Discover 10 Tips for Small Business SEO to Boost Your Rankings

Ranking high up in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPS) can help transform any business’s fortunes. However, the top spots are highly competitive and small companies will often find themselves competing with some of the world’s largest organisations.

Despite this competition, smaller businesses can still benefit from search engine optimisation (SEO). Small business SEO involves optimising your website to encourage Google to rank your website high in the SERPS. 

Here are ten tips about small business SEO to get the best results in the SERPS.

Focus on Local Search Results

If you recently established a start-up company and you’re planning to start your journey in small business SEO, small companies like you should ideally open a Google Business Profile (GBP) account (formerly known as Google My Business). A GBP account will help ensure you show in local search results while also helping make you visible on Google Maps and Google Shopping.

A GBP account is free to set up and manage. Optimising your GBP account involves providing the correct data, updating content regularly, and encouraging customers to leave positive reviews. 

Get Good Reviews

Reviews are one of the most powerful marketing tools any company could have. And not only do online consumers trust reviews, but they are also great for small business SEO. For example, good reviews on a Google Business Profile account will help ensure your business gets visibility. 

As such, it’s a good idea to deliver the best service possible to help make your customers happy. And not only will this boost your online visibility, but it will also help encourage your customers to return and recommend you to others.

Use Good Quality Content

Google loves good quality content, and the more quality content you have, the higher it will rank you. Good quality content is highly relevant to your products or services and helps give your visitors useful information. Quality content is also accurate and will provide references where necessary.

You should also craft content that is easy for people and Google’s crawlers to read. This will give Google the information it needs to rank your website, and it will also mean more people stay on your site and, hopefully, convert. And remember that quality will win over quantity, and, in some cases, poor quality content might do more harm than good. 

Use Social Media

Social media has an enormous potential reach, helping even small businesses to reach vast audiences. Also, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are free and easy to use, making them excellent tools for small businesses.

Social media lets you publish content to a broad audience, potentially boosting revenue. However, instead of directly selling your products, focusing on building a community and providing useful information to your followers is best. Doing so will help your community grow and direct more good-quality traffic to your website.

Get Quality Backlinks

A backlink is a link to your website located on a separate site. These links are an essential component of small business SEO, with Google treating them as recommendations from people who have done business with you. So, the more quality backlinks you have, the higher Google will rank you in the SERPS. 

An excellent way for small companies to get good quality backlinks is to ask other companies if you can have a link on their site. You can offer them a backlink on your website in return to help make it a fair exchange. Another option is to look for guest blogging options on relevant, quality sites. In addition, publishing quality content on your website will encourage people to share it, potentially creating more quality backlinks in the process. 

Use Internal and External Links

When doing small business SEO, using internal and external links are particularly important. Internal links link from one page of your website to another page of the same site. These links are important because they help make it easier for Google’s bots to navigate their way around your site. This, in turn, lets Google know your website has what people are looking for. 

External links are those on your website that link to other websites, effectively creating a backlink for the other site. External links are important because they tell Google you’re trying to provide valuable and accurate information to your visitors, telling their algorithms to rank you higher. 

Research Keywords Thoroughly

Keyword research is essential in helping to ensure the right people find your website. As such, it makes sense to thoroughly research your keywords for the best results. The good news is that this is a relatively straightforward process that’s made more accessible will help from free tools like Google Keyword Planner. 

Small businesses should ideally look for keywords with a reasonably high search volume and low or medium competitiveness. Using long-tail keywords is also a good idea because they are more specific and less competitive. As such, they can drive more good-quality traffic to your website.

Be Unique

It can be challenging for small businesses to stand out against the competition, potentially making it hard for them to attract customers and become established. One way to overcome the issue is to be as different as possible, giving potential customers reasons to use your company over others.

Having unique content will also help you list well in the SERPS because the more niche you become, the less competitive the associated keywords are likely to be. It also means you can create helpful content not found anywhere else, encouraging more people to visit your site and share your content. 

Focus on Good UX

Internet users will, on average, spend 15 seconds on a website before leaving. With this in mind, ensuring your website lets visitors know they’re in the right place quickly is best. 

One way to achieve this is to ensure your website is easy to navigate and offers a good user experience (UX). You should also ensure all links are working correctly, and it can be a good idea to ask other people’s opinions on how easy or otherwise your site is to use.

Ensuring your website offers a good UX is beneficial in two main ways. For one, it encourages visitors to stay on your site, making it more likely they will buy from you. For another reason, having visitors stay on your website for longer will reduce your bounce rate, giving you a boost in the SERPS.

Mobile Optimisation

Approximately 60% of internet traffic in New Zealand comes from mobile devices. This statistic means that most of your potential clients will likely search for your products on a mobile device, so it makes sense to ensure your website works smoothly for them. 

Mobile optimisation involves two main components. One is to have a website with Responsive Web Design (RWD) features, which helps ensure your website automatically adjusts to devices with screens of different dimensions. Mobile optimisation also includes avoiding large files that will make your web pages load more slowly. 

Start Your Small Business SEO Today!

Small business SEO is a dynamic and essential component for the success of small businesses in the digital age. With Google’s search engine results pages being a battleground of competition, small businesses must adopt astute strategies. 

Consider this article a treasure map, leading you through the labyrinth of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with ten stellar tips designed to catapult your small enterprise into the limelight. For small businesses, being online isn’t just about surviving; it’s about thriving in an ocean of digital competition. In such an environment, SEO isn’t a luxury; it’s an essential lifeline.

Don’t let your venture become a needle in the digital haystack. Ignite your online presence and navigate the SEO waters with strategies that deliver. By embracing the guidance within this article, witness your venture climb the Google search ladder, one rung at a time.

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Every minor step, every tweak to your online strategy, incrementally propels your business towards that grand vision of success. If the next level of growth is what you yearn for, brace yourself for an exhilarating deep dive into the SEO ocean. Should you need an experienced co-pilot on this journey, professional SEO services are just a call away. Take the plunge, craft your digital footprint, and let your venture shine in the online sphere, starting right now!