You want your small business to grow, but you don’t know where to start when it comes to SEO.
It’s no secret that good SEO for a small business can help your website rank higher on search results, but achieving this can be a daunting task.
In this blog post, we’ll share 10 quick wins that you can implement right away to boost your SEO and improve your rankings on Google. Whether you’re a beginner or have some experience with SEO, these tips will help you get the most out of your efforts and see real results.
Quick Win #1: Keyword Research
Keyword research is an essential part of implementing a successful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy for a small business. It involves understanding the keywords that people are using when they search for products or services that your company offers and optimizing your website content to match those search results.
By understanding these keywords, a small business can optimize its website and content to appear higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract more organic traffic to its website.
Strategic use of keywords can help small businesses increase their visibility and reach their target audience more effectively. When used correctly, keywords can also lead to increased organic traffic and better conversion rates; both of which are essential for any business.
Tools for Conducting Keyword Research
By researching and identifying the most relevant and high-traffic keywords for your business, you can optimize your website’s content and increase your visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). Here are some popular tools for conducting SEO for a small business:
Google Keyword Planner: Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that allows you to research keywords and get data on their search volume, competition, and cost per click (CPC). It’s a great starting point for keyword research.
SEMrush: SEMrush is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers a keyword research feature. With SEMrush, you can find related keywords, analyze your competitors’ keywords, and get insights into the search volume and keyword difficulty.
Ahrefs: Ahrefs is another all-in-one SEO tool that offers a keyword research feature. It provides data on search volume, keyword difficulty, and related keywords. You can also see what your competitors are ranking for and analyze their strategies.
Moz Keyword Explorer: Moz Keyword Explorer is a popular keyword research tool that provides an in-depth analysis of keyword data, including search volume, difficulty, and organic click-through rate. It also offers suggestions for related keywords and provides insights into SERP features.
Google Trends: Google Trends is a free tool that allows you to see how the search volume for a particular keyword has changed over time. You can also compare the search volume of multiple keywords and see their popularity in different regions.
Quick Win #2: Optimize Your Website
Optimizing your website can take many forms, this involves several techniques that improve the quality and relevance of your website’s content and structure, but the main goal is to make sure that it performs better for users and meets the needs of search engines.
Importance of a User-Friendly Website
A user-friendly website provides a positive user experience, making it easy for visitors to navigate and find the information they need quickly. This can increase the time visitors spend on the site and reduce bounce rates.
A website that is easy to use will encourage visitors to spend more time on the site, and may even convince them to become customers. In contrast, a website that is difficult to navigate or confusing can frustrate visitors and drive them away.
How to Optimize Your Website?
- Conducting keyword research to identify the most relevant and valuable keywords and phrases for the website’s content, products, or services.
- Optimizing website content to include those keywords and phrases in strategic places such as page titles, headings, meta descriptions, and body text.
- Improving the website’s structure and navigation to make it easy for engine crawlers to index and understand the website’s content.
- Building high-quality, relevant backlinks to the website from other reputable sites.
- Ensuring the website is mobile-friendly, has fast loading times, and is easy to use and navigate.
These changes are designed to make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for, resulting in a better overall experience when visiting your site.
Quick Win #3: Create Quality Content
Content creation for small businesses involves the process of producing and publishing relevant and valuable content to attract, engage and retain a specific audience.
- Blog Posts
- Social Media Updates
- Videos
- Infographics
- Ebooks
- Podcasts
The main goal of content creation for small businesses is to create content that is informative, entertaining, and engaging to the target audience, while also showcasing the brand’s products or services.
It is essential to have a content strategy that aligns with the business’s goals and objectives to ensure that the content produced is valuable and serves the purpose of reaching and converting the target audience into customers.
Importance of Unique and Relevant Content
Small businesses can benefit greatly from creating and distributing unique and relevant content. Content that accurately reflects their products, services, values, and mission will help build trust with customers and establish them as reputable sources of information.
Unique content also allows small businesses to differentiate themselves from their competitors by providing something no other business is offering in the same way.
Relevant content helps small businesses stay up-to-date on trends in the industry, target new customers, increase brand recognition, and boost search rankings.
Best Practices for Content Creation
- Establish a clear brand voice and style.
- Determine the type of content that best suits your industry and needs.
- Create a content marketing strategy and develop an editorial calendar.
- Include visuals such as videos, images, or infographics in your content.
- Leverage competitive intelligence to stay ahead of industry trends.
