Competing in the small business landscape these days is challenging enough, but to do it with an un-optimized website is like deciding to come to the fight unarmed.
Good thing for us we have a number of clues what's required when it comes to optimizing our sites for SEO. The best thing is that for the most part you don't need to be a rocket scientist to make that happen!
To help get you started here are 10 tips for small business SEO that will help.
Related: Steps to Deal with Negative SEO
10 Small business SEO tips
1.) Create substantial content
Being sure that you give your readers meaty, compelling content that they can use is job #1. Google favors longer text, so aim for at least 750-1250 words per page.
2.) Simplify your URLs
Crafting simple and descriptive URLs make it easy for people to understand the content of your page just by looking at the URL. It helps to have primary page keyword in there as well.
3.) Know your keywords
Make each page focus on one primary keyword, and that said, don't overdo the use of that phrase. Aim for a 1-3% keyword density on the page.
Related: Check Out What You Need for Local SEO in 2015
4.) Make a Google My Business account
This is Google's most recent local business initiative. It includes things like Google+, Maps and much more. If you hope to do well in your local rankings, you'll need to make sure this is optimized and complete.
5.) Have a mobile ready site
Recently Google announced that starting on April 21st, 2015, not having a mobile friendly site will set you back in the search results, which at this point account for about half of all search traffic! Time to pay attention!
6.) Optimize images
Making sure your images have accurate (not-keyword stuffed) ALT tags, as this is a ranking signal in the search algorithm.
Related: Check Out How You Can Avoid Making Expensive SEO Blunders
7.) Have consistent NAP data
Be certain that you're using consistent NAP data, (name, address, phones) across all your web platforms.
8.) Generate user reviews
Encourage your customers and users to leave a positive reveiws for you, especially on Google+, as this will have a large effect on where you rank.
9.) Meta data
Ensure that each web page has optimized Meta data, in particular title tags, description, along with only 1 H1 tag per page.
10.) Take advantage of Google Analytics
As well as Google Webmaster Tools! They are a great way to get intelligence on how your site is performing and where you can do better.