Published on 27/02/2019 by Any Business.Com.Au

SEO for Small Business Explained

Building and improving on your website ranking in search engines is an essential part of running an online business. It should also be considered an objective in your overall marketing strategy.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can help you design a website that meets the needs of your customers and improve the chances of them finding you online.

What is SEO?

SEO is a set of web best practice techniques that allows the information you publish on your website (web content) to be discovered and understood. It is then ranked against similar websites on search engines like Google, Bing etc.

SEO is about understanding how people use search engines so that your website is front and centre when they search for your product or service. It's also about understanding how search engines interact with your website and what they look for when ranking websites.

It's useful to remember that search engines apply rankings to web pages by matching the relevance of the web page to the search term used. By making your web content more relevant to your customer's needs compared to other websites, you'll have a better chance of appearing at the top.

When setting up your website, consider the following points to ensure your website has the best chance of ranking well.

Understand your online customers

Much like traditional marketing, improving your small business' search rankings starts with an understanding of your customer's behaviour. For example, consider how a person's search behaviour changes during the buying cycle:

  • Awareness: the customer is aware of a problem that needs fixing, and begins searching for potential solutions using broad search terms. For example, 'leaking tap'.
  • Consideration: the customer understands their problem and is now searching for solutions that best meet their needs. They will typically start using search keywords that include a location, product feature or product type. For example, 'plumber in Townsville'.
  • Purchase: the customer is ready to buy, and generally knows who they will buy from. They will often search directly for the service provider. For example, 'ABC Plumbing'.

Use keywords on your website

Keywords are the words or phrases a customer uses when they perform a search. For example, 'flowers online' and 'where do I buy flowers online' are both considered to be keywords.

Matching the keywords used on your website with the words used by customers when they search for you is an important part of SEO. Add popular keywords or phrases to your website. These words can be used in places such as page titles, in content or even as the name of the image file you're using.

Use keywords that are relevant to your business, services or location – anything that a customer would use in a search engine can be considered a keyword or phrase.

Tip: Be careful not to overuse keywords. This can have a negative impact on your SEO efforts. Make sure your content still reads naturally.

Refresh your page content often

Add new content to your website weekly and update content on your pages at least once every six months. This could be information about a new product or service you're selling, a customer story, new images or removing content that is no longer relevant.

Refreshing your content encourages search engines to visit your website more often. The more frequently they visit, the faster they're able to discover new content on your website. You may even see some rankings benefits!

Links from other websites

When applying a ranking to your web page, search engines look at which other websites provide links to your page and your website as a whole. To search engines, links from external websites are considered a vote of confidence in the accuracy, relevance and usefulness of your content.

However, not all links are considered equal. Links from highly reputable websites have more 'weight' applied than less reputable sites. Typically, the more links you gain from reputable websites, the better your website will rank.

Don't forget the meta description tag

Although not always displayed in search engine results, the meta description tag tells a search engine what your page is about. It's also a great opportunity to tell customers exactly what's on your page.

The description will help search engines rate how relevant your page is and help them decide how they'll rank your page. The more relevant your content is, the higher it will be ranked.

Remember, search engines can change how they use your content (including your descriptions) to generate search results. It's best to regularly check on search engine websites for guidance to see if you need to update your content.

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AnyBusiness.com.au

Curtis is a leading expert in the business-for-sale industry, serving as a senior content creator at anybusiness.com.au.

With a career spanning over fifteen years, Curtis has accumulated extensive knowledge in the domain of business sales, acquisitions, and valuations. His deep understanding of market dynamics and his ability to translate complex industry jargon into accessible insights make him a trusted resource for entrepreneurs and business owners looking to buy or sell businesses.

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