Digital marketing is not an area of expertise for every small business owner. There are so many other things to put energy into that sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle. This can keep a small business from really thriving, unless they know the right strategies to boost their presence and grab those customers with savvy marketing. SEO is one-way businesses work to optimize their digital marketing strategy and pull in the consumers they want to attract to their services.
Defining SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a necessity in today’s online world. Small businesses especially can thrive when they know the right process of designing content and putting together a website that uses SEO to make their business more visible online. It is getting increasingly difficult and competitive to reach people in the online marketplace, so good SEO and content strategies are needed to give that extra boost.
How it Works
Take Google as a prime example of using SEO. Search engines look at a site and help determine the topics the site discusses and looks at how user-friendly it is for people visiting the page. Search results are one of the key ways people find a business online when they search for keywords. Improving SEO helps a business get into the search engines close to the top of the rankings, rather than back two or three pages (which most consumers will never go that far to find). Other things to consider include:
- Better websites are more likely to get recommended
- Websites with optimization are likely to post to relevant search engine users searching for keywords, which drives traffic to the site and service offerings
- Simple changes can boost rankings on search engine results pages
Know Your SERP from SEO
Now that SEO is in the forefront of your mind, let’s look at SERP. SERP is an acronym for Search Engine Results Page. SERP rankings are where a site ranks on the search engines. When SEO is improved, the more likely it is the business will rank higher on the SERP for relevant keywords and phrases. Customers who search for products related to your business are more likely to find what they need when relevant topics show up higher on the search engine results.
Get the Best Results with SEO
Putting content out there online is not the same as building quality content with a digital marketing strategy. A strategy focused on optimizing and creating a profile helps customers find, and eventually, supports them in making a purchase of the services or products offered. These are some ways to think about getting the results you want with SEO:
- Mobile friendly site: it is very hard to compete in today’s online market without having a mobile friendly site. People use all devices to access content so don’t forget about this when building a strategy for digital content. A mobile responsive site improves the user experience but also contributes to SEO ranking.
- Do a keyword search: improving SEO starts with keywords. Customers and leads want to find your brand but they may not spend lots of time looking. There are certain keywords and phrases that help improve chances of being found on SERP, so don’t miss out on taking this chance to build that into a digital strategy.
- Produce good content: the last thing people will put up with online anymore is poorly designed content. If it does not scroll well, there are too many pop-ups, or it does not read well, they are likely to leave your site and head elsewhere. One of the best ways to improve SEO ranking is to produce quality content that is unique and offers something of value. The more quality content there is on the site, the more search engines will read and know your site and how to direct customers to it.
Social Media Matters
Social media activity can be important for small businesses who depend on it to thrive. Regularly sharing links to a website and blog content across social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn helps build potential leads and sends customers to the site where they see the content. In the social media realm, readers decide what is worth sharing and send it out to friends and family. This starts a process of getting the content shared, linked, and seen. When it is more visible, people are more likely to visit the site, but also regularly sharing links will increase the rank as it is an active site and consistently seen as engaging with people and followers.
Looking Ahead
The digital landscape is not going away, so small businesses need to optimize SEO and get on board with a good, solid strategy. Think beyond just the search engines and keywords when building a site. There are real life people searching for what that business offers. If the content is overly optimized for SEO but not tapping into the personal side of what customers want, they won’t resonate with it and may leave the site without buying anything. This is true of any customer. There is a delicate balance between optimization and behind-the-scenes work and tapping into that customer’s needs. Before you start looking to optimize SEO and boost SERP ranking, take inventory of the website and blog content on search engine pages. Once content is audited, then a plan can start being developed to improve optimization with the right company who can help build the best space for the business.