The main difference between traditional SEO and local SEO lies in the objective and geographical focus. Traditional SEO aims to improve a website’s visibility on general searches, no matter where the user is located. For example, it seeks to position a site on queries such as “best online store” or “gardening tips”, without taking into account the user’s location.
In contrast, local SEO focuses on optimizing for searches that include a geographic component, such as “restaurant in Longueuil” or “barber near me”. It seeks to position your business on results specific to a given geographic area, focusing on elements such as the Google My Business listing, local customer reviews, and citations in local directories. Local SEO also includes optimizations for Google Maps, which is not a priority in traditional SEO.