Three Ways to Boost Your Small Business SEO

Most savvy small business owners would agree-simply waiting around for customers to come and find you is not a valid marketing strategy, online or off. So why do so many small businesses ignore having a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy for their website? According to a Clutch.co Small Business SEO survey, only 36% of small business owners have an SEO plan. Every year, however, more customers are using search engines as their primary tool for researching products and services to buy. Google statistics show there were 18 million searches a day in 2000. In 2018, there were over 5 billion Google searches per day!

The evidence is clear: a small business without an SEO strategy in 2019 is missing out on potential new customers. Here are three simple ways to boost your SEO strategy for your small business today.

Audit Your Keyword Strategy

Keeping your keyword strategy current and optimized is crucial to maximizing your website traffic and in turn, potential new sales and new revenue. Do you know which keywords are ranking for your business?

You may already have keywords in mind that you would like your website to rank for when people search. Making a list of these words and phrases, then entering them into a keyword research tool, is a great way to start discovering what words your customers might use and the monthly search volume of those words.

SEMrush is the industry standard for researching and developing keyword strategy. With the tool, you can enter your most desired keywords and explore similar phrases and how often people search for them. The data can help you find the best ‘value’-phrases that have good search volume but are less competitive than the most common search terms.

Optimize Your Google My Business Page

Many business owners or managers have claimed their Google My Business (GMB) page, allowing them to post business hours, information, and sometimes listings of products and services. What some people may not know is that your GMB listing has an increasingly strong impact on your ranking in Google search results. Take advantage of this “free” opportunity to improve your site rankings in search results by completing your GMB listing and managing it frequently:

• Enter complete data – fill out all Google fields
• Verify your location(s) – verified businesses are twice as likely to be considered reputable by users
• Keep your hours accurate – make sure to input holiday hours for customer convenience
• Manage and respond to reviews – Google loves active business owners and ranks them higher
• Add high quality photos – boosts customer trust in your business and prevents other user photos from being the images your potential customers see when searching for your business
• Make Your Site Mobile Friendly

Everyone knows that a mobile-friendly website is important, but do you know just how important? The facts are stunning:

• More than 70% of all web traffic now occurs on a mobile device (Quartz, 2018)
• 53% of mobile website visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than three seconds to load. For every one second delay in site load time, conversions fall by 12% (Google, 2018)
• 89% of people are likely to recommend a brand after a positive brand experience on mobile (Google, 2017)

Simply put, your site’s mobile search performance is one of the most crucial parts of successful SEO. Make your site mobile friendly by measuring and improving your page speed, making all elements of your site “mobile-responsive,” and place key information on your page where it can be easily found by your customers.

Contact the Small Business SEO Experts at InterActive Circle

Each of these three components are key elements of successful SEO services for small businesses that will drive new web traffic and connect you with new customers. At InterActive Circle, we customize and tailor the perfect package of SEO services to meet the needs of your business and provide the best possible return on investment.

To learn more about building a comprehensive SEO campaign for your small business with us, call us today at 612-238-1466, or use our contact form.