- Make sure your content is SEO friendly and optimized for search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo!
- Integrate social media into your content creation process to maximize the reach and engagement of your target audience.
- Measure, monitor, and analyze performance metrics to ensure continuous improvement in content creation quality and impactful results from ongoing campaigns or initiatives.
Quick Win #4: Make Use of Header Tags
Header tags are HTML elements used to define headings and subheadings on a web page. There are six different levels of header tags, from H1 to H6, with H1 being the largest and most important and H6 being the smallest and least important.
Header tags help organize content and provide structure to the webpage, making it easier for users to navigate and understand the content.
Importance of Proper Header Tag Use
Header tags are an essential part of website design and SEO. Properly formatted header tags create a hierarchical structure to your content, helping search engine algorithms correctly index and rank a web page.
The use of header tags is also key for enhancing user experience by providing users with the ability to quickly scan for relevant topics on a page.
How to Implement Header Tags?
Understand the purpose of header tags:
Header tags, also known as H tags, are used to structure the content of a web page. They are used to separate the content into sections, with H1 being the most important and H6 being the least important. The purpose of header tags is to make the page easier to read and understand for both users and search engines.
Choose the appropriate H tag:
- The H1 tag should only be used once on each page and should contain the main heading of the page.
- H2 tags are used for subheadings and should be used to break up the main content into sections.
- H3 tags can be used to further break down the content and so on.
- Use the H6 tag sparingly as it should only be used for minor headings.
Place the H tag in the right position:
The header tag should be placed at the top of the section it is introducing. This makes it easier for users and search engines to understand the content on the page.
Keep the header tag relevant:
Ensure that the header tag is relevant to the content that follows. It should accurately describe the content that is contained within the section it is introducing.
Use only one H1 tag per page:
The H1 tag should be used only once per page and should contain the main heading of the page. Using multiple H1 tags on a page can confuse search engines and make it difficult for them to understand the main topic of the page.
Use header tags in a hierarchical structure:
Use the header tags in a hierarchical structure, with H1 being the main heading and H6 being the least important. This makes it easier for users and search engines to understand the structure of the content on the page.
Quick Win #5: Improve Your URL Structure
URL structure refers to the format in which a website’s URLs are created and organized. It includes the different components of a URL such as the protocol (HTTP or HTTPS), domain name, subdomain, path, and parameters.
A well-structured URL is easy to read, descriptive, and contains relevant keywords that accurately reflect the content of the page in search results. It is also important for user experience and search results as it helps users navigate a website and understand the purpose of each page.
Importance of a Clean URL Structure
A clean URL structure is essential for small businesses, as it improves user experience, boosts website speed, and positively affects small business SEO. Without creating a proper structure for your business’ website URLs, you won’t efficiently drive organic traffic to the site. Here’s why:
Improved User Experience
A well-structured URL makes it easier for visitors to figure out where they are on your site and make navigation simple. Having organized links also helps users know what kind of content to expect on the page they’re visiting.
Faster Loading Times
With a logical structure in place, each page on your site can be identified by its path which helps reduce HTTP requests due to shared elements between different pages. With fewer requests needed to render each page, loading speeds will increase and lead to a better overall user experience.
Better Search Engine Optimization
When done correctly, nesting pages within the hierarchy of your domain allows engines like Google or Bing to quickly identify their relevance and rank them accordingly.
Clean URLs not only help create accurate descriptions of your web pages but also make it easier for users to remember them when linking back to them from other sites or social media channels.
Best Practices for URL Structure
Use a Clear and Descriptive URL
A URL should be easy to read and describe the content of the page accurately. Avoid using URLs with random numbers or symbols.
Keep URLs Short
Shorter URLs are easier to remember and share. Try to keep them under 50-60 characters.
Use Hyphens to Separate Words
Hyphens are the preferred method of separating words in a URL. Avoid using underscores or spaces, as they can confuse you.
Use Lowercase Letters
URLs are case-sensitive, so it’s best to use all lowercase letters to avoid any confusion.
Include Targeted Keywords
Including relevant keywords in the URL can help with SEO and make it easier for users to understand the content of the page.
Avoid Using Dynamic Parameters
Dynamic parameters such as ?id=123 can create duplicate content and make it difficult for engines to crawl your site.
Use Canonical URLs
Canonical URLs help to avoid duplicate content issues by indicating the preferred version of a page.
Organize URLs in a Logical Hierarchy
Organizing URLs in a logical hierarchy can help both users and engines navigate your site more easily.
