As a small business owner, you’ve likely heard the term Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) mentioned, but you might not know if it’s appropriate for your business.
How does SEO work?
SEO is the art of tailoring your website to make it more likely that you are visible in organic search results (what is organic search?)
It’s almost like a tick box system – the more boxes your website ticks, the higher you rank in search results and the more likely you are to be seen by customers searching for the product or service you provide. It’s a really complex system and nobody knows exactly how decisions are made, but we do have a great idea of how to make websites more likely to rank (what is ranking?)
Key SEO Components
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to everything on the website pages that Google (or other search engines) look at to decide how relevant your website is to the search. This includes:
- Page Title
- Headings (shortened to H1, H2, H3, H4 etc in order of importance)
- Page copy (writing)
- Meta-Description (what is a meta description?)
- Image alt tags (like a title that tells Google what the image is; users won’t usually see this unless they use technology to read it, for example if they’re blind and use a screen reader. It’s meant as an accessibility feature).
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO is everything that happens off your website, that contributes to your SEO score. Things like links from other websites, being featured in articles, guest writing and social media posts from influencers. Getting a good backlink is the hardest thing about SEO, but it is really important. It shows Google that other people value your website, almost acting as a personal recommendation.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to any fixes to your website, such as minimising images to improve page loading speed or cutting down on random code to make everything run more smoothly. There are loads of technical things that can be improved to create a better user experience for your customers while appealing to Google too.
How hard is SEO for a small business?
SEO can be as easy or as hard as you make it. If you’re just starting out, you could think about your key services and what a customer might search for. Including these keywords in your page titles, headings, and copy goes a long way towards making your website SEO-friendly. Especially if your website is well-maintained already. (More about keyword research)
It’s always better to do something rather than nothing – you never know, it could put you on the map. And if it doesn’t work straight away (SEO is usually a long-term strategy) then it puts you in a good position for future work. Your competitors might not be doing anything (quite common in industries such as trades or hospitality) and so making some effort should give you a good edge in rankings!
Is SEO risky?
No, SEO is not risky in itself. Many of our customers have had negative experiences with SEO agencies, but that is a reflection of bad practices and unfulfilled promises. SEO is not an exact science and it’s not something you cheat – it needs to be done properly to work. Properly doesn’t mean a full strategy with loads of agency hours per month; it means done well, and with customer experience in mind. Anyone who promises you they can ‘get you to the top in 6 months’ is taking you for a ride and you should avoid them. SEO only works with consistent, high-quality improvements.
As an example, it’s totally fine to do a bit here and there yourself. Some keyword research; write a few new blogs; refresh services pages with SEO in mind. That’s great – it’s authentic, it gives your website more authority.
We wouldn’t advise trying to do it all at once and downgrading the quality of your website to do it. Creating 10 blogs is amazing. Creating 100 blogs with ChatGPT is absolutely not. Customers can tell the difference and so can Google – AI content is not helpful to you and it damages your SEO score, making it harder to gain rankings. Use AI sparingly, for things like content ideas, but write yourself. If writing is difficult or you don’t have time, a content agency is worth their weight in gold for SEO. Now is a great time to point out our content services!
How to start SEO
Starting out a new thing is always the hardest bit. If you’re new to SEO, this is a great few steps to get you started.
- Keyword research: look at your services and do some research into what your customers might search for to find you. Write down some key phrases.
- Incorporate keywords into your on-page SEO wherever you can while keeping the content natural sounding.
- Add meta-descriptions to your pages. Include keywords.
- Start using an SEO plugin (if you’re on WordPress) that will minimise your images and give you a page score for each page, so you know where to improve.
