Ahh, SEO. You know you should be using SEO for your small business, but what even is that? For starters, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Or in other words: getting your products or posts at the top of Google.
For the majority of 2021 I’ve been working in SEO and it’s been really intriguing! I’ve been spending most of the year taking all the info in, but now that I feel confident in what I’ve learned, I’m ready to share it with you!
In my four part SEO series I will teach you:
- A basic introduction to SEO for Small Businesses
- Write Meta Titles and Descriptions
- Keyword Research for your Small Business
- Writing SEO Friendly Blog Posts (coming soon)
If you want to jump down to a specific section of the blog post, click one of the link in the table of contents below.
Table of Contents:
Okay, let’s get right into it!
Using SEO For Your Small Business
Working in SEO for the past year, I’ve come to realize the SEO is like a spider web. The more you learn, the more pieces you start to connect. There’s always places to learn and improve which makes it interesting but also overwhelming at times.
Before I got my full time job, I was working my small business 24/7. When I got a full time job, it obviously put a strain on my business. But it also made me realize how much time I was wasting on things that weren’t increasing revenue, or that I simply didn’t enjoy.
Once I started learning about SEO I realized that this is something many small businesses lack, and that’s where I could shine. I don’t have tons of time to promote, make videos for Youtube/Reels/Tiktok, but I do have time to update my titles and descriptions for my products in hope that Google will start ranking my products for me.
Where to Use SEO:
If you sell anything online, then SEO will be all over. You’ll definitely want to edit your Meta Titles and Descriptions, as well as fill out your on-page description of your product. Google will use the words you’ve put in those locations to get a better understanding of what the product is, and who it’s for. Having descriptions for your products is also helpful for your consumers, so don’t forget those!
I’ve also used some of my keyword research as hashtags on Instagram. I figured if so many people are searching for that term on Google, it’s possible that’s what they’d also use on Instagram!
SEO Terms:
- Keywords: what users are typing into Google
- Keyword Difficulty: how easy or hard a keyword would be to rank for
- Meta Titles: the title you see when you do a search on Google
- Meta Descriptions: the description you see when you do a search on Google (though, this can sometimes be changed by Google!)
- Domain Authority: how trustworthy or credible Google sees a site, out of 100
- SERPs: Search Engine Result Pages are what you see come up when you make a search on Google
SEO Tips for Small Businesses
Below are a few of my quick SEO tips for Small Businesses!
1. Have Small Image File Sizes
The longer your page takes to load, the quicker someone will bounce off your site. A high bounce rate (or short time spent on a page) tells Google that your page is not what the user was looking for. This will make Google start to rank your post lower and lower.
2. Name Your Files with Keywords
Instead of uploading files named “IMG035” or “Screenshot 2021-12-12 at 7:50am”, rename them to be descriptive of what the image is about. Something like “Yellow Sunflower Sticker” is much better!
3. Use Keywords in Anchored Text
Wait, hold up. What is anchored text?
Anchored Text is the clickable link, or hyperlink, within a sentence.
Instead of using anchored text “click here”, you want to use keywords. If you can’t find a keyword with search volume then make your anchored text descriptive so that the reader isn’t surprised by what they get when they click.
For example, at the top of this post I linked to other blog posts in this series. I could have just said “part 1” “part 2” and so on, but instead I used descriptions that let the reader know what the link was going to take them to.
4. Take it One Day at a Time
I know learning SEO can be super overwhelming. It can also feel like you’re never going to understand it. But I promise, one day it will all make sense and will come together! Until then, just keep working on what you do know and get good at that. I used to hate writing Meta Titles Descriptions, but now I feel more confident in what I’m doing and can generally get through them a lot quicker.
One thing to keep in mind, is that for the most part… the changes you make should all be positive changes. If you had no SEO knowledge or experience before, then you’re starting from zero.
Recommended SEO Tools:
- Keywords Everywhere: in a later post I’ll go over this tool in more details, but this would be my top recommendation. It’s the most affordable ($10/year) while providing TONS of value (keyword research, competitor analysis). The best part? It works on Google, YouTube, Etsy, Amazon, and more. So the keyword info isn’t limited to only Google!
- SEMrush: this is really pricey, so I wouldn’t recommend it for those with a small budget. But the information SEMrush provides is limitless. Keyword research, competitor analysis, keyword gaps, and wayyyy more.
- Google Analytics: free to use, and a must for your website!
- Google Search Console: similar to Google Analytics, but will need to be set up separately.
If you have any questions about small business SEO, or anything you want me to talk about more in-depth, please drop a comment or send me an email at: hello@jordynalisondesigns.com 🙂