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Are you an online service provider? Or do you also serve clients in your local area?
Depending on WHERE you serve your clients, you will choose a different SEO strategy.
1) Local SEO targets customers in a specific geographic vicinity.
In general, local SEO is used by brick-and-mortar businesses or by local service providers.
2) Broad-reach SEO focuses on ranking high in search results regardless of location.
It helps ONLINE businesses (online service providers, ecommerce sellers) reach their customers.
Both local and broad-reach SEO share the same foundation (good tech, great content, strong backlinks), but their their strategies, target audiences, and outcomes are different.
Local SEO Tips
Local SEO thrives on community-focused strategies. Here’s what to focus on:
- Google Business Profile: Essential for visibility in local search results
- Use Local Keywords: Integrate region-specific terms into your website
- Collect Customer Reviews: Build trust and credibility locally
- Build Local Backlinks: Network with neighborhood businesses
- Double Down On Mobile Optimization: Most local searches happen on mobile, so this is crucial
Broad-Reach SEO Tips
When it comes to BROAD-REACH SEO, your strategy should include:
- Informational Keywords: Cater to a wider audience with long-tail search terms tailored to your ideal client
- Long-Form Content: Demonstrate expertise and authority and create more opportunities to get found
- Well-Known, High-Authority Backlinks: Build a strong online reputation with links from well-known websites
Broad-reach SEO targets a wider audience and is often more competitive because you’re competing on a national or global scale for attention and traffic.
Local SEO vs Broad-Reach SEO
The real difference between local and broad-reach SEO:
While all service providers need to have a long-form content strategy, online-only providers are going to lean on their long-form content more heavily.
Local providers will lean more heavily on their Google Business Profile, local keywording, local backlinks etc.
With respect to the long-form content strategy, local providers might emphasize case studies, interviews with allied local practitioners and other topics of local interest.
Online providers are going to target long-tailed (3+ word phrases), informational keywords that target customers at various stages of awareness.
You want to select topics that will capture:
1) folks who are just starting to investigate their pain points or symptoms but don’t know what their problem is
2) folks who know what their problem is but aren’t yet aware of the solution, and
3) folks who know the solution but not that YOU offer it.
Your focus needs to be on choosing keywords that are lower-volume, less-competitive but wicked specific to your customers.
Voice-of-customer research can be a really helpful complement to traditional keyword research to help you come up with some of this specific language!
Mix-And-Match Strategies
All of these strategies exist on a spectrum. None of them are mutually exclusive.
And not gonna lie, folks with a local presence have a few more tools in their kit (GMB is super powerful!). And IF you COULD have a small local presence to take advantage, that might be a great idea.
For example:
I serve my personal training clients MOSTLY online. But in certain cases I will do in-home sessions. I’m also tightly networked with allied local providers so I can make great local referrals.
Because I do have a local presence, I have a GMB profile and I collect reviews on my profile. Because I’m also working primarily online, I also target long-tail, information keywords through my blog and my services page.
I get quite a few of my online clients from my local area. But I also get clients from across the country.
NOTE: You can not have a GMB profile if you don’t do any work locally. If Google catches you they will penalize you. Not worth it.
If you’re operating fully online, SEO will absolutely still work for you. Your success will come from leaning into keyword research, creating that great content and building strong backlinks.
If you want a resource to support your long-form content creation (–> blog), you can check out SEO For Blogging: A No Sweat Guide For Personal Trainers. Also good for any online service providers.
