15 Best SEO Strategies for Small Businesses

 

Before we talk about how these SEO strategies for small businesses can help you scale and grow your business, Did you know that a whopping 74% of online shoppers research a store before making a purchase?

What does this imply?

This shows you how significant an online presence is for companies of all sizes.

In 2022, most enterprises already recognize that value, which has increased competition.

For instance, when a customer searches for terms like “pizza delivery,” hundreds of both small local businesses and large national ones compete to appear first.

Therefore, you must grasp the craft of small business SEO if you want a slice of that pie.

You must get your SEO in order to compete with multi-million dollar companies.

This article will teach you how to handle SEO from an owner’s perspective.

Read on to find out what SEO is, how it may help your business, and how to do it yourself or with professional assistance. If you are totally new to SEO or need a refresher on types of SEO and what they mean, start by reading this Guide to SEO for small businesses.

 

What Does Small Business Local SEO Mean?

Optimizing your website through search engine optimization (SEO) increases the likelihood of users who enter relevant search terms for your company finding it.

Similar to regular SEO, local SEO puts a particular emphasis on local keyword words.

Driving local traffic to your website is the objective because local traffic is more likely to convert online and offline.

 

The Importance of Local Seo Strategies for Small Businesses

 

Local SEO for small companies has never been more crucial as more consumers rely on online information when making offline purchases. In fact, according to one survey, 78 percent of local mobile searches end in an offline purchase.

That’s a result you can’t argue with!

The chance to establish your website as an authority and inform your target audience about your goods and services are two more reasons to optimize your website for local SEO.

 

How do I start a small business SEO strategy?

 

While you can put some local SEO ideas into practice immediately, others require much longer. However, each of the following pointers can considerably help your business.

 

1. Determine Your Customer’s Pain Points

 

Researching keywords is said by some SEO experts to be the first stage in SEO, although others disagree. While keywords are important, you also need to understand why your target market is looking for a company like yours online in the first place.

What is their search intent?

The justification is straightforward: different terms will be used by individuals with various search intents.

Search intents can be divided into three categories: commercial, navigational, and informational. For instance, if you run a plumbing company, its goal can be as follows:

• Informational. They are interested in learning how to unclog a kitchen sink.
• Commercial. They have a product they want to purchase (cheap kitchen sink parts).
• Navigational. They have a destination in mind but need a precise web URL (such as plumbing contractors near me).

Remember that a search engine must display the websites most pertinent to the user’s query. Therefore, your content may perform better in search results if it closely matches a user’s intent.

Knowing the “why” of your customers can help you choose the right kind of content to offer on your website.

 

2. Conduct Keyword Research to Find Target Keywords

 

Search for the keywords your target market enters into search engines when doing keyword research.

Yes, conducting keyword research takes time, but it’s worth it. Your content strategy will be influenced by the target keywords you find, which significantly impacts how well your pages rank in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Any free keyword research tools, like Google Keyword Planner, can help you get the job done more quickly.

 

3. Perform an SEO Audit

 

Even though performing an SEO audit is simple, most small firms fail to do so. Therefore, conducting an SEO audit every month is one of the most excellent small business SEO strategies.

A search engine optimization audit analyzes how well your website performs in search engines and suggests areas that you can improve to boost your site’s ranking.

You can achieve more opportunities by performing straightforward technical tasks like mending broken links, enhancing page names, and including keywords in your meta tags.

 

4. Resolve and Strengthen Your Technical Seo Basis

 

Don’t be intimidated by the “technical” aspect of technical SEO if you’re not a programmer.

Technical SEO refers to enhancing website elements directly impacting your organic search engine rankings.

It strikes a balance between how visitors experience your site, such as its content quality, and how search engines understand your site, such as its structure.

 

5. Boost the Speed of Your Website

 

The time it takes for a page to load fully is the page loading speed.

But why does Google care how quickly the page loads? Google tries to offer the best user experience.

The experience includes more than just providing the most relevant results. Another factor is how quickly people receive the results.

Additionally, users would prefer pages that load in under two seconds.

Why does it matter if they load in one more second?

According to a Blue Corona study, a 1-second delay might result in an 11% loss in page visits and a 7% drop in conversions.

Make sure to test each page on several browsers. You can copy and paste each URL into a free program like GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed test.

 

6. Make Your Website Mobile-friendly

 

Since most people conduct 80% of web searches on mobile devices, Google will prioritize serving information from mobile websites over desktop ones. Your website must therefore load quickly, display clearly, and run smoothly on thumb-controlled devices.

