In a digital landscape where large corporations have bottomless advertising budgets, small businesses struggle to gain visibility. But search engine optimization is a powerful tool that can level the playing field and help smaller businesses connect with their audiences.
While some SEO concepts may seem complicated or overly technical, small business owners can learn the basics. Having clear objectives and aligning them with an SEO agency’s expertise will enable both parties to work together successfully.
1. On-page optimization
Achieving and maintaining search engine optimization results requires a combination of on-page and off-page efforts. On-page SEO includes all activities related to optimizing content and structure directly within the website, such as keyword research, meta tags, URL structures, heading tags, information architecture, site-wide internal linking strategies, etc.
Title tags are one of the most important on-page SEO factors, as they’re visible in the browser’s window and include both your keyword(s) and business name. They also influence your ranking in organic and Featured Snippets results, so it’s critical that they’re optimized correctly. Other on-page SEO factors include the content itself, image alt text, and internal links. On-page optimization can be difficult to execute and takes time to see results, but it’s crucial for small businesses.
2. Keyword research
A key part of SEO is keyword research, which involves understanding the words or phrases your customers are using to search online. You can then use these keywords in your content to help you rank higher in search engine results pages.
The most important thing to remember when conducting keyword research is that it’s about what your ideal customers are actually searching for, not what you think they’re searching for. For example, a user who searches for “how to” could be looking for an informative article or a step-by-step tutorial, or they may be ready to buy something.
Having a deep understanding of your ideal client’s needs is essential to effective small business SEO marketing. Luckily, even businesses with limited resources can conduct basic keyword research with a few simple steps and free or low-cost tools.
3. Link building
The most effective way to increase your business’s visibility online is to build quality backlinks. But implementing an efficient link-building strategy can be time-consuming and difficult for small businesses.
While the ultimate goal of search engine optimization is to rank higher in search results, the benefits of ranking higher go beyond increased traffic and visibility. Climbing to the top of Google can also boost brand recognition and lead to more sales leads.
Achieving this level of recognition can be challenging for smaller businesses, especially when they don’t have the resources to outsource SEO efforts. But there are still some things that every small business owner should do to maximize their visibility online and improve their rankings. These tactics include:
4. Content creation
Creating useful content is an essential part of small business SEO. It should be relevant to your keywords and help search engines understand what your website is about. It should also be well-written and free of grammatical errors.
Adding schema markup to your website can help search engines better understand your content. For example, if you’ve ever searched for a recipe on Google and seen the star rating and cooking time, that’s thanks to schema markup.
It can be difficult for a small business to compete with goliath corporations in the same industry, but SEO services provide an avenue to level the playing field and boost revenue. However, it takes time to see real results. This is why it’s important to follow best practices when implementing SEO.
5. Mobile optimization
In the mobile-first age, small businesses need to optimize their websites for search engines. This includes making sure the website is responsive and loads quickly on a mobile device.
It also involves optimizing titles and meta descriptions to be readable on a mobile device. This can help drive more relevant traffic to the site. It is important to use LSI keywords and schema markup, as well.
SEO is a powerful tool that can help small business owners increase the visibility of their websites and generate more leads, clients, and customers. It can also help them climb to the first page of Google search engine results, which is often seen as a goldmine since people are more likely to visit sites that appear higher in search engine rankings.
