Firstly, what is SEO? Simply it’s search engine optimisation, which is the process of optimising your website, so it ranks organically in search engines.
Nearly all small businesses have a website. Even if you have a shop front or office. You still need a small business website to support that. In this digital age, you really can’t afford to not have a digital presence in the way of a website. Especially at the moment with the way COVID-19 has changed how we do business.
5 ways SEO improves your small business
There are many ways SEO can improve your small business. And once your site has been set up correctly and SEO optimised. It keeps giving and giving and giving. It’s not an overnight success story though. It does take time and it is something you may have to change and tweak and keep working at to some degree as Google does not like a static site.
1. Improve your organic rankings
By increasing your organic traffic your website will be displayed further up in search engines when your ideal client/customer types in their search term.
You need to be displayed ideally on the first page of Google and other search engines, but Google is still the most used search engine. Google has 91.75% of the market share at the time of writing this article. That age old saying really speaks volume – “where’s the best place to hide a dead body? The second page of Google.”
When it comes to your website traffic, organic is generally the highest form of traffic you receive. If it’s not then you need to start reviewing your SEO strategy.
Do you know how to check where your traffic is coming from? If not, have a look at Google Analytics. It’s a free tool from Google and has some valuable information. Check out Google Search Console if you don’t have that either.
2. SEO stops the need for Google AdWords
By improving your organic rankings, you won’t need Google AdWords. Although Google AdWords, when set up correctly, will give you results straight away. As soon as you turn your ads off the traffic from those ads stops too and therefore the sales or new business stops too. It’s great if you’ve got the money to get quick results. But if you would rather put that money into SEO as I said it keeps on giving.
3. Provide a better user experience
By having an SEO optimised website, it makes you think about your user experience. This is something you should review regularly along with your digital strategy and marketing strategies. The longer someone is on your website consuming content or purchasing your products then the more Google likes your website.
Ideally, you want someone to be able to find what they want within 3 clicks or alternatively the quicker they find what they want the better.
With mobile-first indexing being so important ensure your site displays correctly on all device types too. If you don’t provide people with positive user experience in this regard then Google won’t be happy either.
4. Increase your local presence with SEO
This is ideal if you have a local shopfront or office. Not only will local SEO build your brand awareness, but it will direct potential new customers directly to your door. Win/win!
If you don’t have a Google My Business listing then set one up asap.
5. Backlinks build trust
Not only does your website need to be SEO optimised on-page, but you also need to have backlinks. For those of you that don’t know what a backlink is. It’s where another website uses a link from your website on theirs. Ultimately you want the other website to be of higher authority to yours. And avoid anything that looks dodgy as that can do more harm than good.
A great way to obtain a backlink is to collaborate with other businesses that have the same target market as you and write articles that you publish on each other’s blogs. The more content you have the more keyword opportunities you have to rank for. Don’t just set your sites on ranking for 5 or 10 keywords. Go after 1000s!
Does that win you over to why SEO is so important for your small business? It really is a must in this digital day and age!
Want to know more or discuss SEO for your business. Reach out now.
