3 Proven SEO Practices for Small Businesses

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important tool for any business, but it’s crucial for small businesses to implement SEO strategies. While it may seem like a daunting task to start using SEO, it isn’t too difficult once you gain a better understanding of all its components. We’ve compiled three SEO best practices for small businesses to help get you started.

Make Sure You Have Effective On-Page SEO

In order for potential customers to find you online, you first have to provide them with relevant information regarding your products or services. Aside from having a functioning, easy-to-navigate- website, things like titles, meta-descriptions, images, and even your website’s URL all need to contain

primary words or phrases that encompass what the average searcher looks for. If these things don’t accurately represent what the customer wants, then the search engine won’t pull up your site.

Not only are the above components important, but the content underneath them is as well. Your site must have quality content that not only discusses your product or service but also mentions the things that the searchers are typing into Google. With this in mind, it’s crucial that you don’t over-use or copy important words and phrases in your content. Search engines have crawling programs that go through sites and scan for things like duplicate content and “keyword stuffing”. If a search engine crawler finds that you’re using too many keywords within the content, it will flag and penalize the site.

Establish Authority

Establishing authority is important because it shows search engines that your site is a reliable and trustworthy source of information. As you gain authority, the search engine will begin moving your website up on the search list. The higher up you are on this list, the more likely it is that people will click on your site. The key to establishing authority on search engines is to use the keywords that people are typing into Google. Include these keywords in your URL, titles, and content in order for the search engine to see that the information from your source is sought-after.

Monitoring Keywords and Ranking

Over time, keywords that were once effective may no longer have the same pull, and it could tank your rankings. You can easily fix this problem with a little research. It’s important that you continue to monitor which keywords searchers use and begin including new and improved keywords on your site. You can accomplish this by using Google’s Keyword Planner and using the relevant terms to do a standard search for your business.

It’s also crucial that you keep track of where your website currently stands within the SERPs (search engine result pages). By being aware and keeping track of your rank when you make changes, you’ll be able to see a difference in the way your customers find your business.