SEO Best Practices for Small-sized Businesses: A Complete Guide

As a small business, or start-up, conquering the search engine ranking against strong counterparts can be quite intimidating. However, by employing appropriate SEO strategies, you can bring your business to the limelight in no time.

This comprehensive guide will explain these basic SEO practices relevant to small-sized businesses and how you can apply them to improve your website ranking and online presence. Let's get started!

Focus on long-tail keywords

Why do long-tail keywords exist??

Small business owners find it a challenge to target generic and popular keywords since big companies tend to occupy the topmost ranks for the keywords. However, this is where long-tail keywords, or keywords that people are less likely to use due to being broader, can be beneficial in reaching the right audience more effectively.

Examples:

Do not use general keywords like 'solar panels.' Use something like ‘affordable solar panels for small businesses in Nigeria.?

How to identify long-tail keywords

• Google’s Keyword Planner: A keyword tool that provides additional keywords related to the given keyword.?

• Uber suggest: Enumerates a list of various suggested long-tail keywords.?

Pro tip: In most cases, it is more beneficial to aim at targeted keywords that are used by end users who are looking to buy since they will yield much higher click-through rates; for instance, a search that contains words like ‘how’, ‘to’, or the name of a certain product.

Understanding User Intent

User intent is the intention that a given user has employed while inputting a given search query. Are the visitors looking for information? Is it that they have come for a certain service, or are they here with the purpose of making a purchase? The questions of potential customers are obtained to understand the intent in creating content that provides a direct answer.

Types of User Intent

• Informational: The user is seeking information in a specific subject (“What are the benefits of solar energy?”).?
• Navigational: The user wants information on a particular website or page, that is, ‘PM Solar Services contact information.
• Transactional: The goal may include the acquisition of a product or service, as exemplified by the user’s request to buy solar panels for homes.?

How to Optimize for User Intent:

• Navigate your content using distinct heads and subheads to ensure that there is clarity when reading.?
• It is also important to make sure your call-to-actions (CTAs) align with the user intent (for example, if the user is using the site for information ‘More Info’ or if the user is in the buying mood ‘Buy Now’).

On-Page Optimization:

On-page SEO is the process of making changes to your website that enable search engines to more easily index and rank your web pages.?

Key things to note:

• Title tags and meta descriptions: Make sure your titles and descriptions are attractive and contain your primary keywords. Aim to have title tags that are less than 60 characters long and meta descriptions that are less than 160 characters long.?
• Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) Choose indicative and logically related headings to structure content and enhance its perception. Your H1 should be a prominent title, and H2, H3,... should contain subcategories.?
• URL structure: Make your URLs short, clear, and incorporate keywords into them (for example, yourdomain.com/affordable-solar-panels ).?
• Internal linking: Another technical implementation that makes the content more accessible to users and search engines is linking to other related pages within the site.?
• Content optimization: Contribute reliable and unique content that will be interesting and engaging for readers. Ensure success with keywords used in the content, but do not overuse them.

Invest In Technical SEO

Technical SEO refers to the factors that are technical in nature between your website and the consumer or the search engine. If your site is not properly functioning, the search engine might reduce the ranking of your site significantly.?

Simple Technical SEO tips to leverage on:

• Improve site speed: Make sure that your website is loading fast. Optimize images, use browser caching, and minimize the server response time. You can also use tools such as Google Page Speed Insight to check the speed of your site and how to make it better.?
• Mobile-friendliness: While performing a search, make sure your website has a mobile version since search engines rank such web pages first. Make use of the concept of responsive design to ensure that your site appears well on any type of device.?
• Secure your site with HTTPS: Implementing an SSL certificate on your site helps in enhancing the security for users of your website. Google loves sites with HTTPS, and it is very important for the security of the data.?
• XML Sitemap: To create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google through Google Search Console. This hastens the process through which search engines are able to index your pages.?
• Fix broken links: When conducting a website audit, use tools such as Screaming Frog to look for and correct any broken internal or external links.?

Leveraging On Back links:

External links pointing to your website are a key factor in the SEO process. Linking other sites to your own website is one of the greatest factors of SEO. They assist in making search engines identify your site as reliable and genuine.?

How to build backlinks:

• Guest Posting: Contribute to other industry blogs or participate in article exchanges that encourage the use of a link back to your own site.?
• Local Directories And Citations: Your business should be listed in local business directories like Google My Business or Yelp.
• Create Shareable Content: The likelihood that another website will link to a particular piece of content also increases when the content is of high quality and informative, for example, an infographic or a research report or case study.
• Collaborations: Obtain links from other small enterprises, industry specialists, or bloggers to get links from credible sources.

Pro tip: Pay attention to obtaining the backlinks of other websites with high ranking in your field of specialization. The product or service quality is more important than the quantity.

Conclusion

These SEO strategies are some of the ways that small-sized businesses can level the playing field with big brands and gain a better ranking on search engine results. It means that with the help of the long-tail keyword analysis, the intent understanding, the on-page content optimization, the improvement of technical SEO, and the backlinks’ creation, you can increase your website traffic, attract the right target audience, and develop your business.

Want to improve your business website ranking? Start with these SEO strategies and see the difference!