Chances are if you run a small business, you’ve come across the term search engine optimisation or “SEO” as it’s more commonly known, while interacting with web designers and marketing agencies. It’s easy to think that folks who dabble in SEO must understand algorithms better than most, but that isn’t the case. Search engine optimisation is the art of making sure the people looking for what you sell are actually able to find your website using search queries.
You don’t have to have a deep understanding of technical SEO concepts to reap the benefits of it. What you do need are solid ideas about your users, the search terms they use when they need you, and how well your site content answers those search terms better than your competitor’s content. If you do all that well, you won’t have to worry as much about getting the fine details of the technical side right.
What SEO Actually Means For A Small Business
Consider how you search for things online. When your boiler breaks, you go online and search for nearby boiler repair services. When you need a solicitor for a house purchase, you search for conveyancing solicitors in your town. Your customers do exactly the same when they need what your business provides.
Three specific aspects of search engine optimisation include web page design, content creation, and marketing.
- Technical health – making sure your website loads quickly and works properly on mobile phones
- On-Page content – forming pages and blog articles that directly address the inquiries your intended clients are posing.
- Building trust – others linking to your site and reviews left by customers show Google that you are worthy of trust.
The content side of a small business is often where the biggest wins are found, and it is also the most controllable part of the business, since you do not need much technical assistance.
Keyword And Target Audience Research
You must know who your audience is before you write a single sentence of website copy. Do not make the mistake of marketing your website to general audience. Most small businesses make this mistake.
Begin by developing a simple picture of your ideal customer. What is your customer’s situation? What is your customer trying to solve? What words would your customer actually use to explain their problem? A homeowner looking for help with a leaking roof might search for emergency roof repair. A landlord with the same leak might search for something more like commercial property maintenance. Different language, same problem, different customer.
Once you get to know your audience, you can begin targeting specific keywords. Targeting the appropriate keywords is easy with software, free or otherwise.
- Google suggestions complete unfinished searches. All you have to do is type the start of a search and Google will suggest the rest.
- View related searches located at the bottom of a search results page.
- Ask your existing customers how they described their problem before they found you
- What are common questions you get through emails, on the phone, or in your enquiries?
You shouldn’t opt for the most popular keyword because you want to find out what phrases your real customers use, and then make content for those phrases.
Content Calendar Planning
When it comes to publishing content, quantity does not win over consistency. Your website will gain more from 12 helpful pages written each month over a year, rather than 10 blog posts in January written in a single month and left to gather dust the rest of the year.
A content calendar is a record of what you intend to publish when. A calendar doesn’t need to be hard to make or complex. There are many small businesses that are successful with a simple spreadsheet that has the topic, the main keyword related to the topic, who is assigned to write it, and the publish day.
When building your calendar, try to tie each piece of content back to a business goal rather than writing for the sake of it. Useful questions to ask yourself before adding something to the calendar:
- Does this answer a question our clients actually ask us?
- Could we use this to sell more of a service or product?
- Is there something here that helps the reader make a next step, like contacting you or booking an appointment?
- Can we sustain this tempo once things calm down in three months?
A steady cadence of one useful page per month, published every month without fail, will outperform an overly ambitious plan that fails after six weeks. Choose a pace you can keep up with.
Internal Linking
Internal linking is the practice of linking one webpage to another on the same site. It’s one of the most overlooked parts of SEO, even though it’s quick, inexpensive, and painless. All you really have to do is link one page to another!
There are two major considerations for internal linking. The first is for the benefit of search engines, which need to determine which pages are more important, understand relationships between pages, and locate specific page targets. The second and equally important reason is for the benefit of the users, who appreciate links to related page content. These users are also more likely to keep browsing the website, rather than leaving, improving the conversion rate and ultimately, the goal accomplishment ratio for the website.
Each time you publish new content, take a moment to link to it from older, related content. This simple practice can make a big difference in the long run.
Measuring What’s Working
You don’t need complicated dashboards to know your SEO and content efforts are working. Simple metrics, checked on a daily basis, will provide the insights you’re looking for.
- Growth – how have visitors to your site changed over time?
- Rankings – are your key pages moving up the search results for the terms you care about?
- Are enquiries and sales really influencing call, form fills or purchases?
Amongst the three metrics, sales and enquiries are the most important. While traffic and ranking are useful indicators, they only matter in the context of a sale. Analyse your figures monthly and exercise patience; the nature of SEO is gradual improvement.