Are you feeling overwhelmed by SEO?
Don’t worry, you’re not alone. This guide is for people like you who find SEO confusing and don’t have much time to learn it.
Let me tell you about my father and brother, who run a small financial investment business.
They’re great at what they do, but when it comes to marketing online, they’re beginners.
They’re busy with their work and don’t have the time to learn SEO.
And even if they did, they’d face the same challenges as many other small businesses.
They lack technical skills and don’t have a big budget to hire experts. Does this sound familiar to you?
So, here in this article, I will focus on simple, affordable, and quick ways to improve SEO if you have a local business online.
I’ll also discuss outsourcing some tasks so you can focus on running your business.
But before I discuss it in detail, I’m assuming you already have a website and some basic tools like Google Analytics set up.
So, let’s get started!
Content Outline
Tips for Small Businesses to Improve their SEO
1. Create a logical website structure
You should set up your website so that everything is neatly linked together, making it easy for both people and Google to understand.
Think of your homepage as the main entrance. From there, you should be able to go to all the other main parts of your site, like the “About” page, the “Services” page, and so on.
When you talk about your services, each specific service should have its page that you can get to from the services summary page.
This might sound easy, but many small businesses’ websites can get messy over time as they add more pages.
The problem is that they lose track of making sure everything is connected properly.
To fix this, pretend you’re seeing your website for the first time. Start on the homepage and check if you can easily find and get to all the important sections without confusion.
Websites can become complicated over time as new pages are added, but with a bit of effort, you can clean them up and ensure everything is organized and easy to find.
For instance, my brother’s site has a logical structure, as I suggested him to do so –
The VSN Financial Services website is easy to use because it has a clear menu on its homepage. This menu helps people find what they need, like services, products, help, and how to contact the company.
Every important page can be reached with a simple click, making the website friendly for users and search engines.
2. Keep your site free of Broken Pages and Links
Having broken pages and links on your website is bad for both visitors and SEO. It can make it seem like the website isn’t cared for or updated.
Google suggests that while having some “Not Found” errors is normal, you should fix these issues for important pages, especially if they are linked from other sites, were part of your old sitemap, have misspellings in the URL, or were popular pages that are now gone.
Fixing these errors helps Google and visitors find and access your important information more easily.
Here are some tools I use to find Broken Links on my Websites:
Ahrefs’ Broken Link Checker: Ahrefs has a tool that helps you find broken links by using a big database that gets updated very often. I normally use this tool to find the broken links.
Dead Link Checker: It checks your site for dead links, which can be done all at once or in smaller sections.
W3C Link Checker: This tool looks through your website to find issues with links and other problems.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider: It scans websites for broken links (up to 500 URLs for free).
Google Search Console: Although it is not a direct broken link checker, I use it to find 404 errors that Google spots on your site.
Make sure you make use of any of these tools to find the broken links and fix them.
3. Provide an eye-catching meta title and description for every page
Every page on your website should have a unique meta title and description because these are what people see in Google search results.
Sometimes, Google changes these titles and descriptions, but it’s still important for each page to have them.
They should:
- Not too long, or else Google will cut them off.
- Make people want to visit your site.
- Include the main keyword for which you want the page to be found (this is helpful but not always necessary).
- You can use a specific tool to check your website’s meta titles and descriptions. Just paste the page’s URL into the tool, and it will show you the meta title and description.
If you find any issues like:
Missing titles or descriptions: You should add them.
Titles or descriptions that are too long: The tool will show this in red, and you’ll need to make them shorter.
Boring or uninteresting: Think about whether you’d click on your page if you saw its title and description in search results. If not, try to make them more interesting.
Not including your main keyword: This is especially important for main pages like the homepage, product or service pages, and blog posts. Keywords should fit in naturally and not be forced.
For example, the homepage for “https://vsnfinancialservices.com/” has a meta title and description, but the description is too long. Also, it might not catch your interest because it contains too many keywords.
4. Invest in a quality content writer :
Your website needs good writing on every page because Google uses this content to determine whether your website is a relevant answer to people’s searches.
You don’t need to write very long pieces for every page, but here are some simple guidelines for making your website’s content better for SEO:
- Put some text on every page: Aim for at least 100-200 words, depending on the page’s topic.
- Use one main heading (H1): Each page should have a big title at the top (like the title of a book chapter) that explains what the page is about. The title is often the same as the page’s title in the search results, but it doesn’t have to be.
- Use subheadings (H2 to H6): These are like smaller headings under the main one, helping organize the page into sections. They make it easier to read and help Google understand your page better.
- Don’t cram in keywords: Know what words people might use to find your page, but use them naturally. Please don’t overdo it or put them in awkwardly.
- Check your spelling and grammar: Mistakes can make your site look less professional.
Extra tip: Engaging and well-written text is crucial not just for SEO but also for attracting new customers. If writing isn’t your strong suit, consider hiring a professional writer to help out.
The homepage is especially important for small businesses. It’s often the first thing people see, so make sure it’s well-written and informative.
5. List your business in relevant places on the web to get citations
Google looks at many things to decide where your website ranks in search results, not just what’s on your site. One important factor is citations.
Citations are when your business is mentioned online, usually showing your business name, address, and phone number. This is often called NAP for short.
For example, if a website like Yell.com lists your business with your contact details, that’s a citation.
Citations are important for a few reasons:
- They help your business rank higher in local search results on Google. This includes both the list of local businesses Google shows for some searches (known as the “snack pack”) and the regular search results.
- Google isn’t the only way people look for businesses. Some might use other websites, like checkatrade.com, to find services like plumbers in their area.
So, how do you get started with getting citations?
A very important place to list your business is Google My Business. This is because:
- It helps your business show up in Google’s local search results and on maps, which can be at the very top of the search results page. This is called the “map pack,” and it’s often seen before the regular search results.
- It’s a free profile for your business that appears when people search for you on Google or Google Maps.
- Creating a Google My Business listing is a key step in helping people find your business online.
Here are more ways to help your local business do better on Google:
Make your website faster:
If your website takes longer than 3 seconds to load on a phone, many people will give up and leave. Your site can be slow for lots of reasons, like too many add-ons or complicated code.
You can check your website’s speed with tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrix. If your site is slow, you might need someone’s help to make it faster. This can involve removing unnecessary add-ons or cleaning up the code.
Use schema markup:
Schema markup is a code that helps Google understand your website better and can make your search results look better. For example, if you search for a recipe, you might see stars, cooking time, and ingredients right in the search results.
This is because of schema markup. If you have a shop or offer services, you should look into adding specific types of schema markup to your site.
Since adding schema can be tricky, it’s a good idea to hire someone who knows how to do it. You can give them a list of information to include.
These steps can make your website better for visitors and help it rank higher on Google, which can bring in more business.
Quick Links
- Pruning Your Website for SEO
- SEO Tips to Improve Organic Search Results
- SEOprofiler vs SEMrush
- Best CRM For Startups & Small Businesses
- Best WordPress CRM For Small Business
Conclusion
Thus, I can conclude by saying that SEO isn’t too hard; follow the tips mentioned above, and do not STRESS! For small businesses, just doing the basic SEO stuff well can help you be better than your competitors.
I hope my tips help you. Please share your experience in the comments section below.
