How to Rank Nationally with SEO

As businesses expand, they often want to target customers nationally, rather than just locally. This is where national SEO comes in. National SEO involves optimizing a website to rank for broad, national keywords rather than just local ones. In this article, we’ll cover what national SEO is and how to rank nationally.

At Orbital SEO, we specialize in helping businesses improve their online visibility and reach a broader audience through effective national SEO strategies. Whether you’re a small business looking to expand nationally or a large enterprise wanting to dominate your industry, we can help. If you're already interested in SEO services, reach out to us and we can work out a strategy plan for you.

National SEO is the process of optimizing a website to rank for broad, national keywords that are relevant to a business's products or services. Unlike local SEO, which targets specific geographical areas, national SEO focuses on ranking for keywords that are searched across the country.

National SEO can be more competitive than local SEO because the target audience is larger, and there may be more businesses competing for the same keywords. Therefore, it requires a more comprehensive and strategic approach to achieve desired results.

1. Keyword Research: One of the most important aspects of national SEO is identifying the right keywords to target. Keyword research involves identifying high-volume, relevant keywords that have the potential to drive traffic and generate leads. You can use tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to help you identify relevant keywords.

2. Content Creation: Once you’ve identified your target keywords, the next step is to create high-quality content that is optimized for those keywords. This includes creating blog posts, landing pages, and product descriptions that incorporate the target keywords naturally.

3. On-page Optimization: On-page optimization involves optimizing various elements on your website to make it more search engine friendly. This includes optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and image alt tags. On-page optimization helps search engines better understand the content on your website, which can lead to higher rankings.

4. Off-page Optimization: Off-page optimization involves activities that take place outside of your website to improve its search engine rankings. This includes building high-quality backlinks, social media marketing, and online reputation management. Off-page optimization is essential for building domain authority, which is a critical factor in ranking nationally.

5. Local SEO: While national SEO focuses on targeting customers across the country, it’s still important to optimize your website for local SEO. This includes creating a Google My Business listing, building local citations, and getting listed in local directories. Optimizing for local search can help improve your website’s visibility in local search results.

National SEO and local SEO are two different approaches to search engine optimization. While local SEO focuses on optimizing a website for specific local search queries, national SEO focuses on optimizing a website to rank for broad, national search queries.

Local SEO is essential for businesses that have a physical presence in a specific location and want to drive foot traffic to their store. For example, a local restaurant may want to optimize its website to appear in search results for keywords like "best restaurant near me" or "places to eat in [city name]."

National SEO, on the other hand, is essential for businesses that operate on a national level and want to reach a broader audience. For example, an online retailer may want to optimize its website to appear in search results for broad keywords like "buy clothes online" or "best online clothing store."

Here are some key differences between national SEO and local SEO:

1. Keyword Research: In national SEO, keyword research is focused on broad keywords that are relevant to the entire country. In local SEO, keyword research is focused on location-specific keywords that are relevant to the business's specific location.

2. Content Strategy: National SEO requires a broad content strategy that covers a wide range of topics and keywords. Local SEO requires a more focused content strategy that addresses the specific needs of the local audience.

3. Link Building: National SEO requires a strong link building strategy to help the website rank for competitive national keywords. Local SEO requires a more localized link building strategy that focuses on building links from local websites and directories.

4. Google My Business: Local SEO requires a strong presence on Google My Business, including accurate and up-to-date information about the business's location, hours, and services. National SEO does not require a Google My Business listing, but having one can still provide benefits for local search queries.

5. Competition: National SEO is highly competitive, as businesses from across the country are competing for the same broad keywords. Local SEO is less competitive, as businesses are only competing with other businesses in the same local area.

In summary, national SEO and local SEO are two different approaches to search engine optimization, each with its own unique strategies and challenges. The approach that is best for your business depends on your goals, target audience, and location.

At Orbital SEO, we specialize in helping businesses improve their online visibility and reach a broader audience through effective national SEO strategies. Our team of experts has extensive experience in developing and implementing custom national SEO strategies that help businesses achieve their online goals.

Whether you’re a small business looking to expand nationally or a large enterprise wanting to dominate your industry, we can help. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business rank nationally and grow your online presence.