If you run a small business and want to increase the number of visitors who are finding your business online, this article was written just for you!
Here is a list of the SEO tips for small businesses we discuss in this article:
Table of Contents:
- Tip 1: Create A Google Search Console Account
- Tip 2: Use GSC To Optimize Your SEO
- Tip 3: Create A Google Analytics Account
- Tip 4: Do In-Depth Keyword Research
- Tip 5: Create More Content
- Tip 6: Keep URLs simple
- Tip 7: Optimize Your On-Page SEO
- Tip 8: Don’t Keyword-Stuff
- Tip 9: Create Content That Stays Evergreen
- Tip 10: Use More Internal Links
- Tip 11: Open A Google My Business Account
- Tip 12: Incentives Reviews
- Tip 13: Optimize Your Metadata
- Tip 14: Expect SEO To Take A While
- Tip 15: Enable & Respond to Comments and
Reviews
Let’s jump right into these SEO tips for small businesses!
Tip 1: Create A Google Search Console Account
If you don’t already have your Google Search Console account set up, you need to get this right away. Google Search Console is an essential SEO tool.
Google Search Console gives you free access to data like:
- How many impressions your pages are getting on Google.
- How many organic clicks your pages generate.
- What keywords people are searching for to find your website.
- And tons more.
Tip 2: Use GSC To Optimize Your SEO
Once you have enough data in your Google Search Console, you will be able to see which keywords lead the most people to your website and which pages are ranking best on Google.
Check the “Coverage” report to fix any indexing issues and use the “Performance” report to enhance your meta titles and descriptions for better click-through rates. Regularly monitor your site’s performance and adapt your strategy based on the insights from GSC to continuously improve your SEO and attract more visitors.
Use this data to optimize the SEO on your website. Be sure you are actually using the keywords bringing you traffic in the text on your website. If Google ranks particular pages very high, consider creating other content that is similar. This is one of the best SEO tips for small businesses!
Tip 3: Create A Google Analytics Account
A website with no analytics account is like a fish with no gills. Analytic data is vital to improving your SEO and your website in general. Go ahead and set up a Google Analytics account (GA4)(or a similar Analytics account) to track SEO data from visitors on your website.
Tip 4: Do In-Depth Keyword Research
Most businesses that are unsatisfied with their SEO presence aren’t doing keyword research. This is why we want to show you these SEO tips for small businesses. Content and website pages that rank well on Google are almost always created to target a few specific keywords.
Most people don’t realize that posting blogs or other website content that doesn’t specifically target a particular keyword has very little chance of ever showing up on page one of Google.
Use a keyword research tool like Keyword Finder or SEMrush to identify keywords people are searching on Google that fit well with your business’s products and services.
You can even go to Google Ads and in their “Keyword Planner” you can create a strategy identifying popular search terms in your area, which can guide your content strategy and on-page SEO . For a small business targeting local customers. This is one of the best SEO tips for small business because its FREE!
By understanding local search volumes and trends, you can optimize pages on your website and ad campaigns (if you want to do ads as-well) all in the same spot to attract more local traffic and improve your online visibility.
Tip 5: Create More Content
Each page on your website gives you another opportunity to target a few more keywords. If you have a small 6-page website (with keyword target pages) you will only have the opportunity to show up organically for a few dozen keywords.
If you write keyword-targeted blogs or other content, each page adds to the list of keywords Google may show your website to. Use this to your advantage.
Try to post at least 1 piece of content each month (or as much as you can manage) to increase the number of places Google can show your website.
Tip 6: Keep URLs Simple As Google’s “spider bots” crawl through your website, they want to see information they can understand. It’s important to use every opportunity you have to communicate what your subject is with Google.
This means having short and simple URLs. Google won’t be as excited to rank a page with the URL www.johnsonjonesgroup.com/382023t087wdkjhdg10/05/1993kardg on the first of Google.
With all your new links, try using the keyword you’re targeting for the end of your link. This clarifies to Google and your readers what the page is about and that they are in the right place.
Try something like this instead for your SLUG (end of your URL):
/seo-tips-for-small-businesses
Tip 7: Optimize Your On-Page SEO
When writing copy for your website or when writing blog content, don’t forget to include your keywords in the copy itself. This is one of the most important SEO tips for small businesses to increase Google rankings.
Here are some SEO best practices to keep in mind for your on-page SEO:
- Include your focus keyword in your page title
- Include your focus keyword in your URL
- Include your focus keyword in the first 100 words of your text
- Include your focus keyword and other related keywords in the copy of your page
- Include 2-3 internal links on each page
- Include 2-3 external links on each page
- Include a Call To Action button or block to get users to a conversion page
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Tip 8: Don’t “Keyword-Stuff”
It’s very important to include keywords in the copy of your content, but it’s equally important you don’t go crazy with your keywords as well.