When optimizing your website for mobile devices, you should take the following factors into account:

• Meta descriptions and titles: Keep URLs, titles, and meta descriptions brief but informative, as there is less room for reading.
• Page speed: Reduce redirection, use browser cache, and minify code.
• Obstructed code: Don’t block pictures, CSS, or JavaScript. It must be present for Google to evaluate how mobile-friendly your site is.
• Pop-ups: Avoid annoying things like pop-ups because they might be challenging to dismiss on a small screen.
• Thumb-friendly: Make sure the buttons are large enough for larger fingers, have phone numbers, and no menus or graphics are positioned to interfere with clicking.
• Adaptable design: Check that the layout adapts to a screen’s size, orientation, and resolution.

 

7. Optimize on-page Seo

 

It’s time to put all your hard work to use by improving the on-page SEO of your web page now that you’ve cleaned up your technical SEO, identified your audience’s search intent, and finished the keyword research.

Old-school techniques like ensuring the keyword appears within the first 150 words of a page and using keyword-rich title tags are still beneficial because Google scans your site for relevant keywords.

However, use keywords sparingly; keep them natural. It’s more than just a terrible practice that can drive away visitors; it also runs the risk of getting your website blocked.

The key to optimizing these aspects is producing good content that your audience will enjoy.

To begin, Moz, a supplier of SEO research tools, recommends asking yourself, “What unique selling point could I offer to make my webpage better than the pages that are already ranking for my keyword?”

Once you’ve produced original content that stands out, it’s time to optimize. Here are a few on-page SEO pointers:

• Add the meta descriptions: Don’t leave them empty; put your target keyword there.
• At least one of the subheadings should contain the keyword: Put an H2 tag around each subheading.
• Create SEO-friendly URLs: Shorten URLs and add a keyword ‍
• Enhance related pages with external links: It aids Google in determining the topic and value of the page.
• To make the page simpler to read, divide it: Use graphics, numbered or bulleted lists, and subheaders.
• Get rid of unnecessary pages: Sites should be as minimal as possible and only contain high-quality content.
• Improve target keywords by including modifiers: You can rank for long-tail variations of your target keywords with modifiers.

 

8. Create an Internal Linking System

 

A link that takes users from one page of your website to another is known as an internal link. Links are crucial for the SEO of your website because without a link to a specific page on your site:

• It will take a lot of work for search engines to find and rank it.
• In addition, your visitors won’t be aware of the page’s existence or be able to find it.

Search engines interpret a page’s high number of inbound and outbound links as a sign that the page is significant or valuable. This will thus improve the likelihood of that page ranking.

 

Pay Attention to Anchor Texts

The text readers can click on in a link is known as the anchor text. Search engines also examine the anchor text of all internal and external links to determine what a website is about and what keywords to rank.

Refrain from assuming that by using the same target term in all of your anchor texts, Google will rank your page better for that phrase. Google long ago realized this and now ranks anchor texts based more on the relevance of a term than the actual anchor text.

Therefore, using keywords in anchor texts is fine, but you should avoid using the same keywords throughout the text and ensure the anchor text flows appropriately.

 

Link With Intent

Now that you know how internal site links help search engines rank websites, you may think about linking pages randomly.

However, it would be best if you had an internal linking plan for SEO, and you should review it frequently. The time spent developing a strategy is worthwhile.

Yoast provides these eight stages for creating an internal linking strategy:

1. Create a web structure that is SEO-friendly. Keep your website structure straightforward to prevent orphan pages (without links).

2. Select the key content for your website. When clients search for subjects or goods that you specialize in, you want them to find this. To let Google know that your pillar content is your most important piece of content, including many links to and from it.

3. Include relevant links to various articles on a particular subject. You can add links after the content’s page or add links directly from phrases in your material.

4. Connect pages in a hierarchy. Connect kid pages to their parent pages and vice versa. Then connect pages that are siblings.

5. Include a section for similar posts. Add a blog plugin so each article displays a list of related entries. To ensure the posts are connected, you should add them manually. And at the end of the piece, include a link to that post.

6. Include navigational links. By including links to your pillar content in the site or top navigation, you can increase the value of those links.

7. Make your taxonomies linkable. Linking to taxonomies (such as categories and tags) facilitates visitor navigation to related topics and aids Google in understanding your content structure.

8. Establish internal ties to well-liked or recent posts. To have these sections show on all pages and articles, create them in your blog’s sidebar or footer. Due to the increased link value and visibility, Google may observe an increase in traffic.

 

9. Include Schema Markup

 

Microdata is a type of schema markup, often known as schema or structured data. When schema markup is put to a webpage, the markup generates a rich snippet, an enriched description displayed in search results.

