As if SEO wasn’t mysterious enough, did you know that there’s a difference between traditional SEO vs. local SEO?

LOL yes, my friend, local SEO is entirely separate from “normal” SEO.

Squarespace SEO is full on but once you understand what local SEO is, you can use that to your advantage and dominate the rankings! I’m actually surprised it’s taken me this long to cover local SEO here, my bad - thank you for your patience :)

For many businesses, local SEO is the secret sauce that immediately shoot them up higher in Google’s rankings and gets them in front of their dream clients/customers with ease… if you know that it’s even something to consider in the first place, let alone how to work it!

As a Squarespace SEO expert and leader in this super random little niche, it’s my job/pleasure to introduce you to things like this and present it in a way that makes you think, yes Charlotte I can handle this!

This is the kind of insider info that I share with my Squarespace SEO consulting clients and students in my online course, Top Squarespace SEO. But since I’m not one for secrets and truly want the best for anyone with a website, I’m giving you the summarized goods here - totally for free!

Read the blog post or watch the video tutorial below - either way, you’re going to learn all about local SEO: what it is, why it’s important and what that means for your Squarespace website.

Some of you reading this might be totally new to Squarespace SEO and are looking for an introduction to this topic, someone to hold your hand and show you it’s not actually that scary. On the flip side, you might already be familiar with a few points on this list already but maybe you are looking for confirmation that you’re on the right track and haven’t missed anything important. No matter where you are in your Squarespace SEO journey, I know you’ll benefit from this info!

Alright, let’s get straight to it - read the post and watch the video tutorial below to learn all about local SEO!

I have so many tips to share on the subject that it would have been crazy to put it all in one article! There are many misconceptions about Squarespace SEO which is why I've dedicate so many posts to this topic. Enjoy!

Click to view all posts in the Squarespace SEO Series

Visit my Squarespace SEO page for lots more resources.

Local SEO and why it’s important for your Squarespace website

Traditional vs local SEO

As I mentioned above, there’s a difference between traditional SEO and local SEO.

Google actually uses several different algorithms to return search results. That’s right, Google is more than just a singular beast - there are multiple algorithms at play.

Traditional SEO is all about leveraging off/on-site factors to influence how a website shows up in search results for certain target keywords. Most of the time, when people are talking about or referring to “SEO”, they’re talking about traditional SEO.

However, there’s also something called local SEO which is where Google uses a difference algorithm to return localized search results. Local SEO is the strategy of optimizing factors/signals to target Google’s specific localized search algorithm.

Remember, Google is hella smart and their insanely talented team of engineers and data scientists are busting their a$$es trying to deliver the best websites and online content to people’s millions (billions?) of daily Google searches.

Google knows that depending on what someone types in and searches for, they might be looking for a business/service/offering in the user’s specific geographic area (think: city, town, neighbourhood, intersection, etc.) as opposed to just a general search.

Examples on the difference between traditional & local SEO are demo’d in the video tutorial and below.

Example of traditional SEO

Let’s first look at an example of traditional SEO - try typing Free Britney into Google.

You’ll see that it’s mostly informational, lots of articles about the movement and our beloved princess of pop. It doesn’t really matter where someone is searching for this keyphrase, they’re probably going to get fairly similar results.

Example of local SEO

On the flip side, let’s look at an example of local SEO - try typing breweries or pizza into Google.

You’ll see that the first thing you get in the search results is a map with highlighted relevant businesses in your area, then followed by other relevant websites and links.

Google knows that you’re looking specifically for breweries near where you are - in your neighbourhood, city, whatever. If you did the same search ‘breweries’ in another city, you would get different results because Google knows that you’re only interested in local listings.

What type of businesses & websites care about local SEO?

Any business with a storefront or physical location, or that serves clients/customers in a certain specific geographic area needs local SEO.

Local SEO probably won’t apply for general information websites or blogs, or businesses that don’t target clients/customers in a particular spot.

How to see if local SEO applies to you & your website

To see if local SEO applies to you and your Squarespace website, you can do a super simple little test to see what currently comes up online and whether or not you should focus on local SEO too.

Simply type in a few of your target keywords into Google and see what comes up. Use words/phrases that your ideal audience or dream clients/customers would use.

If you see a map pack (i.e., Google map + 3 business profiles) at the top of search results, then you have a clear signal that Google’s local search algorithm is at play here and is returning results. As such, this also means that your business needs local SEO.

Local search results & proximity

When it comes to local SEO and the businesses that Google displays, it’s important to remember that everything is based on the proximity of the user who is doing the online search. Google scans the nearby radius for local search results and the results are totally going to vary depending on different factors. But typically, more concentrated or denser areas are going to have much smaller radius to display in local search results.

So if you’re out in the middle of the countryside, you’re going to get a much larger “local” search result than someone who is searching in the downtown core of a dense city.

Where to start with local SEO on your Squarespace website

The very first place to start with local SEO is to create and optimize your Google My Business profile and then connect it to your Squarespace website. We’ll be covering this topic in greater detain in future blog posts but I wanted to at least leave you with a clear first step!

Final Thoughts

Et voila, your introduction to local SEO and why it’s important for your Squarespace website.

If you don’t even know that local SEO exists, then you probably won’t be doing it properly haha and that’s ok! Better to learn now and be able to act accordingly as part of your Squarespace SEO strategy :)

Once you understand what local SEO is and figure out how it applies to you and your website, you can get the ball rolling and start seeing real progress as you climb the results in local listings.

There’s a lot to consider with Squarespace SEO and I totally understand that it’s a daunting subject when you’re first starting out, which is why I’m thrilled to help you out with this blog post/video tutorial all about local SEO.

Whether you’re just starting out with a brand new website and want to make sure that you’re setting it up correctly, or if you’ve had a site live for a while and now want to grow it to make more of an impact, SEO will get you where you want to go! From web pages to blog posts to product descriptions, these factors should be considered across your Squarespace website if you want best results.

Now it's your turn to tell me, have you heard about local SEO? Did you know that it’s different from traditional SEO? Does local SEO apply to you and your website? How do you currently show up in local searches?

Leave me your questions down in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them. As people are spending more time online than ever before, it’s SO important that your website shows up properly in search results so that you can reach your ideal audience online - but you can’t do this without SEO!

If you want more SEO goodness, be sure to check out my Squarespace SEO page for all resources on the topic.

My signature online course, Top Squarespace SEO, will be opening for enrollment again soon - sign up for the TSS waiting list here!

You can also sign up for my newsletter (right here or below), where I often share Squarespace SEO tips, tricks and high-quality exclusive content. I send out emails to my list every Wednesday, mostly focused on Squarespace websites and SEO, and I can guarantee that you’ll find the newsletter topics interesting, entertaining and worth your time. #humblebrag

Finally, shameless plug: hit me up with any specific questions you have about Squarespace SEO and your website because I’m your girl. You can reach out to me directly if you’re interested in working together on your website and we can talk about whether or not you would be a good fit for my consulting and ongoing services. I can’t take on every request to do Squarespace SEO consulting but I do pick a few websites and businesses to work with every month and I’d love for you to be one of them.