Should local businesses focus exclusively on a local SEO strategy (and forget traditional SEO)?

[annav052]

Hello Friends!

I work at a small, local company. We definitely want to rank high for local search , so we see the value of having a local SEO strategy.

But does it make sense for us to also invest in a traditional SEO strategy?

My understanding is that a traditional SEO strategy is focused on improving your site's visibility on a national or international scale. Does this make sense for my company if only local customers convert?

If we had unlimited time and resources, I'd be all for a traditional SEO strategy. I understand that the more traffic, backlinks, etc. my site generates from producing relevant content, the higher my ranking.

But my company has to be very strategic about where we spend our time since our resources are limited.

So...How much can or does a traditional SEO strategy impact local search results?

I'd hate to spend the time writing a beautiful SEO-optimized blog on dog grooming, for example, if that effort won't impact my SERP ranking when someone in my area searches  for "dog grooming near me."

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[annav052]

Hi Chris!

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my question. I'm really glad you brought up EAT, because you're right. We like to regularly blog to show EAT and to nurture relationships with customers and prospects. We just don't take the time to optimize our blogs for SEO. I wasn't sure if that was a worth-while venture as our primary goal is to be discovered by locals looking for our services.

I really like your suggestion of creating web pages that demonstrate EAT. Yes! Those pages are also a great opportunity to use local keywords and to showcase our brand.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question!

[Chris.Menke]

Anna,

I'd say you're definitely on the right path to more customers by focusing on the effectiveness of your local search first.  And do keep in mind though, that it's not SEO you're after, it is customers. The beautiful writing about dog grooming is to inform your potential clients that you are an Expert at what you do, you are an Authority within your field, and that you and your business are Trustworthy entities.

A "blog" is not a necessity for a small company in a small niche to demonstrate EAT--you can do that with your individual pages. For most people with a business website online, I would venture to guess that the word "blog" brings up visions of a never-ending slog through the world of copy writing, wordpress-admin-techno-babble, and idea-generation  for which they have to slice off a daily or weekly piece of their work time to wallow in. You are allowed to be free of that and still have a  successful website.

For a wide variety of reasons, a huge number of business blogs are more hindrance to the company than help to their keyword rankings. Instead, use your internal services pages to develop EAT. Look at each of those individual pages about your areas of expertise as longer term creations that you adjust and modify as your business and your brand develop--a large part of which is, and should be, about your location. Incorporate locality and keywords into your those pages and have fun with them buy using them to display what makes you and your company you and your company.

When you're happy with your creations, you may decide that you want to continue to write and develop a blog, but do it because you want to, not because you think it's good for SEO.