In the early 2000s, Search Engine Optimizers began packing web pages full of keywords so they would rank higher on google. This only worked until Google figured out what was going on and they then began de-ranking pages that were stuffed full of keywords.
This is true today. Be sure to use your targeted keywords, but don’t go over the top. The best way to tell if you have too many is just to read your text and see if it sounds natural.
You can also follow the 1%-2% rule. This rule just means that you typically want 1%-2% of the words on your page to be a keyword.
Tip 9: Create Content That Stays Evergreen
Just like old milk, content can go stale too. Google doesn’t like showing stale content.
This means you want to write content that has a very long shelf life. In times like today with AI prevailing, lots of sites might think its easy to produce content using GPT sites.
You need to be careful because Google wants to see quality content with actual useful information. Their new AI results on their search engine pulls information from sites with quality content in your industry. You want to be the one that they are pulling from.
I once wrote a large article (with over 10,000 words) that walked users through the exact step-by-step process to set up a Google Ads account. This took months to create.
Only two weeks after launching the article, Google changed the format of their Google Ads software and the course was useless.
When you write content on your website, it’s best to focus on things that don’t change. Typically ideas, strategies, opinions, and theory stay fresh longest. Always keeping content fresh is one of the top SEO tips for small businesses.
Tip 10: Use More Internal links
Most websites are not using enough internal links. Not only does the Google search algorithm look to see if you have internal links, but it also makes the site more user-friendly for people.
When you add links to related content on a blog or page of your website, it helps to decrease your bounce rate. This is good for two reasons.
1.) Your visitors are moving further into your website
2.) Google likes to rank pages with lower bounce rates higher in the search engine.
Tip 11: Open A Google My Business Account
If your business is based in a specific location, creating a Google My Business account is key to creating positive local SEO.
Google My Business Profile is the tool that also allows you to show up on Google Maps.
This means that when people are searching for “XYZ near me” they will also have a chance of finding you on the Google Map Pack at the top of the search results.
If you’d like to learn more about local SEO check out our article: The Ultimate Guide to Local SEO: 33 Tips and Strategies
Tip 12: Incentives Reviews
The number of reviews on a Google My Business page directly influences how close to the top that business will rank. To increase your likelihood of showing up in the Google Map Pack, you will want to begin collecting as many reviews as you can. Reviews can be one of the most influential SEO tips for small businesses, to increase trust with customers.
At a minimum, you can begin requesting that your clients leave a review of their experience on Google. You may also offer some small incentive for them to leave a review as well (like a free can of soda while they are waiting in line).
Tip 13: Optimize Your Metadata
Metadata is the SEO information that shows up in the Google Search Engine.
Look at the top 4 or 5 ranking posts on Google for your chosen keyword and see what they are saying in their meta titles and descriptions.
After reviewing your competition, we recommend you try to write something similar… but better. For blogs use power words that can be found here. The goal of this information is to get viewers to click on your listing instead of the listings of other websites.
The effectiveness of your metadata is most commonly shown as your Click Through Rate (CTR) in your Google Search Console Account. It’s best to have a click-through rate of at least 3%. Be aware however that the higher you rank on Google, the higher your click-through rate will be. So don’t be surprised if you begin to see CTRs of 15% and up as you rise in the rankings.
Tip 14: Expect SEO To Take A While
Advertising is a quick way to increase website traffic. You just throw some money at Google or Facebook and they send people your way. This is one of the most valuable SEO tips for small businesses to increase your website’s traffic. The speed is good but it also costs you financially to take the fast route.
On the other hand, there is SEO. Ranking well in Google and generating a lot of organic (free) website traffic can take a lot of time. If you’re putting out consistent and high-quality content, It still usually takes 6 months to see your effort paying off. In many cases, it can take a year to start seeing a good amount of organic traffic.
It’s worth the time and effort though. As you increase your organic traffic, many companies can decrease their ad spend which ultimately increases their profit margins.
With all of that said, the best marketing plans consider both advertising and SEO marketing strategies.
Tip 15: Enable & Respond to Comments and Reviews
Google likes to see good customer service on the part of business and website owners. This means that the comments section on your blogs should be enabled.
You should also make it a point to respond to every comment that is left on your blogs and each review left on your Google My Business page. This will also help ranking in the map pack on Google increase your small businesses ranking.
As you respond to your customers, Google will use this as a reason to increase your search engine rankings.
If you’d like to learn more about SEO check out the articles below:
12 Actionable SEO Tips For Contractors [2024]
The Ultimate Guide to SEO For Therapists [Update 2024]
That about sums it up for this post on SEO tips for small businesses.
Let us know which one you will implement first in the comments!
