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Getting your website to rank well is one of the most important things you can do if you’re looking to grow your business online. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons why SEO has become such an integral part of any marketing strategy these days. But what exactly does SEO mean and how do you get started with it? Since this is such a big topic, we’ve compiled this handy check list that covers everything from keyword research to keyword optimization so you can learn everything there is to know about getting started with small business SEO.
Optimize your website for local search
Local search is important for small businesses. If your business is local, you need to be found by the people who are looking for you.
- Optimize your website for local search. This means adding things like address information, phone numbers and hours of operation on every page of your site.
- Include a map (even if it’s embedded) so that users can see exactly where your business is located; this makes it easier for them to find it when they’re searching online or using an app like Google Maps.
- Add structured data markup to provide additional detail about what kinds of products or services are offered at each location–for example: “This restaurant has lunch specials Monday through Friday.”
Update old content
You should update old content.
This is a no-brainer, but it’s important to remember that your content should be fresh and relevant. Updating your website’s content regularly will help keep visitors coming back for more, which in turn improves SEO rankings as well.
In addition to updating old posts with new information, you should also consider creating new pieces of engaging content (like blog posts) that answer questions people ask about your business or industry–and then share those answers across social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Create hyperlinks between your pages
The importance of hyperlinks cannot be overstated. Hyperlinks are the primary way users navigate your website, and they’re also an important ranking factor for search engines. Internal links (links that point to pages on your own site) can help boost your rankings by creating a large number of relevant backlinks, while external links (the kind that point to other sites) can improve usability and credibility by linking out to authoritative sources.
So how do you create these valuable links? The simplest way is just by adding them as text throughout your site–but if you want more control over where they go, it’s worth investing in a content management system like WordPress or Drupal so that all those extra words don’t take up too much space!
Create a video sitemap
Video sitemaps are a little different than standard sitemaps. A video sitemap is used to help search engines crawl and index your videos in order to improve their rankings on SERPs.
You don’t need to create a video sitemap if you already have one set up, but it can be beneficial if you want to get more traffic from Google and other search engines.
Know what people want to find and give it to them
The best way to get people to come to your site and stay is by giving them what they want. If you know the needs of your target audience, then you can create content that meets those needs and provide value for them.
If someone searches for “how do I start a business,” they probably have no idea where or how to start their own business. You need to provide them with a guide on how exactly they can do it–the steps involved in starting a business from scratch, links out there that may be helpful along the way (such as government websites), etc..
Use keywords throughout your site and in titles
To improve rankings, use keywords throughout your site and in titles.
Use keywords in the title of your page. The title should be clear and concise, but also include relevant keywords that describe what the page is about. For example, if you’re writing an article about SEO best practices for small businesses, then use “SEO” as one of your main keywords within this title. You can also include other relevant terms such as “small business,” “rankings,” or even “checklist.” This will help Google understand what type of content this page contains so that it knows how relevant it is for users who search those terms (and more importantly–what kind of results they want).
Many small business owners decide to hire a professional SEO agency from Sydney, because that way they get the desired results faster. With so many rules and different options, sometimes SEO is best left to more experienced people.
Use keywords naturally throughout your content when appropriate; don’t go overboard though! If there’s no reason why someone would say something like “My business has been ranking well recently thanks to these 8 tips…” then don’t put those words on there just because they’re related somehow. Think about whether or not anyone would actually say something like this out loud instead before deciding which words/phrases belong where on each page within their website structure so that visitors understand what information they’ll find when visiting any given section without wasting precious time.
Enrich your meta data with rich snippets and schema markup
Rich snippets and schema markup are two ways you can improve the quality of your site’s meta data. Rich snippets are snippets of content that appear in search results, while schema markup is a set of tags that helps search engines understand the content on your website. For example, if you have an ecommerce website selling recipes and want to show more information about each recipe, you could use rich snippets or schema markup to enable this functionality.
Make sure that your website is responsive
Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash
What does ‘responsive’ mean?
A website that is “mobile friendly” or “responsive” will adjust the size of content based on the device you are using to view it. For example, if you’re viewing a desktop computer, a responsive design will show larger images and text than if you were viewing on an iPhone 6 in portrait mode (which has a smaller screen).
Why is this important?
Google penalizes websites that aren’t mobile friendly because they want users to have an optimal experience when searching for businesses online. If someone searches for your business but can’t find it because their phone only shows part of the page due to poor design decisions by yourself or another developer who worked with you before, then Google considers this as bad user experience and may not rank them highly in its search results pages (SERPs).
We hope that this article has helped you to understand how small businesses can improve their rankings on Google Search. The above 8 items are just some of the many ways you can use SEO to drive more traffic, leads and sales through your website.
