Your enterprise finds difficulty in expanding if consumers don't know about the product. It can be seen that more than the awareness about the quality of the product, consumers rely on the familiarity they have with the brand. One of the best ways to build this familiarity and make your product visible is to drive search traffic through search engine optimization (SEO). Statistics show that before making a purchase, about 68% of American consumers conduct product research online. This pre-purchase shopping routine has become a norm and they do it for even the cheapest product they buy. So without considering the industry or the business you are in, it is important to optimize your digital presence. This is where SEO comes to your rescue! When your potential customers are searching for a product or service on the search engine, your product will come visible to them. Technically SEO is a strategy that can help your website feature on the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs), to drive search traffic to your product. Thus it became clear that SEO can deliver exceptional results but it requires a lot of time investment and your small business may not afford that. But don't worry some hacks can help you to speed up this time-consuming process. So now let's try to understand some SEO tips for small businesses that can help you boost the growth of your business by boosting up your brand name. Focus on Emerging Search Trends Jeff Riddell, Senior Product Manager at Own Local says "All businesses should focus on optimization around topical groups of intent-based keywords at each stage of their customer's journey." According to the above said words, this should be done because Google continues to refine its algorithm and ability to determine what content searchers are after. He adds that these small businesses should look for keyword opportunities and also the gaps in content so that they can add value by answering specific questions that their customers have. Riddell also has a similar opinion that small businesses that are introducing e-commerce via Shopify, Amazon, or other such platforms should be aware of the perfect optimization of their product pages in these environments and also the necessary content required to complement and support their products. "Modern SEO is all about optimized content marketing; and those who can provide their customers with timely, relevant content and answers to their product-related questions are most likely to improve their visibility in search," Riddell says. Unless you know the contemporary trends you will be unaware of the consumer preferences. This will affect your business as well as marketing badly. Smart Content Planning Clarentino Aduk, Managing Director at Clarins Online Marketing says "Local businesses should start producing content on their website regularly. They need to start thinking less as a local business and more as a media company." Some SEO consultant supports Clarentino Aduk and reminds them that SEO is a long game but according to her it is possible to increase the speed with the right strategy and implementation. A very few experts add "Be the thought leader in your niche and showcase your expertise. Trust signals will be instrumental for dominance. Get those reviews, testimonials, and industry recognition. Prioritize accessibility, inclusion, and user experience in your messaging, sales process, and customer's journey." A Content Executive at a leading SEO brand recommends that small businesses take a holistic approach by Linking their email, social, PPC, and content strategies together to increase reach and engagement. Thus smart and wise content planning will help to increase the chances of your campaign goals being met and enrich your desired search engine results. Usage of the Right Keyword Having a clear understanding of the keywords that consumers are likely to use to search for you in the search engines is necessary. For example, if you are selling handbags then potential consumers may use words like "purse" or "women's bags" in their search queries. So it is important to optimize your content and website for the most popular search keywords used in Google analytics. Any business should identify the right keyword and focus on it when creating content. "Small businesses should focus on long-tail keywords when creating content. This strategy will help you earn more featured snippets that will drive a good amount of traffic to your website." Many experts agree to the above said and reminds us that content and links are still the main ranking factors. According to him if you are covering these keywords properly it will help you to get ranking positions faster. Some paid tools provide a good job of finding such keywords. But it is best to check out manually and filter out irrelevant topics. Tools like Google's Keyword Planner, KWFinder, or Moz Keyword Explorer will help you find the right keywords. These tools are very simple to use. For this, you can type in your target keyword and find all of the relevant keyword combinations based on your content. Thus you can find the most popular keywords so that you can figure out what people are searching for and then leverage the search traffic to your business. But you should note that it's not always a good idea to use the most highly searched keywords as big businesses with high domain authority will be vying to get the top rankings in search results for those keywords. For small businesses it is a better idea to focus on your niche and using these niche keywords, you can reach out to a smaller but more specific audience. Thus if you are selling cat collars, the keyword "custom cat collar" might work better than most popular keywords. This is because the Search Engine Optimization difficulty of specific keywords is relatively low. People emphasizes that the last step is to choose priorities since quality is still the key. So, when sending Google review links to your customers, it is always best to use the background search query to associate your brand to your main keyword and watch your listing fly. Thus you can score 100/100 when you have the right keyword domain URL. Experts say that performing less than eight modifications to any page makes your SEO easier. So be