SEO can benefit your business irrespective of its size, location, or type, and you can commence efficient SEO for a small business website right away, even with restricted resources and time.
SEO Tips for Small Business
The optimization of your website and online presence in order to increase traffic from search engines, including Google, is known as small business SEO. Its aim is to attract potential customers, clients, and leads to your website effectively.
Small business SEO is a form of SEO that focuses on a specific target market and is typically accomplished with fewer resources. It also places greater importance on local search results for small businesses with a physical location.
1. Set Up Google Analytics and Google Search Console
In order to determine the effectiveness of your SEO tactics, it is crucial to use Google Analytics and Google Search Console as they provide vital means of tracking progress. To achieve this, it is essential to familiarize yourself with your current traffic and engagement metrics as a baseline for comparison.
It is necessary to consistently observe this information to comprehend your performance, assess your advancement, and recognize the successful alterations that have impacted your enterprise. The good news is that Google offers these remedies without any charge.
By implementing a few lines of code, your existing website can be linked to Google Analytics, an analysis platform that offers comprehensive insights into traffic, user engagement, conversions, user demographics, and other key metrics.
Keeping track of your progress and comprehending your users is made feasible through the essential tool, Google Analytics. Meanwhile, Google Search Console is a control panel that presents information and statistics regarding your website’s visibility on Google Search.
In addition, it enables you to submit essential details and remedies for any problems flagged by Google concerning your website. This feature also furnishes data on issues that may arise with your site.
Though understanding your users and their interactions with your site is crucial, comprehending the way Google evaluates and assesses your site’s performance in SERPs is even more fundamental, and this is where Google Search Console comes in.
2. Set Up Your Google Business Profile
If you own a business that caters to customers within a specific geographical location, it is imperative to have a Google Business Profile. Types of local businesses that fall under this category are restaurants, brick-and-mortar shops, legal and medical establishments, service providers like electricians and mechanics, and other similar ones.
The Google Business Profile is a no-cost instrument that determines the presentation of your business on Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Shopping. Essentially, it is a profile you can establish on Google in order to aid users in discovering and understanding your business.
By creating a Google Business Profile, you can increase your search visibility and manage reviews by interacting with them. Furthermore, you can supply clients with essential business details like your contact number, email, and operating hours.
Your local business listing will appear in front of users searching for relevant terms. In addition, analytical and empirical data are accessible through Google Business Profile accounts. These data include information on profile views, calls, messages, search count, and other relevant metrics.
This data can be utilized for enhancing your profile even more.
3. Do Keyword Research
Performing keyword research is fundamental to the SEO strategy of any small business. By utilizing it, you can come up with content ideas, enhance your page optimization, construct a solid website framework, and effectively manage your Google Business Profile.
Words and phrases entered by users into the Google search engine are known as keywords. They are of great importance to SEO as they provide insight into the exact things people seek and the words they use to do so. Employing these keywords effectively can help optimize your website, which informs both your potential customers and Google that your business can cater to their needs.
Start your keyword research process by creating a list of search terms that you anticipate would be used by individuals seeking a business similar to yours. Afterward, access the Keyword Overview tool and input the search terms you previously listed.
Upon selecting “Search,” valuable details about your inputted keywords will be generated by the Keyword Overview tool. This data encompasses monthly search volumes for each term, search intent and the keyword difficulty of each one (the level of complexity involved in securing a top 10 ranking on Google).
It is common for higher search volumes to indicate a higher level of difficulty. Therefore, it may be prudent to opt for keywords with lower volumes and difficulty when just starting out. You can compile a keyword plan by appending these keywords to a list.
After commencing the construction of your roster, you can progress your keyword analysis by using the Keyword Magic Tool. This will help you access additional keywords that are relevant to your enterprise. Simply initiate the tool and input any of the primary keywords that you’ve distinguished.
4. Analyze SERP Competitors
You can expand your keyword list, figure out what content your audience desires, and acquire a more comprehensive insight into the internet environment for your company by scrutinizing your SERP opponents.
The websites you will be vying with for prominence on the SERPs are referred to as your SERP rivals, who may or may not be your competitors outside of the online world. Examine the SERP for “sushi in Chicago.” The top three listings in the map pack (dubbed as “Places” in the image) are sushi eateries, which may also be your physical adversaries.
Nevertheless, the outcomes mainly consist of dining establishment critique sites and blogs. Irrespective of the websites that appear on the SERPs, you must comprehend your competition to adjust your strategy suitably.
Examining these websites for their keyword usage, site structure, and content is essential. This data will be useful when you start optimizing your own website.
When examining the rivals on the SERP for your preferred keywords, keep in mind the following:
- Are they ranking their homepage or a dedicated page?
- How are keywords used on the page?
- How do they structure their websites? (Hint: Look at their header navigation menus.)
- What kind of content do they have?
- Who do they seem to be targeting (e.g., children, families, businesspeople, etc.)?
By utilizing Semrush’s Organic Research tool, you can enhance your analysis of competitors in the SERP. All you need to do is input a competitor’s URL and select “Search.” From the Organic Research dashboard, you can view their number of ranked keywords, their monthly Google traffic, and their primary SEO keywords.
By selecting the “Positions” tab, you can view your competitor’s list of ranked keywords, several of which you should consider targeting.
5. Identify the Problems you Solve for Customers
Although some SEO professionals suggest that keyword research is the primary stage of SEO, there is a difference of opinion. Although keywords are essential, it is important to understand the reason why your intended audience is scouring the internet for companies like yours. The objective is to learn their search purpose.
