What are the key differences between local SEO rankings and regular SEO rankings?

Local SEO rankings and regular SEO rankings differ primarily in their focus and the factors that influence them.The following are the main variations between the two:
Local SEO Rankings:
Geographic Focus:
Local Intent: Local SEO focuses on optimizing your website to appear in local search results when users search for products or services in specific geographic locations.
Local Pack: Local SEO aims to get your business listed in the “Local Pack” or “Map Pack” that appears prominently in search results for location-based queries.
Target Audience:
Local Audience: Local SEO targets customers who are physically near your business location or are specifically looking for services in your local area.
Local Searches: It prioritizes search queries that include local intent indicators like city names, neighborhood names, or “near me” searches.
Google My Business (GMB):
Critical Role: Having an optimized Google My Business profile is crucial for local SEO. This includes accurate business information (NAP – Name, Address, Phone number), categories, reviews, and photos.
Map Listings: Local SEO focuses on getting your business listed on Google Maps and other local directories.
Local Citations:
NAP Consistency: Ensuring consistent NAP across all online directories and platforms is essential for local SEO. This builds credibility and trust with search engines.
Reviews and Ratings:
Importance: Online reviews and ratings play a significant role in local SEO rankings. High ratings and favourable reviews can increase your online presence in local search results.
User Engagement: Encouraging customer reviews and responding to them can enhance your local SEO efforts.
Localized Content:
Content Strategy: Creating content that is geographically relevant and addresses local interests, events, or news can help improve local SEO.
Local Keywords: Targeting keywords that include local terms or modifiers (e.g., “best pizza in New York”) is crucial for local search visibility.
Regular SEO Rankings (National or Global):
Broader Audience:
Global Reach: Regular SEO aims to reach a broader audience regardless of their geographic location.
Non-Local Searches: It targets search queries that are not location-specific and may have higher search volumes.
Competition:
Global Competition: Regular SEO typically faces higher competition from businesses targeting the same keywords on a national or global scale.
Broad Keywords: It focuses on broader keywords that may not include location-specific modifiers.
Backlink Profile:
Quality and Quantity: Regular SEO emphasizes building a diverse and authoritative backlink profile from a variety of domains to improve domain authority and rankings.
Global Reach: Backlinks from reputable international sites can contribute to higher rankings in global search results.
Content Strategy:
Generalized Content: Regular SEO focuses on creating content that appeals to a wide audience and addresses broader topics related to the business niche.
Keyword Strategy: Targeting high-volume keywords with global appeal and relevance.
Technical SEO:
Broad Optimization: Regular SEO includes optimizing technical aspects of the website such as site structure, page speed, mobile-friendliness, and schema markup to improve overall visibility.
Algorithm Focus: Adapting to changes in search engine algorithms that impact global rankings.