But what exactly is SEO for small business, and what does it entail? More importantly, what can you start doing today to give your SEO strategy a much-needed boost?
Let’s dive in.
What Is SEO Strategy for Small Business?
SEO refers to the strategies and tools a business uses to increase the likelihood that its website (and other web content) show up for their target market despite ever-changing search engine algorithms. The idea behind SEO is that by following some basic best practices, businesses can enhance their rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). This, in turn, can increase brand awareness, website traffic, and conversions.
What Sets Local SEO Apart?
Small business can’t just focus on standard SEO—they need to focus on local SEO as well.
It’s important to understand the primary difference between SEO and local SEO. The latter is all about optimizing your business website for SERPs in a targeted location. As a small business, there’s a good chance you have local competition and a local target audience, so incorporating some local SEO strategies into your marketing plan is a wise decision.
Why Does SEO Matter?
“No website can stand without a strong backbone. And that backbone is technical SEO.”
The right SEO strategy can take your small business website from the last of the search engine result pages to the top—all while spending very little in the way of marketing/advertising dollars. It’s one of the most cost-effective marketing methods that a small business can utilize.
How to Improve Your SEO
Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to refine an existing SEO strategy that hasn’t been paying off, there are some practical tips you can start following today to give your small business SEO strategy a boost.
Determine Goals and Objectives
Start by assessing your SEO efforts, then develop the goals you’d like to achieve in the coming weeks, months, and beyond. For example, are you hoping to see an increase in website traffic? Are you ultimately working to land your site on the first page of search engine results?
Once you have a better idea of your short- and long-term objectives, you can start planning your strategy and select some key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and measure success along the way.
Get Technical
A lot of times, small business websites have seemingly minor technical issues that can actually have a huge detrimental impact on SEO. Now is a good time to audit your own website for common errors.
From an SEO standpoint, you’ll want to specifically be on the lookout for:
- Slow page-loading times
- Lack of optimization across devices
- Broken links
- Duplicate content
Not sure what your site’s page loading times are looking like these days? Use a free speed test tool to find out in a matter of seconds.
Utilize Page Optimization Strategies
Next, it’s time to move methodically from one page to the next, taking the time to carefully optimize each one for search engine algorithms.
Methodically and naturally integrating some relevant keywords into your site content is a key SEO strategy. As you analyze each of your site’s pages, include all areas of your site including meta descriptions, links, title tags, calls to action, etc.
When your site content includes keywords that your target audience is already searching for organically, it’s more likely to show up near the top of the search engine rankings.
Don’t Overlook Your Google Business Profile
Remember how we mentioned the importance of local SEO to small businesses? If you haven’t done so already, make sure you’ve registered for and optimized your Google Business Profile to get listed on Google and start bringing in more local traffic.
Once you’ve verified your profile, be sure to fill it out as much as possible with details about your business, including:
- Business name and location
- Contact information (such as phone number and email address)
- Relevant industries and services/products offered
- Quality photos and videos of your business
- Operating hours (where applicable)
Having a robust Google Business Profile can help your site rank higher for local search while making your business stand out from potential competitors, so this isn’t something you’ll want to overlook.
Craft Unique, Engaging Content
At the end of the day, content is king when it comes to small business SEO. Put forth your best effort into brainstorming the kinds of content that your target audience will actually find interesting and useful. Whether it’s a blog topic that’s yet to be covered by a competitor or a fresh take on a previous topic, quality content will always have a place in SEO.
A good way to take your content to the next level is to look at your competition. What are they doing well, and what can you do better?
Reassess, revisit, and revamp
Last but not least, be sure to check in with your marketing team every so often to review the success of your SEO initiative. This should include a detailed look at the metrics and KPIs you initially chose to measure your success at the beginning of the campaign.
With regular check-ins, you can figure out what’s working versus where you might need to improve. From there, you can continue working towards your big-picture SEO goals with confidence.
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