The rationale behind this is straightforward: individuals with varying search objectives will employ distinct keywords. There are three categories of search objectives: informational, transactional, and navigational. If, for instance, you are the proprietor of a plumbing enterprise, their objective might resemble the following:
- Informational. They want to know something (“how to fix a clogged kitchen sink”).
- Transactional. They want to buy something (“discount kitchen sink parts”)
- Navigational. They want to go somewhere but don’t have a specific web address (“Moen customer support” or “plumbers near me”)
Keep in mind that the primary function of a search engine is to provide the most appropriate websites based on a person’s search query. Your search rankings may improve if your content aligns more closely with a user’s search intent.
6. Optimize your Website for Mobile Phones
Because 80% of individuals browse the internet using their mobile phones, Google will prioritize mobile sites over desktops when displaying content. Therefore, it is essential that your website quickly loads on mobile phones, is easily visible on smaller screens, and easy to navigate with the touch of a finger.
By utilizing Google’s mobile-friendly test, you can observe the ranking of your business website. Key factors to ponder when enhancing your website for mobile phone usage encompass:
- Titles and meta descriptions. There’s less reading space, so keep URLs, titles, and meta descriptions short yet informative.
- Page speed. Minify code, leverage browser caching, and reduce redirects.
- Blocked code. Don’t block JavaScript, CSS, and images. Google needs to see them to gauge your site’s mobile-friendliness.
- Pop-ups. Avoid anything frustrating such as pop-ups as they can be difficult to close on a small screen.
- Thumb-friendly. Ensure the buttons are big enough for bigger fingers, have phone numbers, and that menus or images don’t overlap, making it difficult to click.
- Responsive design. Make sure the layout automatically adjusts to a screen’s size, orientation, and resolution.
Make sure to monitor your mobile rankings as websites typically have varying rankings on mobile versus desktop. Semrush reports that approximately 72% of domains shift their rankings by one slot on mobile in comparison to desktop, and more than 50% experience changes of three slots. Due to the differing scrolling behaviors of mobile and desktop users, even minor alterations can influence your website traffic.
7. Optimize On-Page SEO
The term “on-page” pertains to the factors that you have power over which influence the ranking of your pages, such as the title tags and content.
On the other hand, off-site SEO pertains to the factors that affect your page ranking and are not directly under your control, which occur outside of your website. Such factors encompass external sites’ backlinks and social media advertising campaigns that generate exposure.
Your site is scanned by Google to identify appropriate keywords, which is why practices such as including the keyword in the first 150 words and using title tags rich in keywords are still beneficial. However, it is not recommended to excessively use keywords on your page, as this could be detrimental to your site’s traffic and could even result in your site being banned.
If you want to enhance your page ranking, focus on optimizing the content for:
- User experience
- Bounce Rate and Dwell Time
- Search Intent
- Page loading speed
- Click-through-rate
After producing original content that distinguishes itself from others, the next step is to refine it. Some on-page SEO suggestions comprise:
- Fill in the meta descriptions: Don’t leave them blank and include your target keyword
- Include the keyword in at least one subheading: Wrap each subheading in an H2 tag
- Make URLs SEO friendly: Keep URLs short and include a keyword
- Add external links to related pages: It helps Google figure out the page’s topic and quality
- Break up the page for easier reading: Use subheaders, bullets or numbered lists, and images
- Remove dead weight pages: Keep sites as slim as possible and filled only with high-quality content
- Add modifiers to target keywords: Modifiers can help you rank for long-tail versions of target keywords
8. Build an Internal Linking Structure
A hyperlink that connects one page on your website to another page on the same site is known as an internal link. These links hold tremendous significance in optimizing your website’s search engine ranking, since a page without a link to it on your website:
- Search engines will have a difficult time finding and ranking it
- Your customers won’t know the page is there or be able to navigate to it
When a page receives numerous links, whether internal or external, it communicates to search engines that the linked page is significant or possesses greater worth. Subsequently, the likelihood of ranking that page is heightened.
Pay attention to anchor texts
To comprehend the page’s content and determine the keywords to rank, search engines analyze the anchor text of both internal and external links. Viewers are typically able to click on the anchor text, which is the text in a link (typically shown in blue).
If your plan is to improve your page’s ranking for a certain keyword by assigning the same target keyword to all of your anchor texts, think again. Google discovered this tactic a while ago and prioritizes the relevance of the keyword rather than the anchor text itself when ranking them.
Link with purpose
After comprehending the significance of internal site links in enhancing search engine page rankings, it may be tempting to randomly link pages on your website. However, in order to optimize SEO, it is essential to implement a well-planned internal linking strategy and review it periodically.
Creating a strategy is a valuable endeavor. As evidenced by Ninja Outreach’s adjustment of their internal linking, their organic website traffic grew by more than 40%.
9. Add Schema Markup
Schema or structured data, also known as schema markup, comprises microdata. The inclusion of schema markup on a webpage results in the creation of an enriched description, commonly referred to as a rich snippet, that is visible on search results.
Providing context to a webpage is among the benefits of schema markup. It’s worth noting that a page’s ranking can be influenced by how a search engine perceives its context.
Although there is no evidence to support the notion that microdata directly impacts organic search rankings, the use of rich snippets can increase the visibility of web pages in search engine results pages and consequently enhance click-through rates.
