With proper use, SEO can help take your business to the next level. Even though you are a small business, you can still use an SEO strategy to your advantage and remain competitive in your market without breaking the bank. Learn how to enhance your small business’s website presence and rank higher in search queries.
1. Conduct Keyword Research
Consider what words your clients might use when searching for your services or products online. After forming a list, use a keyword research tool, like Semrush or Keyword Planner, to validate them. Using these keywords on your website pages will help them rank higher when potential consumers search using those popular keywords. Try to emphasize what makes your company unique.
When adding keywords to your pages, don’t stuff them with keywords just to appear higher on search engines. If you do so, search engines like Google with flag your pages, and you will hurt your search rankings. Make sure your content is natural, clear and conversational.
2. Use Meta Tags and Image Alt Text
Meta tags, such as meta titles and meta descriptions, are extremely important for small business SEO. They help Google and other search engines place you in the correct search results most suitable for your business. The more competition you have, the more specific you want your meta tags to be. These tags are what show in the search engine response page we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing. The words here are often the first thing customers will read about for your business. The practical process of adding meta titles and descriptions varies by website platform but take the time to dig in and learn. You won’t regret it.
Image alt text helps describe the images on your website. Search engine bots can’t see your images. They can only read what the image says it is about. Having appropriate image tags helps search engines better understand the topic of the content on the page and therefore index it properly. It is beneficial to use keywords in your text because that can help rank you in image search results as well.
3. Get Backlinks from Related Websites
Backlinks are useful in more ways than one. Not only is it credible to be linked on other websites, but the more sites that carry your link, the higher your business will rank on searches. The higher quality website link, the better traffic to your site.
You can build backlinks in multiple ways. You can submit your website to local directories, put your link on all your social profiles, and even ask the owners of a related site to carry your link in exchange for you carrying their link. Be leery of vendors who promise to get your hundreds of backlinks for a cheap price. Most of these backlinks, called “toxic backlinks”, are placed on low-ranking sites which will harm your site’s ranking as well.
4. Focus on Technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to elements such as broken links (internal and external), 404 Error pages, redirects, loops, etc. It is important that you make sure your website runs smoothly and is simple to navigate. Regular technical maintenance will also help your pages load faster, which is a bonus for search engine optimization.
- Use a platform such as Semrush to look for technical errors.
- Fix broken links and create redirects where necessary.
- Make sure each page has one H1 heading and multiple H2 headings.
- Make sure all images have the lowest resolution needed (we recommend 400-1,200 pixels on the image’s longest side) and, if a JPEG, saved at a 50% compression rate.
5. Publish High-Quality, Specific Content
Search engines like Google are constantly crawling the web to see what’s out there. For them to properly index your pages, each page must have one clear, concise topic for that page. If your content is too vague or covers too many topics, the bots won’t know what to do with the page and move on.
If you have multiple products or services, have separate pages for each one. Give ample, clear descriptions of each product. Don’t leave your customer or the search bots guessing.
6. Continue to Monitor SEO
Make sure you are keeping track of your content and technical SEO. SEO is consistently changing, so ensure you are aware of the most recent changes that could affect ratings. Check to see what your competitors are doing and try to do better. Do regular checks on keywords and see if there is room for improvement. Conduct regular checks on your website pages to guarantee everything is running accurately.
7. Be Patient
Although you might be tempted to see immediate results, SEO takes time. It might be a few months before your business moves up higher in search engine rankings. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t working. Keep going and stay motivated and you are bound to see positive results.
Need Some SEO Help?
At Strategy Marketing Agency, we’ll optimize your website’s content using Search Engine Optimization marketing tactics to help increase your visibility and gain more relevant traffic. On-page SEO tactics may include keyword research, meta descriptions, headings, title tags, content development, images, and more.
Schedule a consultation today!
