If you’re a small business owner, you probably know how important it is to be able to find and reach you online. Search engine optimization (SEO) for your website and digital assets – such as social media profiles – is the element that makes you grow online.
SEO for small businesses can be confusing if you’re not into digital marketing. But don’t worry. You can boost your business’s online presence and bring more customers into the store. Here’s everything you need to know about SEO as well as optimizing your online presence as a small business owner.
What is SEO?
Let’s take it from the beginning. In short, SEO is improving the traffic that is on your website. This optimization increases the total number of visitors, how often your company appears in a search with a given keyword and boosts the quality of the visits.
In general, SEO is an organic, non-paid strategy. The primary focus is a combination of keyword research, content strategy, and an understanding of how to make sure your business appears in local searches.
Behind every SEO plan is a keyword strategy. Knowing what words people use to search for your products and services can help you understand how to formulate your plan.
Solid content combined with a strong SEO strategy can help you rank higher in search results. As a small business owner, being on the first page of Google search results creates more traffic and conversions… And ideally, it also creates new customers. How you rank on the following pages gives a much smaller boost, as many searchers would rather do a new search than read on than the first page of the results.
SEO is an inbound marketing strategy, which means that people see results from your business when they are actively searching themselves. It differs from outbound marketing that finds its own audience, such as a TV commercial.
Why is SEO so important for a small business?
There are many reasons why search engine optimization is important for small businesses. And most importantly, it can help the right people find your business at the right time… namely when they are looking for it!
SEO is based on keywords and search terms that people type into search engines (like Google) or say to virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa. As a small business owner, your goal is to get on the first page of results for any given keyword. This will lead to:
More traffic to your website: More traffic for certain keywords tells the search algorithms that your content is valuable and important, and as a result, your website will rank higher in search results over time.
Opportunities: One of the best tips for small businesses is to use your website to generate leads. Even if you’re not selling anything online, you can use a form to collect email addresses and send info to visitors. Give a discount coupon to your physical store or send an email with content from your blog. Everyone who signs up becomes a direct marketing lead with a better connection to your business.
Conversions: It’s well documented that most people who search for something click on some of the first results they see. These clicks can lead to sales, people filling out a form or other conversions on those websites.
What is the difference between normal SEO and local SEO?
There are two types of small business SEO you need to be able to differentiate between: normal SEO and local SEO.
Normal SEO helps you rank higher in search results, regardless of the user’s location. It is a general strategy that helps attract website interactions based solely on keywords and topics. It’s suitable for small businesses that only work online and ship worldwide, or entrepreneurs who sell virtual services.
Local SEO for small businesses is a strategy that increases physical traffic in your business. This helps people in your area find you in searches. For example, people who search via their mobile phones often search for businesses close to them.
Local search terms include a keyword plus area-specific words such as:
- ‘Near me’
- A specific city, e.g. Cape Town
- An area, e.g. the capital area
A local search might look like this:
- Vet near me
- Veterinarian in Midrand
- Veterinarian, Greater Johannesburg
So, if you go for the keywords potential customers are searching for, you’ll have a better chance of appearing in search results. According to HubSpot 72% of consumers searching locally go to a store within 8 km of them, and 92% of these choose a store from the first page of search results.
How to set up Google My Business and Bing Places
The two primary sources of local SEO are Google My Business and Bing Places because they are connected to the two most used search engines.
Most small business owners can set up a page on these services themselves.
How to set up Google My Business
- Go to the Google My Business website and log in (or sign up) with your email address.
- Enter your business information, such as name, address, and contact information. You may also be asked to mark the address on a map.
- Enter a business category.
- Enter your website’s URL.
- Verify your business account and information. This will prove that you’re authorized to manage the account on behalf of your business.
- Once the business is verified, you can add more things to your Page, such as photos, hours of operation and special posts.
How to set up Bing Places
- Claim your business on Bing. Most sites are already in Bing’s database.
- Fill in the fields with services, opening hours and address.
- Verify your business with one of the available methods.
How to research which keywords to look for
Keyword research is the most valuable process when planning and developing an SEO strategy for a small business. Effective keyword research can help you understand what your visitors are searching for when they enter your website and what keywords they used to find you. Keyword research can also involve words or terms you shouldn’t use if you’re generating the wrong kind of traffic so you can help your visitors go to the right place.
Keyword research can be overwhelming at first, but there are tools that can help you. Google has a Keyword Planner Tool for users of Ads, where there is also keyword information about websites linked to their Search Console. There are also a number of paid tools on the market that can be great, depending on your business size, number of competitors, and budget.
How to optimize your on-page SEO.
Local SEO opportunities for small businesses happen on every single page of your website. On-page SEO includes keywords and their context on each individual page, as well as other search signals, such as meta tags and page layout.
Including relevant keywords and using natural language on every page of your website is essential if you want to improve your ranking in search results. Be sure to include the keywords in the content of these parts of each page:
- Title Tag: The primary description of the website should clearly tell users what the page is about by using the primary keyword. Structure your title tag so that it is written for the average South African – think of it as a short headline that contains a keyword.
- Meta Description: This secondary information comes just below the heading of search results. You have 155-160 characters to explain your content, so be sure to use the keyword again and encourage searchers to click on the link.
- All information: Descriptions of image and video content should also include keywords.
- URL: What is your page about? It should be stated in your URL. A descriptive URL confirms visitors that they’ve found the right content in the right place and that it’s relevant to their search.
- Body copy: Finally, keywords related to your page based on research should be written around the text in a natural way. If the headline says something about “vet prices”, this must also be written about in the text of the page, and the keyword itself must also appear. Use the keyword and other secondary keywords in the body of the text and in at least one heading or subheading in the context of the page.
Let’s compile it into an example for a veterinary clinic. The meta information for the ‘Prices’ page should go after the keyword ‘vet prices’ and look something like this:
Title Tag: Veterinary Prices: Prices in veterinary clinics in Cape Town
Meta Description: Our vet prices are among the best in your area. Routine check-ups, vaccinations, teeth cleaning, neutering of cats and dogs from R550.
All information: If you decide to use a picture of a dog on that page, your all information could be: “Vet awards for a barking dog with a wagging tail.”
URL: The URL should be short and to the point, and include your keyword. In this case, it would be your domain name plus a slash or hyphen followed by your keyword: Affordable Pet Care in Johannesburg | Pets are Us
Include NAP information
The last and perhaps most important element of a local search is NAP information. NAP stands for name, address and telephone number (phone number).
To maximize your NAP data, always call your business the same. ‘ Affordable Pet Care | Pets are Us‘ can be called ‘Affordable Pet Care – Pets are Us’ in your website’s footer, on Google My Business and on Bing Places. It’s fine as long as it’s the same everywhere. But do not switch between Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg, because it will look like three different companies for a search engine.
TIP FROM VISTAPRINT
Quick SEO tip: To get the most out of your NAP data, use a consistent name, address, and phone number everywhere.
The same goes for your phone number and physical address (use the address verified by Google everywhere). A common mistake is switching between the different phone numbers you may have – use the same everywhere.
Reviews are also an important part of your NAP data. You may have noticed that many small businesses display reviews in their search results. More reviews and better ratings can help you appear more frequently in local searches. Use NAP consistently and make it easy for fans and customers to find your business online and leave a review.
On Google, for example, the reviews are linked directly to Google My Business. You can also link them to your website.
All small businesses should use SEO to generate traffic, both physically and online. With a strong strategy, keyword research, and optimized content for the right type of customer, you can boost your ranking in search results over time.
