If you’ve been looking for ways to get more traffic to your site, you’ve probably come across search engine optimization (SEO). In this article, I’ll define what SEO is, common SEO myths and misconceptions that I regularly hear, and the three steps to any small business search engine optimization campaign.
What is Small Business Search Engine Optimization?
Most people outside the SEO industry equate search engine optimization with getting a No. 1 ranking in Google. While that’s part of what SEO is, it’s not the whole picture.
In the strictest sense, small business SEO is about optimizing elements of your webpage and those pages linking to your site to improve your rank in search engines. But just getting a No. 1 ranking in Google isn’t enough. After all, you could have a No. 1 rank for a keyword that no one searches for. Or you could rank No. 1 for a keyword that people do search for but isn’t relevant to your site’s content. Or you could rank No. 1 for a keyword that people looking for information only – that is, they have no intent to buy your product or hire you – search for.
On the flip side, once people click on your page from search results, you have about three seconds to convince them they should stick around and read more – perhaps take a specific action. If people click onto your page and immediately click away, you’ve lost them. If people skim the page and can’t find the keywords they were searching for, or your content isn’t compelling, or your site looks spammy, they’ll leave without giving you another thought.
So, let’s refine the definition of SEO a bit more: SEO is the practice of improving your site’s ranking in search engines to attract people who are most interested in your information, product, or service. And SEO is about getting those qualified people who do come to your site to take some relevant action – to convert those anonymous browsers into people who are willing to raise their hands and say “I’m interested. Tell me more.”
Common Small Business SEO Myths
Now that I’ve talked about what SEO is, let me clear up a few myths and misconceptions about SEO.
- The goal of a small business SEO campaign is a top 5 ranking in Google. – A top rank in Google can have no effect on your bottom line if you aren’t targeting the right keywords (those keywords aren’t relevant to your website’s content or no one is searching for those terms) or if your website isn’t set up to convert visitors into leads and sales. The goal of an SEO campaign should be to deliver highly targeted visitors who want/need your product or service – and are ready to take action.
- SEO involves secret tactics, smoke and mirrors or ways to trick search engines. – SEO isn’t rocket science, nor is it a secret practice that only experts are privy to. Good SEO doesn’t involve shady “black hat” tactics that go against Google’s best practices or taking advantage of loopholes in how search engines rank sites. The key to higher rankings isn’t in tweaking your “meta tags, adding hidden text to your site, using the proper keyword density, getting lots of low quality sites to link to you, repeatedly re-submitting your site to search engines, buying multiple domains or other tricks you may have heard.
- SEO can guarantee a top search engine position. – You’ve probably received unsolicited emails claiming they can get you a top 10 ranking on Google guaranteed. Unfortunately, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is – especially in this case. Google even states that no one can guarantee top search engine rankings.
- You won’t need to change your site. – A major component of SEO involves optimizing your website so that search engines can easily determine what your site is about and will rank accordingly. To do so, you will need to change elements of your website to incorporate the keywords you wish to be found for.
- SEO is a one-time event and once you achieve a top rank, it is permanent. – Search engines are always tweaking the way they rank sites. New competitors are always entering the SEO game. In other words, the game is always changing, and you never can just rest on your laurels once you do achieve the rank you’d like.
- SEO is a free way to market your site. – While many SEO strategies can be implemented for free or low cost, you still must put in time and effort on an ongoing basis. In addition, many effective SEO tactics do cost money.
- SEO will send you lots of quick traffic (or it will take years to see results). – SEO won’t drive thousands of visitors to your site in the next 24 hours. It can take months to see the results of your efforts, but you should start to see results within 30-90 days.
What are the components of a Small Business SEO campaign?
There are three basic steps of any small business SEO campaign:
- Strategy: This stage involves customer, competitor and keyword analysis to create an SEO strategy for your company. First, you must define who your target audience – that is, who are the people who are most likely to need your information, products, and services – is, how they search for information, and what keywords they use. Second, it involves evaluating your competitors’ sites – who are they? How do they rank? What content do they provide? How difficult will it be to rank better than they do? Etc. Finally, it involves prioritizing the most lucrative keywords – those keywords that bring in and convert the most visitors – to create an action-oriented SEO strategy with firm goals and objectives.
- Implementation: Step 2 builds on the research you did in Step 1. This step includes building an SEO-friendly website with quality content that your visitors want, adding content rich in keywords your customers use, and getting quality links back to your site.
- Measuring Results: Step 3 involves monitoring how well your SEO campaign is going and making changes to your strategy for continual results.
Small business search engine optimization can be a great way to send high-quality, targeted traffic to your website, but as I’ve stressed in this article, traffic isn’t enough. If you aren’t also focused on converting that traffic to leads and sales, you are wasting a lot of time and money for minimal results. A solid SEO strategy will help you get the most return on investment (ROI) for your SEO efforts.
Read more small business search engine optimization articles.
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