Running a small business in itself is a huge amount of work. Without high rankings on Google SERPs and regular traffic flow to one’s website, this work can seem futile.
In this blog, however, you’ll learn how even small businesses can rank high in Google’s search results for their desired keywords.
Let’s start with why you should be motivated to rank on Google.
Why Should Your Small Business Rank on Google?
Google is a massive search engine which receives over 92% of traffic from the entire internet. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, even referred to Google as a mountain. You can climb the mountain, but you certainly can’t do anything to move it.
Google is going nowhere, and it’s a gargantuan opportunity that could potentially sky-rocket your small business website’s traffic and sales, given that you do your SEO justice.
Now that you understand how essential it is to rank on Google for your small business’s success, let’s discuss how to nail down your small business website’s SEO.
Research your small business’s target keywords.
Your target keywords are essential because these are the keywords your potential customers and clients will be searching into Google. So, when they search for answers to their problems and questions, you want your business to show up among the first results they see.
You can find your target keywords manually by going to Google and looking up terms you would search if you were in your customer’s position. See what kind of content comes up. Then, scroll down to the bottom of the search results page to see a section called “people also search for:”, or “related searches”.
These related search terms are further keywords that your target customers may be using to find services and products like yours.
If you want to find your keywords more automatically and with their search volumes showing, you can use tools to find them like Google Ads’ Keyword Planner Tool.
Regular Web Content
Regularly uploading high-quality web content shows Google that your website is active, and gives you more opportunities to rank for your target keywords.
Once you have your keywords and search terms, you have a good idea regarding the kind of questions and pain-points your target customer has.
So, your goal with your content should be to solve those problems and answer those questions for your target customer.
Using this approach allows your small business to provide your target customer with value.
For example, if you own a business that sells plumbing equipment, it might be helpful for your target customer to learn how they can best use the equipment as first-timers to easily unclog their pipes.
Running with this idea, you can create a blog post entitled How to Unclog Your Very First Pipe, or some other title to that effect based on your customers’ searches.
Nail Your SEO
Nailing your SEO not only entails making sure the content you regularly upload is optimized for search engines, but it also means ensuring the technical aspects of your website are running smoothly.
Page Speed
Your web pages’ loading speeds are huge factors in determining how long your visitors will stay on your website. So, if your loading speeds are longer than even three seconds, your customer will likely leave, resulting in a high bounce rate for your website.
You can have your Page Speed checked using Google’s PageSpeed Insights Tool. If your website isn’t up to par, Google will give you recommendations on what changes to make.
It’s important to note that there’s a time-intensive learning curve required to make some changes to improve your speeds than with others, so it would be beneficial for your small business to invest in small business geared SEO services.
Web Design
Your website’s design will also determine how high your bounce rate is. If the UI and UX are not pleasing for your user to see, or they don’t deem the site trustworthy, they’ll leave faster than a Democrat who stumbled into a Republican Convention.
So, poor design can impact your small business website’s SEO and reduce your conversions. On the bright side, there are good web design and affordable SEO services for small businesses that are equipped to revamp your website entirely for greater sales and conversions in a very short period of time.
Navigation
Following up with design, your website needs to be easy for users to navigate. One feature that many users find useful is breadcrumbs for navigation, which allows site visitors to see the path they took from different web pages on your site to get to the current page they’re on.
So, if they want to go back to a page they saw earlier, they can easily click on it because it’s hyperlinked as a “bread crumb”.
Use Google My Business
Google My Business is a free tool that allows your business to show up on Google Maps and in local search results.
Here, you can claim your business and spruce up your small business’s Google My Business listing. Remember, the more fields and details you fill out, the better your chances of ranking higher will be.
When you’re writing any content for your website, Google My Business listing, and even social media, be sure to use your target keywords because they’re all interconnected.
The truth is that small business owners deserve good SEO marketing and spots on Google’s SERPs.
So, use the techniques we’ve listed here to improve the SEO for your small business website the best you can to get the basics out of the way and hire a professional with years in the game to take your small business all the way to the top.
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Joseph Dyson is a Senior Account Manager at Search Berg—an award-winning digital marketing company. He specializes in offering small business SEO services and backlinking services. Over the years, he has helped several businesses to skyrocket their rankings and conversions by implementing actionable SEO strategies. He regularly contributes to the Search Berg blog.
