Introduction
So, you’ve decided to start a small business. Congratulations! This is a great opportunity for you to try something new and make a name for yourself in the world. But just because it’s a small business doesn’t mean that it should be treated like one. In fact, when it comes down to it, there are many similarities between big corporations and little ones—they both need customers in order to survive. The difference between them is that small businesses usually have fewer resources available to them than larger companies do—and that means they need to work even harder at getting their company out there into the world so people will know about its existence. One way they can do this is by optimizing their site with SEO techniques (or Search Engine Optimization).
Do optimize your site for search engines.
The first step to SEO is understanding what it is. SEO stands for “search engine optimization,” and it’s the process of making your website as accessible as possible to search engines like Google and Bing. The more easily a user can find your site, the more likely they are to visit it and buy something from you–which is why optimizing your site is so important if you’re a small business owner who wants their business’s name out there in front of potential customers’ eyes.
When it comes down to actually doing the work of optimizing your site, there are plenty of things that can go wrong: misspellings in meta descriptions or titles; incorrect use of capitalization (or lack thereof); improper use of punctuation; not enough white space between paragraphs…the list goes on forever! But don’t worry–we’ve got some simple tips below that will help keep these mistakes from happening as often as possible when configuring each page individually within WordPress’ backend editor panel.”
Do use keywords in your title tags, meta descriptions and headings.
You should use keywords in your title tags, meta descriptions and headings.
The length of your title tags is important because Google only displays the first 70 characters of a page’s title tag in its search results. You want to make sure that you include all of your most important keywords here so that people can easily find what they’re looking for on your site.
The length of meta descriptions also matters because they’re shown under each webpage’s snippet when it appears in search results–and they don’t have any character limits! This gives you lots more room to tell users exactly what content is on a given page and why they should click through from there (or not). So try not just using one or two words but instead write out something detailed about what someone will find if they click through: “This article explains how small businesses can optimize their websites for search engines.”
Do add relevant keyword-rich text in the body of your site.
Add relevant keyword-rich text in the body of your site.
Use keywords in the first 100 words of the body, if possible.
Place them at the beginning of paragraphs, especially when they start a sentence (e.g., “We are proud to offer…”).
Include them in headers and subheaders as well (e.g., “Our Mission”).
Make sure that all your headings use keywords from other parts of your page, so readers can find what they’re looking for easily! For example: “How To Get A Job At Google” should also have a section called “3 Ways To Get Into Stanford University”, or something like this…
Do make sure each page on your site has a unique title tag and meta description.
The first thing people see when they search for something is the title tag and meta description. These elements are important because they’re what Google uses to determine which pages to show in its search results.
For example, if you were searching for “pizza recipes” and your website had two pages about pizza recipes–one with a good title tag and meta description, and another with a bad one–you’d want to make sure that Google showed visitors your high-quality page first!
Don’t stuff keywords into your text or you’ll end up with spammy copy.
You want to be able to use keywords in your content, but you also want to make sure that your copy doesn’t look spammy. That’s because Google will penalize pages with too many keywords stuffed into them, and it can result in lower rankings for those pages.
There are two ways this happens:
Keyword stuffing – using a keyword over and over again on one page or throughout multiple pages of your site
Keyword stuffing disguised as natural language – making it seem like the text was written by humans rather than bots
Don’t overlook usability.
You might think that SEO is all about making sure your website is easy to find, but it’s also important to make sure the content on your site is easy for users to navigate.
If a user has trouble finding what they’re looking for, or if they can’t understand what’s on the page because there are too many ads or links, then that user will likely leave and never come back.
Don’t forget local SEO when using location-based keywords for local businesses.
If you’re a local business, the search engines will want to know that you’re the best option for the people in your area. That’s why they’ll put more weight on keywords that are specific to your location–for example, if someone searches “best pizza near me,” Google will show local businesses first.
Local SEO is different from national SEO because it uses location-based keywords (like “best pizza near me”) instead of broad terms (like “pizza”). It’s also important for local businesses because Google uses its own algorithm called RankBrain to determine which sites should appear first in search results based on user intent and relevance between pages on those sites.
Don’t assume that one keyword is interchangeable with another when optimizing for search engines.
Keywords are not interchangeable. If you’re thinking about using a keyword as a synonym for another keyword, stop right there! These words have different meanings and will get you in trouble with search engines if you try to use them interchangeably.
Instead of trying to pull that off, consider expanding your keyword strategy by including synonyms (words that mean the same thing) in addition to choosing one main keyword per page or post. You can use these tools from Moz and WordStream–or even Google’s Keyword Planner–to help identity which keywords are best for your business:
A thorough SEO strategy can help small businesses get found online by customers who are looking for them
A thorough SEO strategy can help small businesses get found online by customers who are looking for them.
Smaller companies often have a hard time competing with larger companies, but a good SEO strategy will help them compete on an even playing field.
SEO is an investment that pays off in the long term; it’s important to remember that you don’t have to worry about going out of business if your website doesn’t rank right away!
Conclusion
In the end, SEO is all about making sure that customers find your business online. It’s not just about getting traffic and clicks; it’s also about building trust with potential customers so they know that they can trust you when making a purchase decision. This means spending time on your site layout and content so that people will want to stick around for longer than just one visit or clickthrough–and if they do come back again and again because they love what you offer, then congratulations! You’ve won over another loyal customer who will keep coming back for more great products or services.