smart enough to choose the right keyword and use it perfectly. Try to Connect with Businesses that are near to you Many SEO experts give advice for small businesses not to compare or copy the bigger ones. It is also advisable to find the niche and build connections with other small businesses in their area. It is important to engage with others when you are doing something for your community. No matter how small a business is, there will be numerous unique topics to be covered in a meaningful way. So don't hesitate to connect with your fraternity. Learning together is an important criterion to achieve your desired goals. Share Customer Stories Digital Organic Growth Consultant SuhrudPotdar asks entrepreneurs to start writing short stories about their daily interactions with customers at any stage of their business, from inquiry and comparing products to actual sales or after-sales. According to him, making these stories a part of your website and sharing them on social media will create a great impact. This may sound very trivial but even a simple and small step can drive more people to your brand and take you a long way. Riddall says "Make it easy for customers by including reminders and links to your Google Business Profile, Facebook, or other relevant review pages." There is also a famous quote by a SEO professional "Your Google Business Profile could be more important for generating leads than your website". It is also made sure that it's filled out. It also urges people to verify that they are using correct keywords in their respective business descriptions. It is very important to ask the users for their feedbacks which will help in improving the services you provide. Try to be Resourceful and Evaluate constantly "Everything you need to rank on Google is available to you when you do some strategic Google searches. The formula is right there," - SEO expert SEO Experts advice small businesses and also pros to tap into the power of tools that automate online review requests and management as reviews have a significant bearing on local search. This means review requests can be easily triggered based on specific customer actions, such as purchases or completed appointments. Likewise, solutions can be used to aid in responding to reviews, which also helps in terms of demonstrating the responsiveness of a business. Thus it is to be understood that beyond increased organic authority and visibility, obtaining and responding to online reviews is an increasingly critical driver of business growth. The only thing that is certain about the post-pandemic world and the upcoming years is that there will be continued uncertainty. Thus every business needs to be prepared for this. Also do remember that you probably won't get your SEO strategy right in the first go. An efficient SEO strategy is about constant trial and error. So be patient and improve your strategy and always check and ensure how your website is doing in terms of SEO. So, one of the best small business SEO tips is to conduct an SEO audit at regular intervals. It seems very easy, but it's a strategy that's not implemented by many small businesses. You can easily miss finer details like spam scores or broken links when you're taking care of your business. This will tell you which part of your SEO strategy you need to look at when you are evaluating your website. So based on these results, you can understand the pain points and what you need to improve SEO Key Takeaways for the Year 2022 Having a clean and easy-to-navigate website and making sure that it is immediately visible to the people who visit this is important. You have to understand who you are and what you're offering. Also, don't forget the basics of writing and the quality of content. It is better to use a lot of headings to improve readability. You have to put your keywords in the headings and these headings should stand out for search engines and will help you rank higher. Always ensure you have a good site speed as this is an important factor for SEO. All search engines favor websites that load more quickly and efficiently as it improves the user experience. So if your site is bogged down by lots of images or videos and thus finds difficulty in loading quickly, it will take a hit in search. Lastly, it is important to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile platforms. Note that search engines now penalize websites that are not easily displayed on a smart phone. This is because the number of people who use mobile phones to surf the internet is increasing day by day. Statistics show that in 2018, smart phones generated 52.2% of the total website traffic. So your business must keep up with this changing consumer behavior. So try to invest in strategies to appeal to mobile phone users to opt for a mobile-friendly website design. In that way, responsiveness and convenience should be at the top of your list when looking for an effective mobile-friendly and SEO optimized website design. If you have done this your website visitors on mobile won't have to zoom in or zoom out because a good mobile-friendly website is perfectly accessible from screens of different sizes. Always Monitor results from day one and don't expect fast results. It normally takes a couple of months to move significantly higher in search engine rankings. So be patient and invest in SEO without delay. Also, remember that the algorithms of SEO are constantly changing. The things that work today might not work in the upcoming years or in the future. So you have to keep working at it and make it up to date on the latest changes that affect rankings. You have to put in a good amount of research to understand the changes in trends in the world of SEO. Coming to an end, we have to change with the changing trends. In this digital world, data is the new age currency if you are not leveraging that you will be far behind others. Even if it is a small business, relying only on traditional business won't be a good idea. You have to understand the market, the preferences of customers and the sources that they have around them. In the post-pandemic world, it is expected that digital marketing will rule the market and shape consumer choices. So, find a good SEO strategy and help your small business flourish.
