When it comes to SEO, it's easy to become confused, but there's a lot you can accomplish without any specialist understanding.
I've developed a list of 9 SEO suggestions to assist small companies in improving their SEO efforts.
All of them are straightforward and free to execute; all that remains is to set aside the time to put them into action.
1-Blog
It's effective for us. It should not be done only for SEO purposes, since simply writing content to cram in keywords will not work in the long run.
Instead, write for your target demographic and audience and create a blog that keeps visitors coming back to your site. That is content marketing in a nutshell.
Some business types are simpler to write for than others, but there is always an angle to be discovered.
As a result of your blogging activity, search engines will be able to crawl relevant and often updated information over time.
2-Don't put your faith in agencies that claim guaranteed results
There are no quick fixes for ranking organically. A professional SEO business will assist you in ranking as high as your site can.
Agencies who promise such nonsense are likely to cause more harm than good in the long run, contributing to SEO's negative reputation.
Furthermore, you do not have to hire an agency to increase your SEO efforts. You can do your own SEO with help of some tools like our DIY SEO
3- Use Google’s Keyword Planner
This is useful for coming up with keyword suggestions and determining how competitive they are.
In this case, we utilized our own blog as the 'landing page,' but you could utilize rival URLs to find fresh topics to write about.
This is detailed in further detail here, but in general, the tool will extract many of the keyword ideas based on the content obtained via the URL you provide.
4- Keep an eyes on those keywords.
Keyword stuffing is easily detected by Google. It also has a negative impact on page quality and appears bad to visitors.
Consider one or two keywords and phrases to target and utilize them in a natural way. To prevent repetition, choose semantically relevant words and phrases.
5-Track your keywords
Tracking target keywords can help you determine how well your SEO efforts are doing.
What effect does it have on rankings if you make changes to your website or create new content?
There are several subscription solutions available for tracking huge amounts of keywords, but at the most basic level, you could manage them manually using a spreadsheet.
6-Utilize Hyperlinks
Another technique for search engines to evaluate relevancy is to check if your unique keywords or phrases are used to expand on the information wanted by a searcher. The best approach to accomplish this is to convert your term into a hyperlink. You have a few possibilities for where this link will take users to another portion of your website, or it may take them to another website where a certain subject is defined or expanded upon.
Without contradicting the preceding point, keep in mind that search rankings are fluid and can alter based on the searcher's location, device, search history, and so on.
Rather than focusing on moving every term up or down one or two positions, look for overall up and down patterns.
Search rankings are flexible and might change depending on the searcher's location, device, and other factors.
An excellent idea is to collaborate with other websites and have them connect to yours as well - this will increase your relevance in Google's eyes.
7-Optimize Google My Business
Any small business should make Google My Business a priority. It's free, simple to maintain, and has the potential to have a significant impact.
Claiming and validating your Google My Business listing is the first step toward optimizing it: Google Business may be found at https://www.google.com/business.
Fill up as many areas as possible and attach photographs and videos to improve your listing.
Your category selection is critical. Make sure you select the appropriate categories for your company.
Take the time to generate questions and answers if you want to be more expert with Google My Business.
What does this indicate?
There is now an area in local search results where users may ask questions and obtain answers.
As a small business owner, it is critical that you remain on top of these questions. Create your own questions and respond to them.
The following is how these questions appear in local results:
Mike Blumenthal wrote a great guide about these Q&As, which is worth the read: The Big Guide to Google Questions And Answers (Q & A).
8-Manage Local Business Listings & Citations
You must control the accuracy of your local business data in addition to Google My Business.
The importance of consistency cannot be overstated.
Data aggregators provide information on local companies, such as the name, address, and phone number (NAP).
Ensure that your company's NAP information is consistent and correct. Local business listings and citations can assist you to increase your local presence.
Signing up for a service that distributes your business's NAP information is the greatest way to local directories and citations.
We do use BrightLocal as they are inexpensive and they deliver outstanding work.
9-Find Out What Competitors Are Doing & Do It Better
Online competition may vary from competitors in your local area.
For SEO purposes, we are mainly interested in websites that appear in the top 5 to 10 Google search results for your desired keywords. These are the competitors you want to look into.
When doing a competitive analysis, employ the following tools to learn:
What those websites rank for.
How many pages have they indexed?
Their website's design.
Their backlink profile's quality.
Additionally, we know that page speed is a consideration in Google's ranking system.
As a result, run their landing pages with page speed tools. Look for areas where you are weak.
For instance, are their websites loading slowly? Are there any keywords that they have overlooked that you can target?
Conclusion
This is a condensed summary of what you can do to improve your rankings.
Even if the list appears overwhelming, the main thing is to take action. Set goals you know you can achieve and work your way down the list.
If you get stuck, there are plenty of internet tools to assist you to get back on track. We offer a variety of services that can help you such as DIY SEO tool or you can schedule a call with us to help you further.