For small businesses, it can be hard to rank among established businesses on Google, bag that top spot in SERPs, and increase their customer base for conversions and growth. In comparison to such competitors, small businesses can also struggle with budget constraints for their marketing.
However, if you’re a small business owner, that doesn’t mean you can’t make it successful with SEO or need big budget marketing plans to rank on SERPs. A few tactics and a comprehensive SEO strategy can help you attract customers in the long run.
That’s one reason why almost 70% of small businesses today are investing in SEO to boost their online visibility, helping them reach their potential audiences. And as someone who leads a global digital marketing company that specializes in SEO for small businesses, I can attest to the potential of a well-planned SEO marketing strategy. Here are some steps local businesses and startups can take to achieve the desired results.
Create Content Tailored for the Right Audience
First things first, for their SEO strategy to work businesses need high-quality content. Generating a content marketing plan geared toward a specific audience can be the ideal strategy that may help your small business rank.
Remember, Google identifies thought leaders depending on the overall quality and credibility of the content. That’s why creating valuable content such as blogs is recommended if you want to enhance customer experience through SEO.
A HubSpot data also revealed that for small businesses, blogs can get as much as 126% more growth for leads. Consistent blogging with fresh content is sure to enhance your SEO and will retain customer engagement.
Provide a Seamless User Experience
Retention rate is crucial when it comes to SEO and its use in building your customer base. The higher your retention rates, the higher your customers’ dwell time, and thus the higher your chances of winning customers and generating conversions as a small business.
Try to make the design of your website as conversion-oriented as possible. If you really want to retain customers on your website then On-page SEO is something you should pay close attention to, especially site speed. In fact, 70% of customers said their purchase decisions were affected due to website load time.
As a part of your On-page SEO efforts, make sure that you optimize site speed with a clean code, minimize any unneeded redirects and use caching. This will help you enhance sales and help boost visits with a lower bounce rate.
Practice Good Link-building
Link-building is something we take seriously at Rank My Business and so should you. Backlinks are as important for lead generation as content and UX. So, you’ll want to ensure that your webpages are well linked (both internally and externally.) Backlinking is a powerful tactic that not only favors your website in terms of accessibility; but also helps you rank higher in SERPs.
Internal linking is what will help search engines like Google understand your website better. External linking, on the other hand, will provide your customers with references as well as build authority from high-domain websites, thus, boosting your ranking further in search results.
While backlinking, make sure you centralize the process from your customer’s point of view. For instance, instead of having them redirect from the page they’re on, have external links open in a new tab. Keep information relevant, credible, and easily accessible across websites. This will help you retain traffic on your website.
Optimize for Local Searches
Given the fact that after performing a local search online, around 72% of customers end up in a store present within five-miles, leaving out local SEO means losing a ton of customers.
If you’re a brick-and-mortar store or small business, focusing on local SERPs searched by your area-based target audience is crucial. Delivering a fantastic online experience for your customers will yield better footfalls for your physical store.
To be able to win local searches, start building your business listing and have all the details listed from generic contact information to data of the different locations you serve. If you offer services in several locations, it’s wise to have multiple pages for each and every area you serve. This will get your local business discovered for long-tail keywords with a “near me” location search term.
Invest in Service Pages
As a small business, there’s a possibility that you might offer multiple services or other niche services that your audience might be particularly interested in. In such cases, you can rank specific services by having a dedicated service page.
The good thing about having various services pages is that you can use multiple keywords and provide relevant information for each service your audience is interested in. This will also build a closer relationship with your audience, and eventually turn them into customers.
Final Thoughts
To be able to succeed in delivering a great customer experience, it is necessary for businesses to understand the intricacies of how SEO impacts different stages of the customer journey. And then tailor their strategy to meet their needs at different stages. Using any of the aforementioned strategies, in this regard, will help you take a step in the right direction.
Building up on the insights and customer data from different SEO campaigns will eventually give you the leg up you need to extend your small business and succeed in search results.
Article By,
Mr.Kunal Shah
Director, Rank My Business