Your enterprise finds difficulty in expanding if consumers don't know about the product. It can be seen that more than the awareness about the quality of the product, consumers rely on the familiarity they have with the brand.
One of the best ways to build this familiarity and make your product visible is to drive search traffic through search engine optimization (SEO).
Statistics show that before making a purchase, about 68% of American consumers conduct product research online. This pre-purchase shopping routine has become a norm and they do it for even the cheapest product they buy.
So without considering the industry or the business you are in, it is important to optimize your digital presence.
This is where SEO comes to your rescue! When your potential customers are searching for a product or service on the search engine, your product will come visible to them.
Technically SEO is a strategy that can help your website feature on the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs), to drive search traffic to your product.
Thus it became clear that SEO can deliver exceptional results but it requires a lot of time investment and your small business may not afford that. But don't worry some hacks can help you to speed up this time-consuming process. So now let's try to understand some SEO tips for small businesses that can help you boost the growth of your business by boosting up your brand name.
Jeff Riddell, Senior Product Manager at Own Local says
"All businesses should focus on optimization around topical groups of intent-based keywords at each stage of their customer's journey."
According to the above said words, this should be done because Google continues to refine its algorithm and ability to determine what content searchers are after. He adds that these small businesses should look for keyword opportunities and also the gaps in content so that they can add value by answering specific questions that their customers have.
Riddell also has a similar opinion that small businesses that are introducing e-commerce via Shopify, Amazon, or other such platforms should be aware of the perfect optimization of their product pages in these environments and also the necessary content required to complement and support their products.
"Modern SEO is all about optimized content marketing; and those who can provide their customers with timely, relevant content and answers to their product-related questions are most likely to improve their visibility in search," Riddell says.
Unless you know the contemporary trends you will be unaware of the consumer preferences. This will affect your business as well as marketing badly.
Clarentino Aduk, Managing Director at Clarins Online Marketing says
"Local businesses should start producing content on their website regularly. They need to start thinking less as a local business and more as a media company."
Some SEO consultant supports Clarentino Aduk and reminds them that SEO is a long game but according to her it is possible to increase the speed with the right strategy and implementation.
A very few experts add
"Be the thought leader in your niche and showcase your expertise. Trust signals will be instrumental for dominance. Get those reviews, testimonials, and industry recognition. Prioritize accessibility, inclusion, and user experience in your messaging, sales process, and customer's journey."
A Content Executive at a leading SEO brand recommends that small businesses take a holistic approach by Linking their email, social, PPC, and content strategies together to increase reach and engagement.
Thus smart and wise content planning will help to increase the chances of your campaign goals being met and enrich your desired search engine results.
Having a clear understanding of the keywords that consumers are likely to use to search for you in the search engines is necessary. For example, if you are selling handbags then potential consumers may use words like "purse" or "women's bags" in their search queries. So it is important to optimize your content and website for the most popular search keywords used in Google analytics.
Any business should identify the right keyword and focus on it when creating content.
"Small businesses should focus on long-tail keywords when creating content. This strategy will help you earn more featured snippets that will drive a good amount of traffic to your website."
Many experts agree to the above said and reminds us that content and links are still the main ranking factors. According to him if you are covering these keywords properly it will help you to get ranking positions faster.
Some paid tools provide a good job of finding such keywords. But it is best to check out manually and filter out irrelevant topics.
Tools like Google's Keyword Planner, KWFinder, or Moz Keyword Explorer will help you find the right keywords. These tools are very simple to use. For this, you can type in your target keyword and find all of the relevant keyword combinations based on your content. Thus you can find the most popular keywords so that you can figure out what people are searching for and then leverage the search traffic to your business.
But you should note that it's not always a good idea to use the most highly searched keywords as big businesses with high domain authority will be vying to get the top rankings in search results for those keywords.
For small businesses it is a better idea to focus on your niche and using these niche keywords, you can reach out to a smaller but more specific audience.
Thus if you are selling cat collars, the keyword "custom cat collar" might work better than most popular keywords. This is because the Search Engine Optimization difficulty of specific keywords is relatively low.
People emphasizes that the last step is to choose priorities since quality is still the key. So, when sending Google review links to your customers, it is always best to use the background search query to associate your brand to your main keyword and watch your listing fly.
Thus you can score 100/100 when you have the right keyword domain URL. Experts say that performing less than eight modifications to any page makes your SEO easier. So be smart enough to choose the right keyword and use it perfectly.
