For any business with a website - even a micro business - a holistic marketing strategy should include Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). And it's likely your business already does some SEO, even if you haven't labelled it as such!
Please don't let preconceptions stop you from getting started; SEO is not black magic and doesn't require loads of technical expertise. SEO is simply taking action to help your website rank higher on a search engine results page (SERP).
SEO gets you more, for less
- Do you want new clients?
- Do you want to sell more products?
- Do you have a limited budget and are tired of spending £££ on Google, Facebook and LinkedIn ads without seeing a return on your investment?
If the answer to the above questions is 'yes', then the answer is SEO. With our tips and tricks you can make your site appear higher up the list of organic search results, so you won't need to spend as much on paid online advertising. New customers can find you easily, boosting sales and profit.
As a small business, you can effectively optimise your site in-house for far less than you would spend outsourcing it to a SEO company. If you have a big marketing budget, then by all means invest in expert help, but if you haven't, we are 100% sure that you can improve your site's SEO yourself. Read on to find out how...
The 3 categories of SEO actions:
On-page SEO: Things you can control on your site.
For example: fresh content, page descriptions, title tags, URL structure, internal links, readability, keyword density...
Off-page SEO: Things you can't control on your site.
These tactics rely on other websites, and include listings in relevant directories, guest blogging, mentions on other sites...
Technical SEO: Less of a marketing activity and more closely linked to the work of web designers and developers.
Aspects include quick page load times, structured data, mobile functionality...
On the rebuildingsociety.com blog, we recently discussed online promotion for small businesses. Have a read of that post to learn how to use Google Business Profiles, online directories and social media to raise your business' online profile. Online promotion is just one aspect of SEO; it falls under 'off-page SEO'.
On-page SEO: Specific actions you can take
1. Good, fresh content
Update your website regularly. Ensure all of your website content is unique and write it with the goal of pulling people into the buying process.
Use a plugin like Yoast to help you improve readability; short sentences, lists and an active voice will help.
Create content that people will want to read and share.
2. Keywords
Use a wide range of keywords/search terms (long, short, specific, general etc) and optimise each of your main content pages and your key product pages for a different search term. Also include them in your URLs.
Use Google’s Search Console to select keywords with a high click-through rate. Long-tail keywords chosen to attract visitors late in the buying cycle are your best bet.
3. Title tags
These appear in Google search results as the blue bold headlines. They also appear in a browser's page tab. Keep title tags within the recommended character limits so they are not cut off when they appear on SERPs.
Include keywords, and make unique titles for each page of your website.
4. Meta descriptions
These also show up in Google search results as the content under the headline. Make them catchy with an active voice, and ensure you've included keywords and a call to action.
Keep descriptions short so they are not truncated; mobiles only display 120 characters of a description.
5. Headers
Use a hierarchy of H1-H6; it makes it easier to skim read! (Obviously you're not skim-reading this useful post, but if you are, you've probably skipped to the bits that interest you most...)
6. Include internal and external links
Link to your key products on your own website, and link to other websites that are reputable and popular.
7. Images
For free stock photos, we trust Pixabay, Unsplash and Canva. Use these sites to find great photos to liven up your site (and also any other marketing materials you create).
Add alt tags to your images, ensure they are compressed, and name them something relevant (i.e. not img003.jpg).
8. Videos
There are so many stats out there about how video is taking over the internet that we couldn't pick just one! But really, today everyone is pressed for time and a nicely subtitled video makes it quick and easy to digest information.
9. Target featured snippets
On a Google search results page, featured snippets appear above other organic results, so if you can change something on your website to improve your chances of appearing in a featured snippet, then you should definitely do it. Want to learn more about featured snippets? Read what Google says about them.
It would take a whole blog post to explain the tactics behind featured snippets, so here is such a post if you're interested. In a nutshell, the trick is to think of an internet user's search intent and what queries they might have, and then answer their question in a short user-friendly way that is clearly formatted. For example, a table, bullet or 1-sentence reply.
Moving forward
Okay, so perhaps there is a wee bit of magic involved with SEO, but keep on your white hat and you'll be fine. You can do it!
Stay tuned for our next 2 instalments of SEO advice for small businesses: Off-page SEO and Technical SEO.
Google prioritises sites that are well-built, popular and which have content that it deems a good match to a user's search query. Focus on these key points when optimising your site.
At rebuildingsociety.com, we want small businesses to succeed. If we can help, whether that's with sales and marketing strategies or a P2P loan, please get in touch. We'd love to hear from you!
