Local SEO vs SEO: What Is the Difference and Which Do You Need?
Quick answer
SEO gets your website to rank in the organic results for searches from anywhere; local SEO gets your business into the Google Maps pack and "near me" results for a specific area, mostly through your Google Business Profile, citations and reviews. If you serve customers in a physical area (trades, clinics, salons, restaurants, local services), start with local SEO: the map pack sits above the organic links and moves in weeks. If you sell online or nationally, start with SEO. At Blogrator both are $100 to $299 a month with no contract, and each includes part of the other, so most single-location businesses pick one and grow into both.
Side-by-side comparison
| Local SEO | SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you appear | Google Maps pack and "near me" results | Organic results, for searches from anywhere |
| Main asset | Google Business Profile | Your website |
| Main levers | Profile optimisation, citations, reviews, local pages | Technical fixes, content, internal links, backlinks |
| Who it is for | Businesses serving a physical area | Businesses selling online or nationally |
| Time to move | Weeks for profile fixes; 1 to 3 months for competitive searches | 4 to 8 weeks locally; 3 to 6 months for competitive keywords |
| How it is measured | Map-pack rank grid across your area | Keyword rankings, impressions and clicks in Search Console |
| Blogrator price | $100 / $199 / $299 a month | $100 / $199 / $299 a month |
What local SEO actually does
When someone searches "emergency plumber" or "dentist near me", Google shows a map with three businesses before any website link. Local SEO is the work of getting into those three: a fully optimised Google Business Profile (categories, services, photos, posts, Q&A), consistent name, address and phone across the directories Google checks, a steady flow of real reviews with replies, and pages on your website for each service area. Because rankings change street by street, it is measured with a rank grid rather than a single number. It matters only for searches with local intent, and for those it usually beats organic links on calls per month.
What SEO actually does
SEO is the work of getting your website's pages to rank in the organic results: fixing technical problems that stop Google reading the site, planning a page for each keyword that matters, writing content that answers what people search for, linking pages sensibly and earning links from other sites. It is measured in rankings, impressions and clicks, and it takes longer because Google has to trust a site before it ranks it for anything competitive. It is the only option for businesses whose customers are not in one place.
Which one for your business
| Your business | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Plumber, electrician, roofer, cleaner (service-area business) | Local SEO | Almost every search is "near me"; the map pack gets the calls |
| Clinic, dentist, salon, gym, restaurant (walk-in location) | Local SEO | Map pack, reviews and photos decide the visit |
| Lawyer, accountant, agency serving one city | Local SEO, then SEO | Map pack first; service pages and articles win the longer searches |
| E-commerce store | SEO | No map pack for product searches; collection and product pages rank organically |
| Software, courses, consulting sold nationally | SEO | Customers search from everywhere; content and links decide |
| Several branches or towns | Local SEO Multi-Location | One profile and one page set per location, measured per area |
How they work together
The profile and the website reinforce each other. Location and service pages on the site give Google somewhere to send map-pack traffic and confirm what the profile claims; reviews and citations built for the profile lift the site's local relevance. That is why our local SEO plans publish local pages and our SEO plans optimise the Google Business Profile. Pick the one that matches where your customers search, and add the other once the first is producing calls.
What each costs
| Local SEO | SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| $100/mo | One location: profile optimisation, 4 posts, 10 citations, review link, 10-keyword rank grid | Technical and on-page audit and fixes, profile optimisation, 10 citations, 10 keywords tracked |
| $199/mo | Local Growth: 25 citations, 1 local page a month, automated review requests, 25-keyword grid, competitor comparison | Growth: 2 optimised articles and 2 links a month, 30 keywords, competitor watch |
| $299/mo | Multi-Location: up to 3 locations, 2 pages and 2 links a month, 50-keyword grid, strategy call | Authority: 4 articles and 5 links a month, multi-location support, strategy call |
Both are month to month with no setup fee. The local SEO cost guide itemises the local plans and the first-year totals.
Start with the one that matches your customers
Both from $100 a month, no contract, measured every month. Pay by card or book a free call first.
Local SEO — One Location — $100/mo SEO — Local plan — $100/mo SEO — Growth — $199/mo
See the local SEO service page, the SEO service page, or book a free call.
Frequently asked questions
SEO works on your website to rank in the organic results for searches from anywhere. Local SEO works mainly on your Google Business Profile, citations and reviews to rank in the Google Maps pack for searches from a specific area, including "near me". The levers overlap but are not the same: a great website with a neglected profile will not appear on the map, and a great profile with a thin website will stall.
If customers come to you or you go to them within a defined area (trades, clinics, salons, restaurants, local services), start with local SEO: the map pack sits above the organic results on local searches and moves faster. If you sell online or serve a whole country (e-commerce, software, consultants, courses), start with SEO; the map pack is irrelevant to those searches.
Often, yes, once the first one is working. The website supports the profile with location and service pages, and the profile sends signals that help the website. Our SEO plans include Google Business Profile optimisation, and the local SEO plans publish local pages, so a single-location business usually picks one and grows into the other.
At Blogrator both start at $100 a month and both have $199 and $299 tiers: local SEO adds citations, review automation, local pages and a map-pack rank grid; SEO adds articles, link outreach and keyword tracking across the whole site. Neither has a setup fee or a contract.
It helps. AI assistants lean on Google Business Profile details, reviews and consistent listings when they recommend local businesses. For measured AI citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews, that is what our GEO plan tracks.
No. Ads are the fastest way to get calls this week and stop the moment you stop paying. SEO and local SEO take one to three months to move and keep working afterwards. Most local businesses that can afford it run a small ad budget while the organic and map rankings build.