Many SEO experts give advice for small businesses not to compare or copy the bigger ones. It is also advisable to find the niche and build connections with other small businesses in their area.
It is important to engage with others when you are doing something for your community. No matter how small a business is, there will be numerous unique topics to be covered in a meaningful way.
So don't hesitate to connect with your fraternity. Learning together is an important criterion to achieve your desired goals.
Digital Organic Growth Consultant SuhrudPotdar asks entrepreneurs to start writing short stories about their daily interactions with customers at any stage of their business, from inquiry and comparing products to actual sales or after-sales. According to him, making these stories a part of your website and sharing them on social media will create a great impact. This may sound very trivial but even a simple and small step can drive more people to your brand and take you a long way.
Riddall says "Make it easy for customers by including reminders and links to your Google Business Profile, Facebook, or other relevant review pages."
There is also a famous quote by a SEO professional
"Your Google Business Profile could be more important for generating leads than your website".
It is also made sure that it's filled out. It also urges people to verify that they are using correct keywords in their respective business descriptions.
It is very important to ask the users for their feedbacks which will help in improving the services you provide.
"Everything you need to rank on Google is available to you when you do some strategic Google searches. The formula is right there," - SEO expert
SEO Experts advice small businesses and also pros to tap into the power of tools that automate online review requests and management as reviews have a significant bearing on local search.
This means review requests can be easily triggered based on specific customer actions, such as purchases or completed appointments. Likewise, solutions can be used to aid in responding to reviews, which also helps in terms of demonstrating the responsiveness of a business.
Thus it is to be understood that beyond increased organic authority and visibility, obtaining and responding to online reviews is an increasingly critical driver of business growth.
The only thing that is certain about the post-pandemic world and the upcoming years is that there will be continued uncertainty. Thus every business needs to be prepared for this.
Also do remember that you probably won't get your SEO strategy right in the first go. An efficient SEO strategy is about constant trial and error. So be patient and improve your strategy and always check and ensure how your website is doing in terms of SEO.
So, one of the best small business SEO tips is to conduct an SEO audit at regular intervals. It seems very easy, but it's a strategy that's not implemented by many small businesses. You can easily miss finer details like spam scores or broken links when you're taking care of your business.
This will tell you which part of your SEO strategy you need to look at when you are evaluating your website. So based on these results, you can understand the pain points and what you need to improve
Having a clean and easy-to-navigate website and making sure that it is immediately visible to the people who visit this is important. You have to understand who you are and what you're offering.
Also, don't forget the basics of writing and the quality of content. It is better to use a lot of headings to improve readability. You have to put your keywords in the headings and these headings should stand out for search engines and will help you rank higher.
Always ensure you have a good site speed as this is an important factor for SEO. All search engines favor websites that load more quickly and efficiently as it improves the user experience. So if your site is bogged down by lots of images or videos and thus finds difficulty in loading quickly, it will take a hit in search.
Lastly, it is important to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile platforms. Note that search engines now penalize websites that are not easily displayed on a smart phone.
This is because the number of people who use mobile phones to surf the internet is increasing day by day.
Statistics show that in 2018, smart phones generated 52.2% of the total website traffic. So your business must keep up with this changing consumer behavior. So try to invest in strategies to appeal to mobile phone users to opt for a mobile-friendly website design.
In that way, responsiveness and convenience should be at the top of your list when looking for an effective mobile-friendly and SEO optimized website design. If you have done this your website visitors on mobile won't have to zoom in or zoom out because a good mobile-friendly website is perfectly accessible from screens of different sizes.
Always Monitor results from day one and don't expect fast results. It normally takes a couple of months to move significantly higher in search engine rankings. So be patient and invest in SEO without delay.
Also, remember that the algorithms of SEO are constantly changing. The things that work today might not work in the upcoming years or in the future. So you have to keep working at it and make it up to date on the latest changes that affect rankings. You have to put in a good amount of research to understand the changes in trends in the world of SEO.
Coming to an end, we have to change with the changing trends. In this digital world, data is the new age currency if you are not leveraging that you will be far behind others. Even if it is a small business, relying only on traditional business won't be a good idea. You have to understand the market, the preferences of customers and the sources that they have around them. In the post-pandemic world, it is expected that digital marketing will rule the market and shape consumer choices. So, find a good SEO strategy and help your small business flourish.