Search engine optimisation can be used to increase the visibility of a website to potential consumers and business partners. The site will show up in search engine results.
By strategically adding keywords and using other techniques, it’s possible to get to the top of the search results for particular phrases.
However, if you’re a small business owner, it can feel like it’s a practice that is out of reach in both time and budget. Being committed to applying SEO methods to something that is hard to measure continually is often impossible for resource-limited business owners.
But just because it seems like it will be a big overhead, doesn’t mean that it’s not worth doing. It can make a huge difference when it comes to brand exposure, business growth and profits.
Here are the benefits that you can realise for SEO as a small business:
Google gets an incredible 3.5 billion searches each day
By appearing in those search rankings, you gain exposure to new customers from all over the world looking at what you have to offer.
Target the first page
Over 80% of visitors will visit the sites that they see on the first page of results. If your business is in that mix; you’ll see far more visitors. Aim high for your business – being in the top three spots will result in the majority of the traffic hitting your website. Below is a screenshot of a competitive search term “cheap web design” which we rank for:
Teach yourself
You don’t have to pay others to do your SEO for you if you learn more about the adjustments that you can make to your website for better search results.
Here are our tips for SEO
Learn the basics
The websites that have SEO applied enjoy greater visibility, and that gives greater opportunity for popularity. It’s not that hard to do yourself, you just need to pick up on the basics, and then you can improve as you go. Start by checking out MOZ blog posts to learn more about SEO.
Keep posting
A major reason that sites have blog areas. It gives a chance to post new content for discovery by the search engines. The ‘sleeping’ website does not get any kudos from search engines, and your rankings will suffer for it.
The days of keyword stuffing are over
Don’t put keywords all over your website as it won’t look natural. Your site should look like it’s built for people and not machines. Otherwise, you could be penalised.
Social media helps
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest, they all contribute to how search engines see you and this is reflected in your results.
Be fussy
Ensure that the links you get back to your site from other sites are of quality. You don’t want low-quality as they will increase the risk for your site. Mix up the anchor texts you use too.
In summary, search engine optimisation is vital to the success of your website. If the search engines see you, they will bring you into the results, and you’ll get seen and visited by users. Search engine optimisation is worth making a part of your marketing activities of 2018.
