Set Sail with SEO: Small Business SEO Tips

Avast ye land-lubbers! Ready, set, sail with SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? Starting your small business SEO journey can be an exciting adventure, albeit one that requires patience. Regular blog posts, optimized keywords, and on-page improvements can all help build your site’s search engine recognition to keep your small business on the map.

It is important to maintain a consistent SEO strategy when navigating the digital marketplace. Otherwise, you might find your website traffic on a sinking ship! Oftentimes, it feels like the quick wins of social media and ads take precedence. However, keeping up your SEO can not only benefit you in the long-run, it can also assist with your ads and social media, reducing the cost of acquisition and saving you money!

Small Business SEO Optimized Blog

Now, it’s time to dive in. First things first, you’ll need to start a blog. You know who you are selling to and you know their interests. Write about things they care  about! You can optimize these articles with keywords you know they will be searching for. Since you know your business inside and out, you can use this knowledge to write something captivating, funny, engaging, or even just answer questions that your clients/customers ask. Take advantage of searchable terms, and make sure they are repeated throughout the article and headlines. Still, avoid overstuffing with too many keywords. Eating a full meal then jumping into the water isn’t a good idea!

On-Page SEO Optimizations:

Don’t forget on-page optimizations! Meta-descriptions, alt text, headlines, and high readability scores in your article…These are all small changes that can be made to every page on your website that will help improve your SEO. It’s important to keep consistent keyword use within these updates as well. 

In Search of Keywords

Onto finding the best keywords. Answer some questions: what would you search if you were looking for your services/products? Where are you reaching people? What are some concerns/considerations your customers have? These will all help you identify the main keywords to use for your site. Make sure you also include your location and locations you want to reach as keywords on your pages.

X-Marks the Spot: Geotagging

Your location makes a difference. When you search for something, you don’t want to find results halfway around the world! That is why it is important to include your location and the areas you can reach at various places on your website. Yes, your contact us page is a start, but you will want to dig deeper. Mention where you are, or include the location as part of the keywords you use. Google excels when it can pull up a location as part of the keyword. Think of the search “Bookstores in Toronto”. Including this keyword will make sure if you are in Toronto or the GTA, for instance, you aren’t reaching people down-under. See what I did there? (This article is Field Mouse Marketing SEO Optimized).

Are we there yet?

No traffic. Why bother? Don’t worry. It will happen. Google and search engines must meticulously index pages over the entire internet. It takes a while for the engines to read your site as having consistent content. If you keep up your small business SEO work, the engines will identify your site as being more trustworthy and rank you higher. The higher you rank, the more you’ll attract people already looking for your services and goods. This works alongside your social media and ads to keep you top-of-mind and make you stand out against your competitors. If you are ranked higher, you will get increased traffic without the paid ads. Huzzah!

The Treasure

The treasure was the blog we made along the way. Just kidding: the treasure is the customers/clients you got and money you saved on ads!

Remember:

• Hit the right keywords.

• Don’t forget the on-page!

• X-Marks the spot: Geo-targeting

The wind may be slow to lift your sails, but once you’re at sea you will be SOARING. If you would like a consultation to improve your on-site SEO or would like assistance with your small business, don’t hesitate to reach out… I’m always ABOARD to help!