Five proven SEO actions to boost your small business website's ranking on Google
Ranking a busy small business owner on Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can seem like unnecessary extra work, especially if you don't know where to start, let alone know the best. HOW TO APPLY EXERCISE BUT DON'T LET THE TERMINOLOGY BROKEN - The concept of SEO is very simple and can be a powerful tool when it comes to getting free online traffic from organic search.
1. High-quality content is the key
2. Consider using long-tail keywords
3. Include next generation image formats
More than 80 percent of websites often ignore this approach, and it's probably the easiest step you can take to improve your site's performance, load time, and image search visits. It's easy to stick around and will help increase SEO traffic from your image searches with minimal effort. Most websites will include some type of image which is a useful way to provide more context about your business, team, or founders.
The key here is to focus on next-generation image formats, those that offer better quality with less file size. There are multiple types of next generation formats such as JPEG XR, JPEG 2000, and WebP, all of which are preferred by Google. The smaller size of these images has a direct impact on your website's performance while still offering high definition quality to your end users.
4. Make sure your website contains both internal and external links
You can think of a search engine as a spider that moves along the web, and the more links your pages have to other pages, the easier it will be for the spider to move around and find more nodes. If there are a lot of links to your page, the spider will end up there a lot. This is commonly referred to as backlinking.
If Google can see that your page has been referenced in many places, it will transfer some of the permissions of the linked pages to your own site or page. This is commonly referred to as "link juice".
As a small business, you may only have as many as 20 or 30 pages on your site, so it's easy enough to insert internal links on each page, thus making sure that the "spider" can reach all the pages. It is also important to make sure that you add internal links in the relevant parts using buttons, navigation menus, and in-text links.
The first step is to make sure there are no "orphan pages", these are pages that can only be accessed through a URL and are not linked from anywhere else. As a general rule, it is a good idea to stick to 2-3 internal links per page within the sections with content.
For example, including internal links on the About page that leads to the contact page is a good way to go from who we are to how we contact. Likewise, if you have a blog post about how beneficial a particular routine is for your health, it is a good idea to link internally to your products or services or externally to sources of information or documentation, which proves that you are telling the truth.
You may choose to include links on the category page for best-selling products as a way to direct users to areas where sales are likely to occur. You create a powerful map that directs your users and search engine to where you want them to end up on your site.
Making sure your site links from external sources is also important when you are focused on getting better SEO results and more first page rankings. The more prominently your company links appear (think relevant magazines, newspapers, blogs, and online experts), the more this solidifies your trusted status, boosting your SEO rankings through engagement and frequency.
5. Maintain Google's performance requirements
It is imperative that small businesses take care of their website page load times and performance. The performance of websites nowadays affects not only ratings but also sales. Think of it this way, we live in a fast-paced world where something is usually bought within a minute. You open your phone, do a quick search, you'll likely end up on a product page and checkout is as easy as 1-2-3.
Furthermore, Google now takes into account the overall performance of the website from load times to how quickly the server responds to requests and collects performance data from users (called field data) and with tools created specifically to measure specific parameters (called lab data). As of August 2021, Google measures speed against a new set of KPIs called Core Web Vitals that have been revealed as a direct factor in google's ranking.
The more your page lives up to these KPIs, the more likely the site will appear in Google search results, sending more traffic and increasing sales and profits.
The quick solution is to make sure that you host your website on a platform that offers fast loading times, and ideally you will host your website in the country where you operate. Find out more about your site's performance and tips on how to improve it from Google.
Although these quick wins are proven, there are many more advanced activities you can perform that will require the need for coding and specialized knowledge. If you are in a position to do so, it may be worth considering hiring an SEO specialist to help you on your SEO journey.
As with other areas of business, if you can bring in people who can focus on areas you don't specialize in, you can focus on other important areas of your business. However, if you're considering a more hands-on approach, there are plenty of free online resources to help you learn the ins and outs of SEO, like Moz.Com and Ahrefs.Com.
Ultimately, you don't need to be a professional to start making small but important differences. By following the steps outlined, you can create the foundations required to achieve great SEO results, not only to help customers find you tomorrow, but weeks and months from now without paying a penny. Be patient with the process and prepare to reap the rewards in the long run.
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