Search engine optimization (SEO) remains a top concern for many large and small businesses, but many smaller companies don't have the resources or time to gain a solid understanding of how it all works. The result is that many small businesses are lacking the most basic SEO skills, which can turn search engine optimisation into a confusing and dreaded subject.
Whilst SEO is complex and often requires expert guidance, the basic techniques are easy to learn and can be applied to a website quickly. With this brief guide, I've covered five simple (and, shockingly, even somewhat fun) content-based techniques to help smaller companies improve their website rankings.
SEO for Small Businesses
Google places a major emphasis on high-quality content across websites and it's important to adhere to these expectations. The search giant can be considered the driving force of the online universe, so this does mean you have to put the effort in and craft good copy.
In the not-too-distant past, many companies attempted to manipulate their way up search rankings with dodgy tactics (known as “black hat” SEO). Google put a stop to this with two algorithms (Panda and Penguin), which ushered in an era of “white hat” SEO that emphasized natural, high-quality content and SEO techniques.
The good news is it really isn't difficult to get to grips with the most basic SEO principles. For beginners, the main problem is understanding where to start. The answer to this is straightforward.
1. Keyword Research
Keywords essentially should sum up your business or a particular product or service you have on a landing page. Consumers search Google with keywords to find things, which means you want to be properly optimised to appear in front of your relevant audience when they're in a purchasing mood.
This makes keyword research incredibly important, but it can be daunting for beginners as there are many considerations available. Where do you even start?
The best way is to consider how customers might use keywords to search your industry. Brainstorm ideas and come up with around a dozen likely words or terms. You can then research which ones receive the most online searches with a free tool such as Google Keyword Planner (you'll need an AdWords account for this, which is also free). Enter your keywords and the tool will provide you with the average monthly searches for your selection. It will also provide a list of alternative keywords that may be more effective.
2. Website Content Updates
You'll also need to write properly to complement your new research skills. When Google's algorithms crawl your website, they're able to determine its relevancy; keywords help influence this and where you'll stand in search ranking results. In the past, this led to companies “keyword stuffing” their content, which these days could land you with a Google penalty.
For the best result, you need well-written articles. From my perspective, it's fantastic to see the craft of writing remain so important in our technological era. From a business perspective, it's an opportunity to harness strong copy to gain higher search ranking positions.
Website content. The content on your website should be written naturally and for your target audience. If your content is peppered with misspellings and grammatical errors, this will harm your chances of ranking in top position. Consequently, even if a full rewrite of your website is required, don't be afraid to take on the challenge.
Your content should include bold headlines and headers to draw visitors to key points alongside the select use of your keywords. Online readers tend to skim over content anyway (as you're likely doing now), so it's important to highlight your unique selling points (USPs) and calls to action (CTAs).
Deep linking. Whilst you're creating new content, consider improving the navigation across your website by linking anchor text in your copy to relevant landing pages. These navigational improvements can build your domain authority and site quality.
Don't go over the top, however. Including half a dozen links would be considered excessive, so use your best judgement and link to particularly important pages.
3. Write Your Meta Tags
Despite the importance of meta tags (title tags and meta descriptions), they're often misunderstood or ignored by small business websites. Many sites I've seen simply don't have them filled out properly. Google fills in the gaps when this is the case, taking away from you what is an excellent opportunity for free advertising.
Well-structured meta tags can help your business scale Google's search rankings and attract the attention of customers. So, with your keyword research under your belt, you can adjust your title tags and meta descriptions with your keywords and a bit of compelling copy.
How do you add them? If you use WordPress, you (or your web team) can apply them easily by installing the Yoast SEO plugin.
Title tags. These appear at the top section of search result blurbs and are a CTA and USP all in one. The trouble is, you have no more than 60 characters (including spaces) to write a catchy, optimised title tag.
A good structure would be as follows: Buy Your Black Shoes Online For Free Delivery | Company Name
The best tactic is to write naturally whilst incorporating target keywords. For instance, the following is considered spammy: Buy Black Shoes | Black Shoes Online | Awesome Black Shoes
Google would consider this an attempt to manipulate search ranking results, which highlights the importance of writing naturally. This does mean you'll need a properly written title tag for every landing page, which can be time-consuming. The results will be well worth it, though.
Meta descriptions. These appear at the bottom of search blurbs and explain what each landing page is about. You need one for every landing page as they provide an important description of what you do, so it's another chance to highlight your USPs.
They need to be less than 160 characters (including spaces) and should contain a target keyword, but do keep them natural and compelling to stand out from your competitors.
4. Follow Google's Quality Guidelines
With the above in mind, it's extremely important to stress that there are SEO guidelines to follow.
If you pursue black hat tactics, you can be hit with a Google penalty, which would (simply put) be a disaster. This is a contentious issue for many business owners, but we all must remember Google is also a business and we have to adhere to its (largely) reasonable quality expectations to benefit. Be sure to read its “Steps to a Google-friendly site.”
In short, white hat SEO is what you must aspire to. This makes your website natural and high in quality. It's essentially about not doing anything which Google would consider to be spammy. To get your strategy right, keep the following in mind:
- Don't try to manipulate your way to the top of Google's search rankings (i.e., keyword stuffing your copy).
- Produce unique and engaging content as often as possible, even if this means hiring a copywriter or SEO content executive.
- Ensure your website is functioning properly on a technical level.
- Have a mobile-friendly website-Google actively favours websites which are responsive to a small screen.
- Create a blog and write for it as regularly as possible. This will keep your site fresh and it'll provide posts for your social accounts.
5. Monitor Your Progress
With all of this established, you'll no doubt want to track your progress. To keep up with your targeted keywords, you can turn to tools such as Moz to simplify what would otherwise be a bit of a nightmare (it's not unusual to have target keyword lists running into hundreds of results).
This can cost around $100 per month, but the myriad features the software provides are often highly useful. If you're committing to improving your SEO for the long run (which is highly advisable), a software tool such as Moz is essential. It allows you to effortlessly track your progress and it also provides all manner of insightful details on your monthly traffic and any crawl issues you have (such as missing meta tags).
Alternatively, to save money you can simply turn to typing your target keywords into Google and watching your progress firsthand.
Conclusion
These steps won't send you flying straight to the first ranking position, but they will help push you in the right direction. From there, you can consider your options on how to take your SEO strategy forward. Typically, this involves off-site SEO practices such as link building-this is a tricky area to get right, but a technique such as producing press releases is a good start.
For now, these basic on-site SEO techniques will allow your business to enjoy improvements in terms of on-site quality and improved search ranking reach. This can only bode well for your future.
The post SEO for Small Businesses: Your 5-Step Guide to Improving On-Site SEO appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post SEO for Small Businesses: Your 5-Step Guide to Improving On-Site SEO appeared first on AllBusiness.com.
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