Pack gets around 33% (Source: Advanced Web Ranking).

4. Choosing the Right SEO Strategy

The right SEO approach depends on your business type and target audience:

Choose Local SEO if you run a:

• Brick-and-mortar business (restaurants, retail stores, clinics).
• Service-area business (plumbers, electricians, local agencies).
• Company that relies on foot traffic or regional clients.

Choose Organic SEO if you:

• Run an e-commerce store selling products nationwide or internationally.
• Provide online services or digital products (coaching, SaaS, courses).
• Want to drive traffic through informative content like blogs and guides.

Conclusion

Both Local SEO and Organic SEO are essential for building online visibility, but the best strategy depends on your business goals. Many businesses benefit from a hybrid approach, leveraging local SEO to attract nearby customers while using organic SEO to reach a broader audience.

Both approaches are about creating a fantastic user experience that reflects the end user’s needs and answers the purpose of their search. If you can keep that in mind, both your local and organic SEO will flourish.

Next Steps To Improve Your SEO

Want to take action on your SEO strategy? Here’s how you can get started:

Download My Free SEO Success Checklist – A step-by-step guide to help you optimise your website for better rankings.

Need Expert Help? If you’re ready to boost your traffic, rankings, and sales, I can help. Contact me for a free consultation and let’s create an SEO strategy tailored to your business.