10 Simple SEO Tips for Small Businesses
Being a small business is tough. Their key component of marketing strategy is to effectively position their brand in search engine results. However, the black-box nature of Search Engine Optimization makes it a complex form of marketing.
It boils down to one question: What to do to improve SEO rankings? After all, great organic rankings don’t happen overnight. But, you can dominate search results and move the needle for your small business. Yes, there are ways to enhance
rankings and grow your small business. Take a look at these 10 simple
tips for local SEO success.
#1. Optimize Information on Your Website
Your website is the most valuable
asset for your business. So, the key to appearing high within search
results is to ensure your website is properly optimized. Take the
following actions to optimize your website.
- Domain Name Creation – Choose a domain name that mirrors your business type and its location.
- Keywords Addition – Your page titles and Meta tags are the places where adding keywords is necessary. Add keywords in Meta titles, page titles that identify with your business (its services and location).
- Use Contact Address – Mention the name, address, and phone number (NAP) of your business on all the pages, like the homepage, contact page, and each page of your site.
- Content/Copy Update – In addition to pointing to your offerings, check whether your website content covers as much about your local area as possible to associate your services or products with the nearby vicinity.
# 2. Fix Your Technical SEO Issues
Great graphics, fonts, and colours
make your small business website look fine. But, any technical issues
‘under the hood’ can lead to impacting your traffic and rankings. Before
you embark on a link or content campaign, make sure to strengthen the
foundation. Some of the common technical SEO issues you need to consider
are:
- Page loading speed (your page should be loaded within 3 seconds)
- Broken links like 404 errors, etc.
- Duplicate content
- Un-optimized pages
- Inappropriate use of canonical link elements
Use tools like Google Search Console,
SEMRush, GT Metrix, Siteliner, and Screaming Frog to check and fix the
issues. Remember, you need to have a very solid website structure so
search engines can properly index and crawl your webpages.
#3. Set up ‘Google My Business’ Account
Setting up a Google My Business (GMB)
account should be your focal point. It’s easy, free to update, and can
carry an influential impact. Get all your business details uploaded. Be
sure to:
- Fill out as many fields as you can
- Include photos and videos
- Mention correct address and phone number
- Select the correct categories for your business
GMB accounts will enable your website to appear in local search results for queries related to your area of operation.
#4. Polish Your Written Content
Most web pages will have some written
content (copy). This needs to be on point. Well-written content enables
the search engine like Google to understand whether that particular web
page is a good result for a particular query.
Here are SEO “rules” for website content aka copy:
- Include some copy on every page. A minimum of 100–200 words is generally recommended as a general rule of thumb.
- Add H1 tag on every page as the heading of the page. This is like the Meta title—but it doesn’t have to be.
- Avoid shoehorning keywords into your copy. Be careful of the keywords you target. Don’t force using them where they don’t belong.
- Be aware of grammar, typo errors, and spelling on point.
#5. Build a Mobile-friendly Website
Developing a mobile-friendly website
is essential for small businesses. Interestingly, it can be done easily
with simple plugins for your CMS like WordPress. This makes all your
content mobile-friendly.
Optimize the website for fast-load
speed. You can install plugins for this. It will help you stand out from
your competitors in terms of performance.
#6. Manage Local Business Listings & Citations
Controlling the accuracy of your local business data is as essential as your GMB account.
Focus on data aggregators e.g.
Factual, Neustar Localeze. Share correct information about your local
businesses, such as the name, address, and phone number (NAP). Make sure
the information is consistent.
Local business listings and citations
like online mentions of business are among the most effective ways to
enhance your business local presence. You can do this by approaching
local directories and citations. Contact a local SEO company that will
share your NAP information.
#7. Add Schema Markup
Schema markup is code (semantic
vocabulary) that is put on the website to allow search engines to drive
more informative results for visitors. If you are aware of rich
snippets, you’ll better understand what schema markup is all about.
Schema markup is an important
marketing element because it sends search engine signals about page
components, like your business address, name, phone number, ratings,
business hours, and so on. This leads to rich snippets in SERPs.
Schema Markup Helps:
- Search engines understand the content of your website page
- Bring attention-grabbing and rich results to increase CTR
- Enhance brand presence with a full Knowledge Graph
- Improve your search engine ranking position
#8. Get Local Backlinks from Relevant Websites
Despite getting links to websites
improves search engine rankings, most of the small business owners
underestimate the importance of links.
Getting links from relevant websites from your local area can mean more customers, conversions and sales.
It is advisable to spread the word
about your business. Educate others about your products and services.
Get involved in the community. Quality backlinks help:
- Improve organic ranking
- Allow faster indexing
- Let search engine bots discover new webpages
- Bring referral traffic
- Increase the site’s visibility in search engine results (SEO)
- Build credibility, generate traffic
#9. Use Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool
that will provide you a wealth of information about your website
performance in Google search. It also updates you about any errors on
your website.
With the proper use of the Google
Search Console tool, you can get to know what type of keywords Google
thinks your website is relevant for. It lets you know whether your site
is mobile friendly or not, or have any problems crawling your pages.
In a nutshell, Google Search Console is the starting point for most of your business improvement efforts.
#10. Create Content/Launch A Blog
Content is what helps increase search
engine rankings for your target keywords. In addition to creating
content for homepages, product pages, and everywhere on your site,
create a blog also.
Blog is good not just for SEO
reasons, but it brings you a window of opportunity to talk about your
products, services and other offerings. You can inform your local
audiences how you are different from others and why people should buy
your product.
Most important point is you need to create a kind of content for the interest and benefits of people to build an audience.
Summary
Every year hundreds of new businesses
are set up. Many of them fail in the first year. Others can’t reach
even the three-year mark. One of the prime reasons of business failure
could be their inability to adapt to changing times. Keep in mind these 10 simple SEO tips. Add them to your local SEO methods to improve rankings and grow your small business.
This list is a consolidated variant
of what you can implement to improve your rankings. Even if these tips
sound daunting and you get stuck in between, keep working down the list.
You will achieve your goal. Are you aware of any other SEO methods? Please share it with the experts of SEO Salt Lake City, UT.
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