SEO, WTF? A Beginner’s Guide to SEO for Small Business

Small local business owners work hard to keep their business running. Having your own business is tough – there’s a lot to think about and learning about digital marketing is probably the last thing you have time for, especially when it comes to technical subjects like SEO.

Even if you’ve been running a successful local business for years, you might have been reliant on methods like flyer drops or word of mouth. But what if you want to get more clients to your website? Well, SEO is the answer!

When it comes to scaling your business, SEO is key… but what is SEO?

What is SEO?

SEO is the secret to getting your website at the top of Google or other search engines. Websites at the top of Google are 10x more likely to be clicked on (according to this article by Backlinko) meaning your website will get more viewers and your local business will get more customers. But what is this magical SEO stuff?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. When a website gets added to the internet, search engines like Google use bots that read your site (sometimes referred to as “crawling” a website) to decide what your site is about. This allows the search engine to add your website to its index. Just like an index in a book, when someone is looking for a certain word or topic, Google knows that your site contains information on that subject and can direct people to your webpage to learn more.

Simply put, SEO is all about creating a website that search engines like Google can read and understand what type of business you have, allowing the search engine to match your website to the words your potential clients will search for.

What Are the Types of SEO?

There are three main types of SEO: Technical SEO, Off-Page SEO, and On-Page SEO.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO describes everything to do with how your site runs. In other words: how easy is it for users and search engine crawler bots to navigate and understand your website. If your website loads slowly, spams visitors with popups or is hard to navigate, customers won’t stay on your page for very long and will leave your website. Search engines can recognise this and will rank easy to navigate websites higher.

Another key aspect of technical SEO is mobile optimisation. Your website may work great on desktop, but most people search for content on their phones now. In fact, over 60% of Google searches are on mobile (according to this Google search statistics blog by SemRush). Not only will it damage your SEO, that’s also a huge number of customers you could be missing out on if your website doesn’t load properly on mobile.

Technical SEO can be difficult to understand for beginners and may require some knowledge of coding, which is why technical SEO is often better off left to experts. We can help you with our TeeGee SEO services.

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is everything you do outside of your website that helps build your business profile. This can be things such as reviews, social media mentions, and links to your website from others (called backlinks). Off-page SEO can be something you have little control over, as you can’t force customers to leave reviews or mention you on Instagram. That being said, you can use strategies like discounts or giveaways to encourage customers to leave reviews or tag you on social media, building your off-page SEO and customer perceptions.

Building backlinks can be harder, as you’d have to convince other companies to share your website on theirs. There are many websites out there that sell backlinks, however these should be avoided as Google can sometimes penalise websites for buying backlinks. Instead, work with other small local businesses to support each other and share your websites on each other’s sites. We’ll discuss off-page SEO optimisation strategies in depth in a future post.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO is everything you do on your website – it covers everything from the text you write to the images and videos you use. The great thing about on-page SEO is you have complete control over it. It’s your website and your content, meaning you’re in charge. Your success or failure with on-page SEO rests entirely on you and how well optimised your website content is. Whilst off-page SEO may take time to build and requires long-term strategy, on-page SEO can be working for you from day 1 of your business launch.

For the rest of this post, we’ll mainly be talking about on-page SEO because most businesses can get started with on-page SEO straight away. You could even start your SEO strategy today!

Why Does SEO Matter for Small Businesses?

SEO matters for all businesses regardless of their size, but it’s especially important for small businesses. It can be hard to attract clients to your business, as people will often look to big names, but most people do still shop local, especially for services.

Think about the last time you needed a service such as an electrician, a hair salon, or a window cleaner. Chances are you went straight to Google and searched what you were looking for, along with the area you are in.

What result did you click? Chances are you looked at the first one, maybe a few others to compare prices, but you probably didn’t look beyond the first page on Google.

Businesses on the first page of the search engine results page (SERP) are going to get more clicks, and the higher up a business appears on that first page, the more clicks it’s going to get. And more website clicks equal more clients.

Those businesses at the top of Google didn’t get there by accident – it was SEO!

With proper SEO optimisation, there’s no reason why your business couldn’t be at the top of Google too.

SEO Example:

Imagine you run a luxury nail salon in Preston. A potential customer is new to the area and she’s looking to get her nails done. The first thing she does is head to Google and searches for “nail salon Preston”. If you don’t have a website or at least a Google business profile and social media, you won’t appear on the search results because you have no web presence for the search engine to show potential customers. This is why you should have a website.

But what if you have a website? You should show up on the search results, right? Unfortunately, just having a website isn’t enough. If your website doesn’t contain the right information to match the search, you still won’t appear on the search results.

In this example, the search in question is for “nail salon Preston”.

To match this search, your website needs to mention that you are a nail salon and that you are in Preston. If your site doesn’t say that, then it won’t show up. These common searches that people look for regularly are called keywords. The more keywords you can mention, the better. Just because your website mentions keywords, that doesn’t mean you’ll be the first nail salon your potential clients see. In a busy area like Preston, there are several nail salons whose websites are also fighting for that top spot.

In your industry, the chances are there are other businesses in your area who offer the same services as your business too. These other businesses probably use the same keywords as you do and will likely have websites that are in competition with yours, and you all want to appear at the top of the search results.

So how does the search engine decide which website to show at the top of the SERP?

How To Optimise Small Business Websites for On-Page SEO?

Optimising your website for on-page SEO primarily depends on one thing: content! Content is the information on your website, and the main reason why people will visit your site. Content can be videos, pictures, and writing, with writing being one of the most important. The information written on your website is the best way to communicate your services to potential customers, but also to search engines. The more high-quality information your website contains, the more useful it will be to your customers and to your SEO.

