SEO is the process of optimising the website to enhance its visibility on the search engine results page (SERP) whenever any user searches for products or services relevant to the business on search engines such as Google or Bing.
In the eyes of small business entities, SEO is a costly marketing strategy and it is also complex. Competing against larger firms poses a threat for any small firm: How should they respond adequately?
Below are the 8 highlights of the best practices to apply if they are to get the best out of the SEO approach.
1. Conduct Keywords Research
In SEO, keyword research is a tool, which helps understand what people type in search engines and become familiar with the language, which is used by individuals who might need their services.
The first thing that needs to be done in keyword research is writing down the list of keywords that belong to your product or service. For example, In the case of NDIS providers, it is possible to use the following keywords: ‘NDIS Provider Melbourne’, ‘disability support services’, and ‘support under NDIS’.
For more specific data about your keywords, you can refer to SEO tools which are; Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs. There are many paid SEO tools available but in case you are looking for free SEO tools then you can opt for some tools like Google Keyword Planner tool.
Once the list is optimised, it can be used on your website in the page titles, headings, meta descriptions and body content. You can incorporate other related terms by including locations or by adding further details about the services offered.
2. Optimise Onpage Elements
On-site optimisation entails fine-tuning various factors including title tags, headings, and content to make the web page comprehensible and appealing to search engines and users. On-page factors typically begin with optimising your title tags and meta descriptions as well as your URLs. This step can accurately portray the content of the page and encourage the user to click from the search results.
Site structure and page layout should also be reviewed to enhance the usability of the site and make it easier for the visitor to browse through your information. Therefore, when linking internally, use descriptive and keyword-rich anchor text and group all the content into categories and subcategories that make sense.
The filenames and alt text of the images used should also be appropriate and informative to help the search engine in indexing the images placed. Compress images to balance the loading time of the web page and subsequently the satisfaction of the users with the content which is a factor considered by the search engine.
3. Dropping High-Quality Content
Sharing premium content is one that entails putting up new material, which is relevant, interesting and informative to the visitors of the website, at frequent intervals to meet the demands of the search engines.
Quality content also means that you should make sure that you are fully answering all the questions your potential customers might be having, all the potential concerns they may have, and all the misperceptions they may be having about your services. It is also possible to produce knowledge capsules and visually engaging content related to the topics, for instance, blogs, articles, case studies, or how-to content.
Make sure to create value for your readers and deliver actionable tips, information, or recommendations to their concerns. Choose text, pictures, videos, and infographics as the materials to provide a range of approaches to learning and make the information more appealing. One must ensure that the contents are easy to scan.
Sharing your content on social media platforms and through email to create awareness and get the attention of other websites and popular bloggers to attract traffic to your website.
With 21 Webs being one of the most established web design and graphic design providers in Australia, we can assist you in extending your reach to more participants through social media.
4. Improve Website Speed
Web page speed optimisation involves efforts aimed at the improvement of loading time of web pages which makes them convenient to be used by users besides enhancing their compliance with the standards set by the search engines. To reduce the page’s loading time the following actions should be taken; One, conduct a website audit using tools like tools.pingdom. These tools will identify points of improvement, including large image sizes, long scripts, or many HTTP requests.
Fix it when you get to the root of what slows things down. Reduce picture dimensions while maintaining their quality, save frequently used items locally, and minimise the file size.
Another way you could go about it is to switch to a different web host plan that is more effective and gives the advantage of faster loading speed and improvement in the performance of the server.Â
Another way of accomplishing this is through the content delivery network (CDN) whereby the website contents can be copied to many servers in different corners of the globe hence reducing the time it takes for the website content to reach users across the globe.
5. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness
Responsive Web design or Mobile Web concept is the practice of optimising the Website viewing environment to the display screens of smartphones and tablets.
To check if your website is mobile-friendly, you may use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test (retired) which identifies if your site contains all the attributes that Google has deemed to be mobile-friendly. This tool will identify all the issues that may cause any barriers to the smooth running of the website on the mobile device in question, including the non-navigable contents, mobile viewport settings, and even the readability of the fonts.
The information you post should be relevant and the icons that you choose, relevant Ensure that your website is compatible with the use of the small tabs, by applying the use of Responsive Web Design to ensure that they resize according to the size and quality of the screen of the device that is being used in accessing the site. Refer to links and controls to check that they are large enough to be targeted with a finger and the text is not too small to be zoomed in.
It is also important to check the mobile responsiveness of your site frequently using various devices and browsers to ensure that you find out any problems that may occur. Some elements you may want to consider include page speed, ease of navigation, and other features that would make the mobile user experience as smooth as possible when browsing through your site.
6. Utilise Local SEO
Local SEO is a method of optimising a website to appear in the local search results for specific geographical areas, aimed at users in a particular locality and helping businesses reach their target customers in nearby areas.
Advertise your business by targeting more people to enquire or visit from your prospective customers and Google My Business (GMB). Ensure that all the information in this category is well synced across the web so that the business name, address, and phone number that you use on your website, social media profiles, and directories are the same.
It also concerns the tagline, adding more keywords, the description of the offered services, the usage of high-quality images, and gathering more positive feedback. It is also pertinent to encourage your satisfied clients to post on your GMB listing for increased credibility and potential customers.
7. Build High-Quality Backlinks
A backlink is also known as an inbound link and these are links on other related web pages linking to your website and they play a crucial role in the SEO ranking. As an NDIS provider, here are some reasons why it can be useful to gain backlinks from other authoritative and relevant sites to your website in terms of SEO.
Begin with the list of competitors’ websites and analyse which websites link to your competitors’ websites. Contact such websites and allow them to post articles on your website or give a review of your products/services in exchange for links to your site.
8. Monitor and Analyse Your SEO Performance
Well done for adopting several SEO tips for enhancing the small business website! However, it doesn’t end there, it is important to keep a check on the SEO performance periodically to check the effectiveness of the strategies implemented and to look for the loopholes that need to be worked upon.
Most importantly, monitor the placement of your site on SERPs for the keywords that you are targeting. Are you on the top or the bottom of your competitors? Is there anything new that you should know about this company in terms of opportunity and threat?
Remember you have set other important targets that you would like to achieve in terms of traffic, leads or conversions. To increase the probability of achieving these goals, it could be useful to conduct regular evaluations of the strategies employed as well as adjust the plan if necessary.
Conclusions
Google ranking is not just about the company’s website appearing on the first page; it is about the company appearing to the right audience. By using these strategies, you are already on your way to ranking on the SERPs and increasing the traffic to your small business site. 21 Webs has helped many small businesses to get measurable results from our SEO solutions, small business website design and we are confident that you’ll be the next!
