SEO The Basics | Small Business SEO Tips

The business world as we know it is constantly changing. Just ten years ago, businesses would try to predict what their potential customers were interested in purchasing. Now, consumers have a deeper understanding of what product or service they are searching for. So how do small businesses stay ahead?

By utilizing search engine optimization, small businesses can reach their target audience before any other competitor. In this post, we will walk you through every step of understanding SEO: the basics to help your website optimally perform in an ever-growing online marketplace.

SEO The Basics: What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of making a website more accessible through organic search results, meaning the unpaid listing found at the top of search results that the search engine deemed most relevant to the user’s question. For example, if a user were to search for “coffee,” Starbucks would pop up first!

SEO The Basics: Why is SEO important?

SEO helps drive traffic to your site; it puts you at an advantage over the competition. Users are more likely to click on the website links that are toward the top of the page. It also establishes your website’s credibility. When users see a result closer to the top of the page they subconsciously acknowledge that the search engines are listing their best results first.

How Do I Start?

Assess, Implement, And Measure Page Speed

Page speed is important because who likes waiting for a page to load? Page speed measures how fast your page would load. Here are a few ways to improve your page speed:

• Compress pictures (under 1 Megabyte)

• File Formatting for Pictures

  • Graphics = PNG’s ; Photographs = JPEG’s

• Utilize “Lazy Loading”

  • Loads everything as you scroll so time to interact decreases significantly

• Put applications & pictures on our website towards the bottom

• Remove big pictures from Mobile

• Limit animations

• Enable “Sticky Headers”

Google page see insights states “A score of 90 or above is considered good. 50 to 90 is a score that needs improvement, and below 50 is considered poor.”

SEO The Basics: Domain Authority

Domain Authority is a measure of a website’s authority in regards to its back link profile. It's graded from 0-100, the higher the number, the better! Your domain authority score is important to see where the search engine would rank you in comparison to other websites. It improves your reputation and builds trust in the users.

• Create a spreadsheet of relevant websites to reach out to that have high domain authority

• Draft a letter to send to websites that comes across as personal

• Offer ways that your website can provide value:

  • Blog collaborations

  • Social media shout outs

  • References

  • Networking

SEO The Basics: Key Words

Keywords help your page stand out! They provide the user with the direct information they are looking for via search engines! Here’s how:

• Research some keywords that are relevant to your website

• Regularly update your keywords

• Use a Keyword Planner to find keywords with low competitiveness and moderate traffic

  • Google Keyword Planner (Account needs to be set up)

  • WordStream Free Keyword Tool

  • Keyword Surfer Chrome Extension

  • Ubersuggest (Paid)

• Use 1 topic per page and 1-3 keywords per page

• Keyword(s) should be variations of the topic

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