A webpage can gain context from schema markup. As was already noted, a page’s rating is influenced by how a search engine understands its context.

Rich snippets increase the visibility of web pages in search engine results pages, which can increase click-through rates, despite others claiming there is no evidence that microdata directly impacts organic search rankings.

Schema addition requires a small amount of coding, and it is as simple as adding a few characters around the existing code. Get comprehensive guidelines at Schema.org.

 

10. Focus on Local Seo

 

You need local SEO if your small or newly established business wishes to draw clients from a particular town or city. In terms of organic listings, you most likely can’t compete with major firms like Walmart and Amazon, but you can make an impression locally.

The good news is that consumers frequent local companies. For routine purchases like a massage, paintbrushes, and groceries, more than 92% of buyers drive 20 minutes or less.

Local SEO can enhance your website’s traffic and boost your business’s foot traffic. More website visitors might catch Google’s eye, improve your site’s or a particular page’s ranking and result in more sales.

 

11. Aim to Garner Reviews

 

You’ve probably read customer evaluations before making a choice, whether you’re selecting a dentist or purchasing a toaster.

We all do it.

Reviews not only provide customers more confidence when making purchases, but they also assist Google in better comprehending what your company does, which can improve the ranks of your website.

Reviews influence numerous ranking indicators as well.

Generally, reviews offer:

• New content: Both positive and negative reviews provide Google with new content to crawl, and as a bonus, the content is frequently loaded with keywords.
• Higher rates of click-through: Adding rich snippets on your website will increase CTRs by making reviews stand out with those fancy, trustworthy gold stars beneath your listing.

 

12. Increase the Authority of Your Website Using External Links

 

Getting links from other web pages to your own is known as external link building.

The quantity and quality of links leading to a page from other websites play a role in how that page ranks among the thousands of other elements. Therefore, the likelihood that your page will go up in the rankings increases with the number of trustworthy websites linking to it.

How can you attract reputable websites to link to your pages?

The first step is to have valuable, shareable content that others want to link. Something practical and pertinent to their readers.

This may be a current study, a helpful template, a thorough how-to video, or a checklist.

Create a list of the websites you want to link to you from there, then manually contact each one to seek links.

Although prospecting takes time, your motivation goes beyond obtaining a link. Additionally, you’re networking with other companies and exposing yourself to possible clients.

 

13. Establish a Content Marketing Plan

 

Content marketing is kind and giving compared to traditional marketing, pushing the company to make a sale upfront. By establishing yourself as a reliable source on essential issues to your customers, you give before you ask them to do anything.

Traditional marketing strategies could consist of the following:

• Facebook posts
• Promotional alliances with other businesses

Content marketing includes

• YouTube video
• A blog post
• A contest on Instagram or a poll on LinkedIn

 

14. Create Video Content

 

Due to two key factors—consumers prefer it, and it generates ROI—video content is the one that is expanding the fastest. In a Wyzowl study about video marketers:

87% claim that video increased website traffic, 80% claim that video directly impacted sales, and 83% claim that video helped create leads.

It makes sense that more than 90% of companies use video in their marketing campaigns.

Your videos can be simple productions. However, you can create some stunning videos from a smartphone with some editing know-how.

Rather than just looking pretty, a video’s content should offer viewers value, whether it’s amusing or educational.

Applying video SEO techniques that promote viewer interaction and make it simpler for search engines to comprehend the content of the video will help your videos rank higher in searches.

 

15. Establish KPIs and Monitor Results

 

An SEO campaign takes time.

Even though some first SEO approaches could produce immediate benefits, keep in mind that SEO is a continuous process. So once you stop, your ranks will undoubtedly decline.

The secret to any effective SEO strategy is consistency and patience.

Always have a plan before a circumstance, no matter how urgent, and follow up. You risk overlooking crucial strategies and misinterpreting the information if you slap together a hastily assembled jumble of articles.

Having a plan ensures that you take advantage of opportunities, know where your customers are, and keep precise records of everything.

You want to be sure that your keywords are driving traffic to your website and that your investment is paying off.

 

How to Collaborate with a Small Business SEO Agency

The most vital SEO partnerships arise when small businesses have specific goals, communicate frequently, and trust an SEO agency to act in the interests of SEO.

It is ensured that agencies have clear direction and that businesses are empowered to know what to expect by closely coordinating corporate objectives with SEO expertise.

Contact Us if you’re a small business owner interested in learning more about how SEO can increase your online visibility and draw in more customers using a long-term and sustainable plan for a free consultation.