When it comes to Small Business SEO basics the old KISS (kept
it simple stupid) is the #1 rule. To get your website’s foundation properly
optimized you need to have the following:
• Keyword
Research
• Content
Implementation – “is this information valuable, would I want to read it?”
• Meta
Tags
• User-Friendly
Design: “would I want to use this
website?”
• Quality
Link Building: Quality over quantity
Keyword Phrase Research for:
Using analytics data, AdWords data, or any
other data sources you may have, identify which keywords to target based on
volume of potential searches vs. perceived likelihood of goal completion. What
I mean (especially for keyword phrases) is that you look at the keyword’s
intent.
Is it informational, transactional or
navigational? Are there dual meanings for the search EX: "Cars West Palm Beach" can be a search for someone seeking a new car, an old car, car prices, etc.
Content Implementation:
Use the keyword
phrases you found in your copywriting.
With key phrases in hand its time to tailor
your content to include those keywords sprinkled in. Ask yourself “would I read
this?” If the answer is no try again. Every page should have a single objective
so tailor your content accordingly. For example, this post is about small businesses SEO and five tactics to help get your site ranked.
Meta Implementation: (Titles & Descriptions)
Meta information is an important part of any
SEO strategy, use the same keywords you’re targeting on a page for your
metadata and make sure you follow all best practices.
User-Friendly Design:
Ask yourself “would I
want to use this website?”
Website design is the most subjective section
of SEO, the most important elements of web design are: Is the website easy to
use? Is the path to conversion clearly visible? Nail those two elements and
your website will already be well optimized. There are however some design
conventions that most of the web implements.
The four conventions being:
* Logo of the website is a home button and is
located top left.
* Phone Number and address on the top right
of the website.
* Horizontal navigation
Having all the above elements on your website
will ensure good user engagement and a higher chance of converting a visitor
into a customer.
Link building is still arguably the most
effective tactic to increasing organic search results; it’s also the most
dangerous since black hat link building tactics can irreversibly cripple your
websites rankings. Building natural links is a very difficult and often
unsuccessful task. The best advice I have for local businesses looking to link
build is to reach out to your community.
If you have the budget, sponsoring an event
like a 5k or blood drive can have big social sharing and link building
opportunities. Use the local outreach you planned on doing anyways to your
advantage. As a small business, you should stay away from reciprocal link
building, paying for links, links from completely irrelevant businesses, and
using “spammy" link directories.
Small business SEO is a complex ever changing field that
intimidates most small business owners. However, just by using the 5 building
blocks above will get your small business moving in the right direction. There
are countless techniques and best practices that can be implemented to help
your SEO efforts, but with these 5 you can be rest assured that you have at
least covered your foundation.
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