It goes without saying that any business deriving the majority of its income from local customers should be targeting them online with proven local SEO strategies. But how close to home should those strategies remain? Is there justification for a company’s local SEO efforts to include a statewide audience, for example?
Absolutely. What defines ‘local’ is not exactly clear. There is plenty of wiggle room. Imagine a roofing contractor content to limit his services to a single zip code. That is local for him. A competitor might serve customers across the entire county. Although his service area is larger, he is still servicing local customers who live and work in the same general area.
That said, expanding the definition to include a statewide audience might be stretching the boundaries. But there may be justification for doing so. Let us use a particular industry in a particular state as an example.
The Skiing Industry in Utah
Utah is known for a lot of things including having some of the best mountains for skiing. Some of the state’s resorts are considered world-class destinations among skiers willing to spend whatever it takes to have a great time on the slopes. Companies involved in Utah’s skiing industry need to think locally. But they also need to think statewide.
Webtek Digital Marketing, a Utah SEO firm based in Salt Lake City, is pretty active in the skiing industry. They have clients who cater to both local skiers and out-of-state visitors. One thing Webtek team members know for sure is that they need to optimize for local, statewide, and even nationwide searches.
Their Utah SEO services need to accommodate:
- Local Skiers – Skiers living locally need access to things like ski rental and discount lift tickets. Webtek creates content optimized for locals looking for what they need to maximize the annual ski season.
- Statewide Resorts – Both local skiers and out-of-state visitors may want to travel across Utah to enjoy all the best resorts. Statewide SEO strategies expose them to as many opportunities as possible when they run online searches for available resorts.
- Visiting Guests – Finally, Webtek needs to account for all of the out-of-state guests that visit the Beehive State during the ski season. They need to optimize for guest searches involving a variety of services throughout the state.
Utah’s ski industry perfectly illustrates the need to balance local SEO with the need to reach both statewide audiences and out-of-state visitors. But are there any other industries for which similar circumstances exist?
Searching for an SEO Provider
The SEO industry qualifies. We can use Webtek as an example. They cater to Salt Lake City businesses looking for local SEO services. Their own SEO is designed to target such businesses. Yet Webtek does not limit itself only to Salt Lake City and the surrounding area.
Their Utah SEO services are suitable for companies across the Beehive State. For example, Webtek is quite active in healthcare, legal, and a number of other industries. Their clients are located in Provo, Salt Lake City, Brigham City, and elsewhere. Some of those clients require statewide exposure.
Reach as Far as You Need To
Wrapping all of this up is as easy as saying to business owners: reach as far as you need to. The SEO industry may draw a distinction between local SEO and its more general counterpart, but geographic boundaries are meaningless when it comes to reaching a target audience.
If your audience is confined mainly to your county, stick with reaching that small area. If your audience is statewide, then reach across the state with your SEO.