Redirect Old URLs
If you change the URL of a page, make sure to set up a redirect to the new URL to avoid broken links and maintain SEO.
Test Your URLs
Regularly testing your URLs for broken links or errors can help improve the user experience and maintain your site’s SEO.
Quick Win #6: Include Alt Text for Images
Alt text, short for “alternative text,” is a description of an image that is used to provide information about the image to individuals who are visually impaired, or for any other reason, are unable to see the image. It is usually embedded in HTML code, and it describes the visual elements of the image, including its appearance, content, and context.
Moreover, it is read by screen readers, which are assistive technologies that provide an auditory representation of the web page content. The screen reader reads the alt text aloud, enabling the visually impaired person to understand what the image depicts.
- Right-click on the image you want to add Alt text to.
- Select “Edit Alt Text” from the drop-down menu. This will open the Alt Text panel.
- In the Alt Text panel, add a brief description of the image in the “Description” field.
- If the image has text, include that text in the “Alt Text” field.
Alt text is also important for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes, as it helps engines understand the content of an image and its relevance to a particular search query.
Quick Win #7: Utilize Internal Linking
Internal linking refers to the practice of linking pages within the same website. These links help users to navigate the website and find related content easily. It also helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of the website and to discover new pages that might not have been crawled before.
This is important for small business SEO for several reasons:
1. Improves website navigation: Internal links help users navigate through your website easily, allowing them to find the information they need quickly.
2. Increases time spent on site: By providing links to other relevant pages, users are encouraged to stay on your website longer, which can help increase your website’s ranking on google search results.
3. Helps search engines understand your website: Internal links can help search engines understand the structure of your website and how your pages are related to each other. This helps them determine which pages are most important and relevant to specific keywords.
4. Distributes link equity: Internal linking distributes link equity from one page to another, which can help improve the ranking of important pages on your website.
Best Practices for Internal Linking
Create a logical site structure
Your site should have a clear and logical structure that makes it easy for users to navigate. Use descriptive page titles and include breadcrumbs to help users understand where they are on the site.
Link to relevant content
Only link to content that is relevant to the page you’re linking from. This will help users find the information they need and improve the overall user experience.
Use descriptive anchor text
Use descriptive anchor text that accurately reflects the content of the linked page. Avoid generic anchor text like “click here” or “read more.”
Avoid linking to the same page multiple times
Linking to the same page multiple times can be confusing for users and may hurt your SEO strategy.
Link to high-quality content
Link to high-quality content that is useful and relevant to your audience. This will help improve your site’s credibility and authority.
Use internal links to highlight important pages
Use internal links to highlight important pages on your site, such as your products or services pages.
Monitor and update your internal links
Regularly monitor and update your internal links to ensure they are working properly and directing users to the right pages.
Quick Win #8: Encourage Backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. They are an important aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) as they can help improve your website’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
For small businesses, backlinks can be an effective way to build brand awareness, increase website traffic, and attract potential customers.
When a reputable website links to your website, it can increase the credibility and authority of your business in the eyes of search results, which can improve your website’s ranking and visibility.
However, it’s important to note that not all backlinks are created equal. Quality backlinks come from reputable websites that have high domain authority, relevant content, and are in the same industry or niche as your business.
Low-quality backlinks, such as those from spammy or irrelevant websites, can actually hurt your website’s ranking and credibility.
How to Get High-Quality Backlinks
Small businesses can build backlinks through various tactics, such as:
1. Guest blogging on relevant and authoritative websites in your industry.
2. Participating in forums and online communities related to your business and adding a link to your website in your signature or profile.
3. Creating valuable and informative content that people would naturally want to share and link to.
4. Building relationships with bloggers and influencers in your industry and offering to collaborate on content or promotions.
5. Submitting your website to high-quality directories and niche-specific directories.
6. Conducting research and sharing the results in the form of a blog post or infographic, and promoting it through social media and other channels.
7. Providing testimonials for products or services that you use, and requesting a link back to your website in return.
8. Using social media to engage with your audience and build relationships with influencers in your industry.
9. Creating link-worthy assets such as infographics, videos, or interactive tools that people would want to link to and share.
10. Write high-quality, informative blog posts that provide value to your readers and are shared on social media and other platforms.
It’s important to focus on building quality backlinks rather than simply accumulating a large number of them. By prioritizing quality over quantity, small businesses can improve their website’s SEO and ultimately attract more customers.
