Small businesses need to get to grips with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) if they want to remain competitive and reach as large an audience as possible. SEO isn’t a modern phenomenon, it’s been around for a couple of decades, but getting it right can be tough. This article will cover not just what SEO is, but also how you can master it.

What is SEO?

If you’re involved in business in the digital age then it goes without saying that you’ll have a company website. How, though, do you get this website in front of people? Well, the answer is: you make sure it shows up in search engines.

For small businesses, getting to the top of the search engine results page (SERP) can make a significant difference to the visibility of your brand. This means more opportunities, more potential and, hopefully, more conversions. SEO helps you to achieve this through a wide range of activities which improve the ranking of your webpages. The most important SEO activity, of course, is harnessing the power of keywords.

Keywords are, quite simply, the phrases and words that users enter into search engines to find services or products like yours. And the keywords that your company website needs to embrace are those that are most relevant to your content. Search engines like to provide the best user experience possible and being able to deliver precise search results that answer specific questions is often what matters most.

SEO Tips and Tricks for Small Businesses

Search rankings are highly competitive, so understanding the best tips and tricks to start elevating your website in the search engines is crucial. Some of the best techniques to incorporate into your digital marketing strategy include:

On Page SEO

  • Page Titles: Incorporate your keyword into your page title. This allows search engines to make sure they’re delivering the right content to users.
  • Image Tags: Search engines rank your website not just on text, but on images too. Therefore, it’s important that you use your keyword in the ALT and TITLE tags to describe the images being used on your website
  • Header Tags: H1 and H2 tags are known as header tags and, again, help to lay out your content. H1 should always sum up what a specific page is about and H2 tags should act as subheadings for the separate sections of a page.

Off Page SEO

  • Link Building: The more links that point towards your website, the more authority this gives your website. And search engines like authority. So, the more authority your site has, the higher it’s going to rank in the SERP. But beware of bad links – only use reputable companies to link to your website.
  • Directory Submissions: By submitting your website to online directories, you’re creating backlinks. These signals are picked up on by search engines and improve your search engine ranking. But, only use reputable online directories – search engines do not like directories that are created purely as link building opportunities. Don’t try and cheat the system – search engines are getting very clever.
  • Social Media Marketing: Establishing a social media account for your business is vital as social media activity is fast becoming a ranking factor for the SERP. If people are clicking on a website link in a social media post which takes the user to content on your website then this indicates to search engines that you have something on your website worth viewing.

For most business owners, learning the ins and outs of SEO is simply not an option and they are far more likely to turn to third party experts to help attract potential customers to their site.
If you’d like information on how we can help you get started on this journey, don’t hesitate to get in touch.