Can your small business compete with giant competitors when it comes to SEO? The bad news is, there are simply areas where being outspent by large corporations is going to be tough to break through. There are areas, however, where small businesses can have an advantage.
Before you outsource your SEO, take a look at these 7 ways to improve your small business SEO.
- Start by making sure your website is well-optimized. There are a lot of factors in determining a well-optimized website, including having one that is responsive and mobile capable. This ensures your site can be viewed well on a variety of devices. If you seek to show up when users enter different keywords, create pages for each keyword as opposed to cramming them all into one page. Make sure pages load quickly and that there are no broken links. The best way to know that your website is not optimized is that is it not generating the leads you expect.
- Compete with a long tail keyword strategy. Odds are you will not compete against the big boys in the keywords you both are battling for but a well-executed long tail keyword strategy can bring results. This is especially true if your business is a local or regional one. By adding your location to your keywords you can create a strategy that is difficult for the big boys to adapt to.
- Small businesses can create better content marketing. In many cases, small business content marketing is created by someone on the ground floor. Superior content marketing pieces can be created this way because you experience what is going on every day. You hear the questions clients and prospects are asking. Many times, large competitors are churning out fluff pieces or those simply created to fill space. In the meantime, you can create well-thought articles that address the keywords and long tail keywords you need to address.
- Hang on to that domain name. Even if you have a flat, outdated website, if you have had your domain name for 10 years or more hang onto it. Most search engines, Google included, place a value on the length of time a company has owned the domain name. They view it as a sign of stability. While a web person may suggest a snazzier or more contemporary name, don’t be too quick to give up on your original.
- Get involved locally and use it as part of your content marketing strategy. Every small business is looking for subjects to talk about in their blogs. When you get involved in your community, you can promote an event prior to it happening, and then talk about it afterward. This better associates you with your community and can be very useful in SEO. This is not something the giants can do well.
- Pay attention to your online reputation. Ask good and loyal customers if they would consider submitting a review on sites like Yelp. Address bad reviews courteously and promptly. In today’s search engines, many of these reviews are showing up quite high. This is not something your giant competitors can do well.
- Know what you are exceptional at and own it. If you have a diner known for its fried chicken, make sure your viewers know it. If you are an HVAC company that 100% guarantees your work, make sure that is all over your website. If you are the most experienced at something or have the most up-to-date equipment, tell readers about it and create separate pages addressing those specific benefits.
It is not always easy but there are ways small business can compete in SEO with the giants. Start using the above seven and get on your path to improved SEO.