5 Essential SEO Tactics for Small Business Owners
With seven billion unique local searches per month on Google, it is more essential than ever to make sure your small business is found online.
It’s no secret that SEO has only grown in popularity over the years, but what small business owners need to remember is that SEO has also changed over the years. The tactics you may have been using last year might now be irrelevant, needing to be replaced with new strategies altogether, or need to be completely revamped to include new considerations.
Google has kept the SEO industry on its toes, so a few times each year it is crucial to go back and take a look at what has changed in their algorithm and be able to determine which tactics are truly essential for long term success.
SEO tactics can range from very basic to very advanced and intricate, so sometimes it can be tough to weed through all of your options and figure out which are really vital. Luckily we have done this for you.
- Be sure to have focused, relevant content.
Always make sure that the text on your page is focused around a specific topic as opposed to multiple topics. For example: if your company has a service area that includes 10 nearby cities, it would be best to have a page dedicated to each of the 10 cities instead of trying to rank for all those cities on one page.The more “local” you can get with your content and pages, the better opportunity you have to rank.
- Local citations and the importance of NAP data consistency.
There are thousands of websites and directories that allow any business to create their free business citation, some of which include: Yelp, Yellow Pages, Google+, SuperPages, etc. The purpose of these listings is to increase your business’ chances of being found online. By submitting your business information to various citation sources and ensuring the accuracy of your Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) data, you are significantly improving the chance that you will rank well in local oriented searches.
- Google My Business profile created and categorized properly.
In today’s local SEO landscape, it is extremely important to make sure you have a Google My Business profile created. When creating this page, the more complete you can make your profile the better. You should upload several quality photos, fill out all of your information (description, hours of operation, etc.), and foster some good reviews (more on that point later).
However, if we’re talking about the most essential aspects, categorizing your business properly is definitely one of the most crucial. Google allows you to categorize your business into 2-5 categories so that they understand your business better. Doing so will help in aiding your website to show up in local oriented searches related to those particular categories.
- Managing and Encouraging Reviews
The voices of your customers are playing a larger role in where your business is seen and how it is perceived online. You can encourage reviews by doing several different things, but below lists a few of the most popular:
- Having an obvious “Review Us” button on your website and/or displaying some of your previous testimonials.
- Sending a follow-up email after a service with a link to where your customer can leave a review.
- Ask for reviews in person after a service or hand out a paper with directions on how to review your business online.
Of course with these reviews comes responsibility to react and respond to improve customer relations. Regardless if the feedback is negative or positive, you need to be proactive. The more you show that you are in-tune to what your customers want, the better you look in the eyes of both current and future customers.
- Acquire links from local organizations and associations.
Being able to acquire these links helps associate your website with the local area you are targeting. A few examples include the Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, and your Community Service Center.
By following these essential tactics, your small business will be set on the right path for long term success in the search engines.
