Paid digital advertising works, but many small businesses can’t compete with its cost. Your small business can stay competitive and keep costs down through search engine optimization (SEO), an effective alternative to paid advertising. The fruits of your labor can only be realized when you plant the seeds of a robust strategy, work hard, and allow time to pass.
How does SEO work?
In search engine optimization, a website’s organic visibility on the web is improved. To appear as high as possible on a search engine’s first page (such as Google), your web property must rank as high as possible. Without the need to pay for ads, SEO can drive traffic to your website.
Improved organic visibility is a result of many factors. Content, keyword targeting, and backlinking are a few of the most important. It is also important to optimize your site for mobile and speed.
Here’s a glossary of SEO terms before getting into the details:
Search engine results: These are also called Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). A list of results is generated for every query a search engine user types into a search engine, such as Google. A list of results is then generated for each keyword.
Keyword ranking: The exact position that your web page occupies in search results. There are usually ten or more results per page in most web searches, and most of the time a search results in hundreds of pages. You will receive more visitors and, in turn, more traffic to your website if you rank in the top five on the first page.
Local search/Local SEO: Search engine optimization is used to advertise local businesses online. In the case of an individual searching for “shoe store Boston,” the results will list all shoe stores in Boston that appear high in the search engine for that term. In contrast, typing in “shoe store” would likely result in online retailers without a geographic focus.
Backlinks: These are external links to your website. They can help you rank for keywords and increase your page authority. However, if they aren’t handled carefully, they can damage your site’s ranking. To ensure your page receives traffic from reputable sources, ensure that your backlinks are coming from them. Disavow any links that look spammy every few months to avoid getting penalized.
Technical SEO: Contrary to the content side of SEO, the technical side of SEO ensures your website is crawled and indexed by search engines (meaning search engines can read your content and rank it against similar content). On the backend of your website, technical SEO pertains to HTML code, site speed, mobile optimization, the sitemap, and the architecture of your website.
Site speed: Is your website slow to load? Your website speed is important. Search engines take this into account when ranking websites. Because it improves the user’s experience, search engines prefer sites that load quickly and efficiently. The search engines will penalize your site if it takes a long time to load and has unattractive images or videos.
Mobile optimization: Website ranking is also affected by how well it displays on mobile devices. Your web property will suffer in search results if it was built for desktops and didn’t scale to a range of different mobile devices.
Below are five tips for small business SEO.
Google should rank your site well if you’re a small business. You may also find other sites that have their own SEO strategies to be valuable (or more valuable), like Reddit, Amazon, Yelp, YouTube, and Instagram. Decide where you want to spend most of your time and energy.
It is not free, but it is effective. SEO takes time, depending on your starting point. For those who are building out their SEO strategy in the early stages, results may take six months or even longer if they are building a new website. Keep in mind that SEO is a continuous process. You can simplify the process later on if you lay the foundation during the first months. If you put more effort into SEO, your competitors will find it harder to beat you.
Make sure you target the right keywords. Create content with relevant keywords. Have trouble selecting the right keywords? You can find a few keyword research tools that aren’t too expensive, such as Ahrefs, SEMRush, and BuzzSumo. By doing this, you can direct your content to the right audiences.
Focus on people before search engines. A website that provides high-quality, engaging, and relevant content with the targeted keyword will encourage people to stay on the website, read more, and interact more. Consider answering frequently asked questions about your industry. Feature solutions your customers might be interested in. It may be tempting, but do not stuff your content with irrelevant keywords. You will lose your human readers, and your search ranking will suffer. It is a factor that search engines consider when displaying their results.
Utilize local search for your benefit. Local searches can be very beneficial to small businesses. People searching locally for local businesses are potential customers who are ready to be converted. Google searches with local intent account for almost half of all searches according to data from Sagapixel. In 2020, “near me” searches will double. 7.2 percent of consumers who use local searchers visit a store within five miles of their present location. Claiming your Google Business listing is the first step in local search optimization. In this way, your business will appear on Google maps and in “near me” search results. Use your city or state as a key phrase to get localized results.
Benefits of SEO for small business
Approximately 44% of revenue is generated by organic search, according to BrightEdge research. Through organic search, SEO attracts more online readers.
Through organic search, SEO attracts more online readers. SEO increases brand awareness. Search engine optimization will help you appear above your competitors in search results. Those who come across your site when researching will remember your brand when it comes time to make a purchase.
In the right hands, SEO can be incredibly effective – but it does not happen overnight. Once the foundation is laid, but it takes time and effort to build, the rewards are great. Your SEO will grow as you nurture it, just as it grows as you nurture a plant.
Why should small businesses consider SEO?
As a first step, perform a technical and content audit. This helps you identify areas for improvement. You can start with an audit regardless of how much or how little SEO you have done. Upon completion of your audit, you’ll know what work needs to be done to improve your SEO.
What is a content audit?
The purpose of a content audit is twofold: Finding opportunities for new content, and identifying existing content in need of attention. There should be a complete list of all your web content (blogs) along with traffic, engagements, ranking keywords, and backlinks.
What is a technical audit?
You can improve your website’s backend and structure after the technical audit. Look for pages with duplicate or missing page titles. Tracking page speed, broken links, and redirect chains is also important. More experienced users may want to learn about schema markups, canonical tags.
Small businesses can hire SEO services in the following ways
Not sure you can handle this on your own? Small businesses can find SEO experts to help with their SEO strategy. Selecting the right agency or individual is as important as developing the right strategy.
A small business probably cannot afford to hire an in-house SEO expert, but there are other ways to handle your SEO needs. There are a variety of SEO packages available for small businesses. There are even some firms that will propose flat-rate contracts depending on your needs. With this option, you will receive an exact quote of the work’s costs. You can look into hourly SEO consultants if you want guidance but are willing to do the work yourself.
When it comes to SEO, you get what you pay for. It’s important to hire a company that provides quality recommendations. Consider asking these questions:
- What are your specialties?
- What are you working on each month, and what are the goals?
- How do you build links?
- Do you track your progress?
- What are your reporting procedures?
- When will the strategy be reviewed?
- Is there any case study of a similar project?
- Are there any time commitments?
You must have the right SEO foundation and strategy regardless of whether you decide to handle SEO yourself or hire an expert. This can have a huge impact on your business and bottom line in the long run.
