What is small business SEO?

Even though it is a small business, it is still possible to develop an SEO strategy to help you stay competitive in your market.

Read on to find out everything you need to know about small business SEO, why it is important and how to develop a strategy for your business without the necessary budget.

It is important not to confuse small business SEO with local SEO, as local helps businesses to appear in search based on location compared to overall results. However, some small businesses may be hoping to take advantage of local traffic, so if this is you, your small business strategy will include local steps. This will be discussed below.

Is SEO good for small businesses?

SEO is crucial for small businesses as it helps you generate organic traffic without spending money on ads on SERPs or other channels. When your site appears on the search rankings, you become competitive and drive more traffic, which in turn helps you build engagement, sell, and build a customer base.

Failure to optimize your site may mean that your competitors are the only ones showing up in the results, and your target audience may not even know you exist.

Let’s look at how to do SEO for a small business. Let’s look at how to do SEO for a small business.

SEO strategy for small businesses

SEO for small businesses doesn’t require a big team to get things started and running, nor does it require a significant budget. Many of the steps you can take are free and you can do it yourself.

Let’s look at how to do SEO for a small business.

1. Conduct keyword research.

Keyword research helps you find the right words to use on your site as you write about your content, give titles to your pages, and even choose your URLs.

You’ll discover the most relevant words you’ll use on your site as you write about what you offer, and the search terms that audiences typically use when searching for products like yours. As a small business, your keywords should help you defend your unique offer and stand out in your niche.

The easiest way to do keyword research is to use a keyword research tool like Google Free Keyword Planner.

2. Build the logical structure of the site.

An important factor in the high ranking of your site in the SERP is to create a Google-friendly site structure with a schema tag and structured data.

• Labeling scheme is the code you add to your site to provide more information about your ads. It can help you rank higher in search results and increase clicks. For example, you can add a star rating scheme to your listing so that browsers can see that you are highly rated and worth seeing.

• Structured data is a way to organize and tag text on your site, and helps spiders understand the context of the information on your site’s pages. That would be the case, for example structured product page data for product description pages.

You also want your site to have a logical structure to navigate the site, including internal links. This helps Google navigate the various pages on your site and understand what’s what. The image below is an example of a high quality website structure.

3. Optimize SEO on the page.

SEO on the site includes elements such as meta tags and alternate text images. These things explain to Google what’s on your site, and give searchers more information about what they’ll find.

1. Meta tags

Meta tags are crucial for small business SEO. Because competition can be fierce, using accurate meta descriptions and meta tags helps Google show the right results for the queries that are most relevant to your business.

• Meta titles are the titles you use to describe the content of your page. When writing them, try to summarize the main theme of your page with a related keyword.
• Meta descriptions provide a summary of your site explaining your business. This summary is only visible in search results, and try to include your target keywords as you write.

The image below is a search results card for Marcy & Myrtle, a small coffee shop in Brooklyn. Contains a meta address, Marcy & Myrtle: fresh coffee and bakery productsand meta description: Marcy & Myrtle offers you fresh coffee, delicious pastries and excellent service in a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere.

2. Replacement image text

Image replacement text describes the images on your site and gives more context to your content. Alternate image text can also help you rank in image packages and image search results.

Alternate image text also ensures the accessibility of your site, as screen readers can describe the image on the page with your descriptions.

Syndicated is a movie theater and restaurant, and the image below is a picture from his website advertising the Sidewalk Cinema series. The replacement text reads: “A footage of the Sidewalk cinema at night showing Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.”

The replacement text uses the relevant keywords related to the offer, the cinema on the sidewalk, which will represent the company in the relevant queries.

Image source

4. Get backlinks from relevant sites.

A great way to build credibility in the SERP as a small business is get backlinks from relevant sitesbecause Google trusts sites with high domain ratings. Also, build trust with your audience if they find links to your site on sites they trust.

Here are some strategies for getting backlinks:

1. List your business in related directories.

Submit your links to directories related to your business, but make sure they are legal. Posting your site on unwanted and fraudulent sites will do more harm than good.

LinkedIn is a great directory for small businesses to list, regardless of niche, as it is a credible resource with a high domain evaluation. Awoke Vintage is a small business in Brooklyn, NY that has created a business profile on LinkedIn.

Image source

2. Submit your site to local lists.

If you rely on local traffic, send your NAP (name, address, phone number) to local directories. Many local directories are a source of authority, so if you have your business on them, you build credibility. Some examples of directories include:

Here is the list best online directories for local businesses.

3. Place your link on all your profiles.

If you have multiple social media accounts, put a link to your site in your profile. For example, you can include your link in descriptions of your YouTube channel or in a biography on Twitter.

5. Technical SEO

As a small business, you may not have much content on your site. However, you still want to monitor technical SEO to ensure that your site is running and easy to navigate. Some of the key elements to focus on are:

• Layer of safe sockets to notify Google that you are providing a secure browsing experience.
• Optimization page speed by compressing images and large files.
• Ensuring that the code of your site is not messy and has a logical structure so that spiders can easily navigate and learn about your site.
• Optimization for mobile devices with responsive mobile design so visitors can easily browse and have a wonderful experience no matter the device.

6. Write a good copy.

You may be thinking, “But I’m just a small business! I don’t have much to write! “And that’s fine. You don’t have to write much, but you want to make sure that every copy on your site is good because it includes your target keywords. which search queries are relevant to your business and when they will show you in the results.

7. Constantly monitor your SEO.

Part of your overall SEO endeavor is to constantly monitor your website. You can periodically perform SEO audits to check all the items we mentioned above and you will determine if anything needs to be fixed.

8. Optional: Tell Google where you are.

If you rely on local customers and local traffic to generate revenue, you want Google to know that it shows your location in relevant queries by adding local business structured data to your site. You will also want to optimize your own Google My Business profile.

SEO will help you stand out as a small business.

SEO for small businesses is free and helps you appear in the same SERPs as your competitors. An optimized website can help you stand out and attract qualified customers who are already looking for what you have to offer.