So how do you create high quality content that your customers want to see?

Attract the Right Customers: Creating Content for Your Ideal Client

To create high quality content, first you need to know your ideal customer profile (ICP). Your ideal customer profile is the type of person you want to attract to your business. Chances are, when you started your business, you already had an ideal customer in mind without really thinking about it.

You don’t have to have an official document for your ICP, but it can be helpful when creating content and deciding who to target. Your ideal customer profile shouldn’t be too broad, and can be narrowed down by categories such as age, gender, area, income, marital status etc.

For example, the ICP of our luxury nail salon example from earlier might be, “Affluent women aged between 22 and 40 who enjoy luxury beauty products and are based in Preston.”

Once you have an idea of your ideal client, you can put yourself in their shoes. How do they talk? What do they like? What types of things would they search for on Google? Match the content on your website to your ICP and write about things that would interest the customers you want to attract.

It’s a bit like flirting with a stranger! When you want someone to like you, you talk to them about their interests. The same thing goes for your ideal client. If you want to attract customers into your business, you need to talk about the sort of things your ideal client wants to know about.

By knowing your ideal client, you can learn how they talk, what platforms they use, and what their interests are. This makes reaching your ideal client easier, not just in SEO optimisation, but also in advertising and social media marketing too.

This brings us into search intent.

Wait… What is Search Intent?

Search intent sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. Every time someone looks for something on a search engine, there’s a reason why. That reason is your search intent.

Almost all searches fall into 4 main categories.

The 4 main categories of search intent:

• Informational – Informational searches are made when a customer wants to find something out, normally for learning something or making an informed decision. Whilst not directly selling your service, informational searches help to get potential customers onto your website. Blog posts that answer common questions you get from clients are an excellent way to build traffic to your site from informational searches – after all, you’re the expert! An easy way to find informational content ideas is to search for your business on Google and then head to the “People also ask” section. This will give you a list of things other people searched for in relation to your business, and you can create content to answer their questions. A good example of an informational search could be something like “Do gel manicures damage nails?”
• Navigational – navigational searches are with the intention of finding a specific page of a website. For example, someone logging into social media might search for “Facebook login”. Someone who wants to get in touch with customer service or support might search “Facebook contact”.
• Commercial – Commercial searches are performed by people who are looking for a product or service, though they may not be ready to buy just yet. This could be something like “gel nails vs acrylic”. At this stage, a client for our luxury nail salon example is clearly interested in booking an appointment but may not be ready to make a decision just yet.
• Transactional – Transactional searches are the next step after commercial searches. Customers at this stage have made their decision and they’re now actively looking to buy. For our luxury nail salon example, a transactional search might be something like “book gel manicure Preston”. The emphasis is on the action – your customer is looking to book an appointment and is ready to pay. Cha-ching!

Understanding search intent helps you know what your potential customers are looking for and why. Once you know the “why?” for your customers, you can begin creating purpose-built content that matches their requests and create a list of keywords that should appear on each page.

SEO Example:

Using our luxury nail salon example once again, imagine you’re trying to create a bookings page that encourages people to book their appointment though an online calendar link or via phone call.

People looking for your bookings page are at the transactional search stage. They have made a decision and they are ready to buy. Therefore, your bookings page should make it easy for your customers to book quickly. All the content on the page should be focused on your service and your bookings process – there shouldn’t be any informational search terms such as “flattering nail colours”, unless it’s a link to another page such as a blog.

It might sound like a lot of hard work, but creating SEO optimised content is all about understanding your customer and knowing what they want to find out, then making sure every page on your website has the information a customer would expect to find there. There’s no use having a blog page about nail polish that talks all about your bookings process.

The Final Verdict…

A good, SEO optimised website can be one of the most powerful tools to drive potential customers to your business. As a small business, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd, but by thinking like the customers you want to attract, you can grow your business.

Top 5 tips for optimising on-page SEO:

• Focus on user experience – what’s good for your customers is good for your SEO! Make sure your website loads quickly, works well on mobile, and is easy to read and navigate with clear page titles and headings that tell your clients what they’re reading. If you struggle with the more technical side of SEO, focus on building good quality content on-page and hire a professional SEO service to handle the technical aspects.
• Think like your ideal customer – what do they search for? These are your keywords to target. If your ideal client for your nail salon from our example earlier is wealthy, affluent women, they won’t be searching for “cheap manicures” so don’t mention that on your page. Instead focus on words such as “luxury” or “exclusive” that would appeal to that type of woman. Put yourself in the mind of your ideal client and write a list of words they’d look for, then make sure these words appear on your website.
• Remember search intent – WHY is the client searching for something and what are they expecting to find? Make sure your page names match the intent of your customers. Don’t fill your “contact us” page with information about how your company started out – your users should find the information they expect quickly and easily.
• Less is more – there’s such a thing as too many keywords. Don’t try to put every keyword on every page. This is called “keyword stuffing” and it makes your site feel like spam, which hurts your SEO. Instead, focus on creating content that adds value to your website by answering common client questions or explaining your service. Think about the sort of things you’d want to know if you were a customer and write about it.
• Don’t be tempted by shady SEO – Bad “black-hat” SEO practices like buying backlinks are recognised by Google and may harm your website ranking. Other bad SEO practices include copying and pasting content off other sites, using clickbait headlines that aren’t related to the page content, or hiding links and keywords from users (e.g. matching the text colour and the background colour so people won’t be able to read what’s written, but Google will still be able to see the information when crawling your site).

If SEO still sounds tough, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Our TeeGee SEO experts in Leyland have been helping optimise SEO for small local businesses for years.

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