Over 50% of all website traffic comes from organic web searches. Meanwhile, leads from search engine optimization (SEO) are eight times more likely to become customers than those through ads. If you’re not optimizing for SEO, there’s a chance you’re missing out on valuable customers.
SEO allows you to rank higher on search engines like Google and Bing. The higher you rank, the more often consumers will see your website.
A high SEO ranking can help you boost brand awareness, web traffic, and your online authority.
Want to boost your ranking? Here are 10 SEO tips for small businesses that can help you get started. By improving your ranking, you can generate more leads and sales to improve your ROI.
Boost your online ranking with these SEO tips for small business owners today!
1. Start Researching
Before you can start ranking, you need to start researching.
Without audience and keywords research, you might attract anyone to your website. While traffic is great, it’s important to attract people who are likely to convert. That way, your SEO efforts can help improve your ROI.
Audience Research
First, you need to learn about your customers. If you’re focusing on a broad audience, you might want to break them into smaller groups. Then, you can create content that appeals to each group to attract them all to your site.
You can break your customers into groups based on:
- Age
- Location
- Language
- Gender
- Household income
- Pain points
- Interests
- Marital status
- Shopping behaviors
Google’s latest algorithm update allows it to understand the user’s search intent. Search intent refers to the reason consumers are searching. Are they looking for products/services or answers to their questions?
Understanding your customer’s search intent will help you use these SEO tips for small business websites more effectively.
Keyword Research
Now that you know who your customers are, we can determine what they’re searching for online.
You need to use target keywords within your content to appear for relevant searches. Google’s bots skim your content for these keywords to determine when to display your content.
You can start your keyword research by checking Ahrefs, Keyword Planner, and Google Trends.
Look for keywords that have a high search volume and low-to-medium competitiveness.
Once you have a list of keywords, you’ll create content with those keywords in mind.
Give each post one focus keyword. The keyword should appear in the title, URL, and headers. You’ll also want it to appear in the opening paragraph, closing paragraph, and body text.
2. Update Your Website
To determine your search engine ranking, Google also looks at your website. If your website isn’t easy to use and navigate, visitors might leave without clicking around.
A low clickthrough rate and dwell time can have a negative impact on your ranking. A high bounce rate (when people leave without exploring) isn’t ideal, either.
In fact, almost 40% of people leave when a site isn’t appealing. Another 39% will leave if the site takes too long to load.
You can update your website by using user experience (UX) design trends, including:
- Fast load times
- Negative space
- Easy-to-click buttons
- Easy-to-use navigation
- Short sentences and paragraphs
- Condensed photos
Google’s PageSpeed Insights can help speed up your website.
3. Make Sure You’re Mobile
Make sure your website is mobile-optimized, too. Google now uses mobile-first indexing to determine rankings. If you’re not optimized, your competitors will get ahead.
You can confirm your site is mobile-optimized by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
Make sure your mobile pages are fast, too. A 1-second delay could impact conversions by up to 20%.
4. Create Unique Content
Unique, informative content is the backbone for your SEO strategy. Without content, you’ll fail to give people a reason to visit your site.
Using your keywords, start creating content with the customer’s search intent in mind. Cover a single topic in each post to keep your readers focused.
Try to create a schedule for creating content. You can also use one piece of content for multiple formats. For example, a blog post can become a short video, animation, or infographic.
You can use multiple blog posts to create an eBook.
Don’t forget to optimize your posts with your keyword, too.
5. Consider EAT
EAT stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Google looks for EAT when determining your ranking.
Make sure your content:
- Is high-quality
- Includes research links from trusted websites
- Demonstrates your experience
- Avoids fluff
Recognizing EAT will help improve your ranking.
6. Go Local
Over 70% of consumers who search for local businesses visit a store within five miles of their location. Nearly 80% of local mobile searches lead to in-store purchases.
You can use local SEO tips for small businesses to increase your rankings, too. Local SEO allows you to reach nearby consumers.
First, update your Google My Business listing.
Then, create location-based content on your website. Gather reviews from customers, too!
7. Build Your Links
Link building can also help you appeal to EAT.
Use internal and external links. Internal links send people to content on your site. External links send people to resources and studies on other sites.
Consider using guest blogging as well to improve your link building.
8. Optimize for Voice
As you use these SEO tips for small businesses, keep up with SEO trends. For example, more people are using voice assistants.
Voice searches change how search queries are phrased.
Make sure to use your keyword research to determine how people are phrasing their searches. Appealing to voice searches can help you reach the zero position, which is located above organic results.
9. Gather Reviews
Over 90% of people regularly read online reviews. About 84% trust reviews as much as a recommendation. Adding reviews to your website and Google My Business listing can improve your brand reputation.
It can also strengthen your local SEO strategy.
As you use these small business SEO tips, ask your happy customers to post their reviews online.
10. Analyze and Adjust
As you begin using these SEO tips for small business owners, track your progress. Which keywords and pieces of content attract readers? Which ones generate leads?
Use your Google Analytics Console to review the data. Then, adjust your SEO strategy accordingly to optimize for results.
Rank Higher Than Ever: 10 SEO Tips for Small Businesses
Ready to boost your ranking? Keep these 10 SEO tips for small businesses in mind. With these tips, you can get ahead of the competition to reach more customers.
Attract more business and boost your ROI with SEO today.
Need a little help? Contact us today for a free consultation!
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