Quick Win #9: Claim and Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
Google My Business is a free tool that enables local businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google. It helps to make sure that your business appears on Google Maps, in Google search results, and on Google+.
Importance of a Completed Google My Business Listing
This tool allows you to create and update your business profile, add photos, videos, and posts, and respond to reviews from your customers.
Google My Business is an essential tool for a local business that wants to improve its visibility, connect with customers, and grow its business.
It also provides you with data and insights on how people are interacting with your business, such as how many people are searching for your business and how many are calling or visiting your website.
How to Claim and Optimize a Google My Business listing?
- Go to Google My Business website (https://www.google.com/business/) and sign in with your Google account.
- Search for your business by name and address. If you see your business listed, click on it and claim ownership. If it’s not listed, click on “Add your business” and fill out the required information.
- Verify your business ownership by choosing a verification method. Google will send a verification code to your business address or phone number.
- Once verified, complete your business profile by adding accurate and complete information, such as business hours, website, and photos.
A completed Google My Business (GMB) listing is crucial for any business, as it can significantly impact its online presence and visibility.
Here are some reasons why a completed GMB listing is essential:
- Improves Local SEO: Google My Business is an important factor for local SEO. A completed GMB listing allows businesses to appear in local search results, making it easier for potential customers to find them.
- Provides Accurate Information: A completed GMB listing ensures that the business’s information is accurate and up-to-date, including address, phone number, website URL, local business hours, and more. This helps potential customers to contact or visit the business easily and without confusion.
- Enhances Business Credibility: A completed GMB listing adds to the business’s credibility and legitimacy. It provides a professional appearance to the business and instills trust in potential customers.
- Increases Customer Engagement: A completed GMB listing can increase customer engagement through features such as reviews, photos, and videos. This helps businesses to interact with their customers and build long-lasting relationships.
- Offers Insights and Analytics: A completed GMB listing provides valuable insights and analytics such as how customers found the business, how many people clicked on their website, and what actions they took after finding the listing. This information helps businesses to make data-driven decisions.
Encourage customers to leave reviews on your Google My Business page. This will improve your business’s online reputation and increase your visibility on Google.
Quick Win #10: Monitor Your Progress
Progress monitoring of SEO for a small business refers to the process of tracking and analyzing the performance of a website’s SEO strategy efforts over time.
This involves regular measurement of key metrics, such as keyword rankings, website traffic, and conversion rates, to assess the effectiveness of SEO strategies and identify areas for improvement.
The following are the steps involved in the progress monitoring of SEO for a small business:
- Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs): The first step in progress monitoring is to identify the KPIs that will be tracked. These may include website traffic, keyword rankings, organic search click-through rates (CTRs), and conversion rates.
- Set up tracking tools: Once the KPIs have been identified, the next step is to set up tracking tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These tools will help to track the KPIs and provide insights into the performance of the website.
- Conduct regular audits: Regular audits of the website’s SEO performance should be conducted to identify any technical issues or errors that may be hindering the website’s search engine visibility. This can include checking for broken links, duplicate content, and missing meta descriptions.
- Analyze the data: Regularly analyzing the data collected from the tracking tools can help identify trends and patterns in the website’s SEO performance. This can help to identify areas for improvement and adjust the small business SEO strategy accordingly.
- Optimize content and keywords: Based on the analysis of the data, the website’s content and keywords can be optimized to improve its search engine visibility. This can include optimizing title tags, and meta descriptions, and improving the website’s internal linking structure.
- Regularly update the website: Regularly updating the website with fresh and relevant content can also help to improve its search engine visibility. This can include publishing blog posts, creating new pages, and updating existing content.
FAQs
SEO is a set of techniques that can help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). However, if you’re new to the world of small business SEO, you might have a lot of questions about it. That’s why we’ve put together this FAQ guide to help answer some of the most common questions small business owners have about SEO.
To Conclude,
Small business SEO can seem like a daunting task for small businesses. However, with the right strategy and approach, numerous achievable quick wins can be implemented to help improve visibility on search engine result pages. With the implementation of these quick wins, small business owners can reap the rewards of increased visibility and improved ROI.
Brian Shelton is an entrepreneur, marketer, and life-long learner committed to helping businesses achieve impactful results. He founded Grow Predictably to provide tailored marketing strategies to generate predictable, profitable growth. With over a decade of experience in the industry, Brian has helped businesses, large and small. reach their goals and drive positive change in the world.