At its core, SEO refers to the process of incorporating keywords into the written content of your website/blog. This way, when your target customers search for these keywords on search engines, your website will have a higher likelihood of appearing at the top of the search results list.
How can you, as a small business, capitalize on search engine optimization to generate more traffic, leads, and sales for your website? How do you rank higher in search engine results? Use the following tips and enjoy the success you earn:
1. Strategize
Before you delve into web design, consider coming up with a dependable SEO strategy. Since your website design will have a significant impact on your search engine optimization, it is imperative that you work on the strategy you are going to adopt. This strategy should cover:
a) Website Structure
When you consider your site structure before the design work begins, you will have a higher likelihood of strategically planning out how you will be able to make more people visit your website.
With regards to site structure, therefore, consider the hierarchy, how to create shallow depth websites, and the menu navigation to use.
b) URL Structure
Although your URL structure will be tied to your overall website structure, you still need to pay particular attention to it. Base your URLs on each page and its main content. Additionally, consider using permalinks to create more search-friendly URLs.
c) Internal Linking
With an effective internal linking strategy, you will be better placed to distribute your link equity. This will eventually help you rank for the keywords you used, especially after you optimize the links with proper anchor text.
d) Outbound Links
The outbound links you create should be relevant and create value. Similarly, only link out to sources that have domain authority and high page authority.
2. Check out The Competition
While analyzing your SEO competition, always look for:
a) Keywords
What keywords do your competitors use? How often are they referencing particular keywords and phrases? Have they embedded their primary keywords in the heading tags?
b) Site Structure
What pages have they created? Which URLs are they using?
c) Meta Descriptions and Title Tags
Compile lists of their meta descriptions and title tags. Then, try to differentiate your own.
d) Backlinks
See the websites linking back to your competitors.
e) Content
Check whether their content is too SEO-friendly or meaningful and informative. Then, find out how they are trying to gain more customers using their main selling points.
You May Also Like: Incredible Influence of Backlinks in SEO
3. Focus on the User
Focusing on improving the experience users have on your website will enable your small business to outrank bigger, richer competitors. Using content, you can easily grow your customer base and enlarge your operations. However, you need to create the ideal user experience to accomplish this.
While starting out, create a checklist for your User Experience. This will give you a better idea of what you need to look for and the areas that need improvement.
Most small businesses forget that content needs to be read naturally. Instead of using excessive keywords for purposes of improving your rank, therefore, only include them in a relevant way that adds value to your target audience.
4. Include Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and a Privacy Statement
Including these elements in your website will help your website and pages gain more trust with search engines. This is because they serve many roles, including giving you authority in your niche.
5. Blog Consistent
Although you shouldn’t just create a blog solely for search engine optimization, it will offer you a couple of benefits in addition to providing relevant and interesting content to your target audience.
By creating a blog, you will be able to accomplish your marketing goals by:
- Building your brand as an authority in the industry
- Getting greater visibility on search engines
- Ensuring your content is always fresh – which search engines prefer
- Building more indexed web pages
- Providing you with new opportunities to acquire links and build inbound, internal, and outbound links
6. Outsource
Last but not least, find out about those services and strategies you cannot implement on your own or using your current employees. Then, outsource them to experts who are good at providing those services.
For instance, if you do not have the writing skills to create awesome, memorable, engaging, and clickable content, consider outsourcing to a professional search engine optimization company/individual. Although it might cost you in terms of fees, it will invariably improve the quality of your website – which will lead to higher returns on investment for your small business.
Overall, as you continue developing your SEO strategy, consider looking for other search engine optimization tips online. This segment of the internet keeps changing and you need fresh ideas regularly.
Andrew Scherer is a Digital Marketing Director at Marketer's Center, having 8 years of experience in digital marketing. He can share his real-world results and case studies in many different aspects of digital marketing including local SEO and local lead generation, PPC, organic SEO, reputation management/repair, e-mail marketing, and more.
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