{"id":18219,"date":"2019-04-18T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/honeybook.site.strattic.io\/?p=18219"},"modified":"2022-07-26T12:28:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T19:28:18","slug":"best-practices-for-small-business-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honeybook.com\/blog\/best-practices-for-small-business-seo","title":{"rendered":"Best Practices for Small Business SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some say SEO is dead\u2014that with Google\u2019s ever-changing algorithms, it\u2019s just impossible to keep up and optimize your small business SEO to rank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, it\u2019s mostly\njust more nuanced now than it was in the good ol\u2019 times of keyword stuffing.\nGoogle\u2019s new algorithms are making SEO a quite complex game. We\u2019re not writing\nfor computers anymore\u2014we\u2019re creating content for humans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it might be a little\nmore difficult, but is it dead? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not at all. If there\u2019s\none thing I know about SEO, it\u2019s that it is perfect <\/strong>for small businesses like us! It doesn\u2019t cost as much as\nPPC or traditional marketing, it\u2019s fairly easy to do, and it can lead to\namazing-quality traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, it takes effort and time, but great results can definitely be achieved. Here are some of the best practices regarding small business SEO to keep in mind to get traffic and sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start working on your small business SEO now!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First off: you want to\nstart creating and optimizing content for search engines as soon as possible. Waste\nno time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before even launching\nyour business, you should have a website, and on this website should be content\nalready optimized for search engines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like all good things in\nlife, SEO takes time, so the sooner you\nstart, the better<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should create lots\nof content as fast as possible, but don\u2019t just create ANY type of content\u2014create\ncontent that is useful and relevant for your niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find your niche<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a small\nbusiness, chances are that the very popular keywords are way out of your\nleague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEO is a little like\ndating: if you\u2019re not settling for anything less than a Brad-Pitt-level of good\nlooks, you might end up single for quite some time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same goes with keywords.\nIf you try to rank for very popular keywords while having a pretty low domain\n<\/a>authority<\/a>, you\u2019ll most likely end up with no traffic at all, and\nall your efforts will be in vain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember that being on the second page of google\nbasically means you\u2019re invisible<\/strong>. In fact, 75% of internet users never scroll past the first page<\/a>. So you HAVE to rank high. And how do you rank\nhigh? You choose keywords that fit better for your particular niche!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if you are\nin the hospitality business in New York City and you rent mostly very romantic\nhoneymoon suites (the kind with champagne and rose petals), you might feel\ntempted to rank for broad terms like \u201cHotel\u201d or “New York City\nHotel”. However, you have a better chance of ranking on the first page if\nyou are more specific, choosing long-tail keywords<\/a> like “Romantic Honeymoon Suites in New York\nCity”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fewer people will search\nusing these long-tail keywords, yes, but the traffic you do get will be\nbetter-qualified traffic, looking exactly for what you have to offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like swiping right\non people you\u2019re actually interested in<\/strong>\non Tinder instead of swiping right for\neveryone<\/strong>: quality beats quantity every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be relevant to your buyers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The biggest difference\nbetween SEO now vs. ten years ago? Relevance<\/strong>.\nWhen you create content, you can\u2019t just stuff it with as many keywords as\npossible, without caring about what you\u2019re actually saying. Those days are long\ngone! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, you have to make sure you create content that\u2019s useful for your audience if you want to build your SEO as a small business<\/a>. Create content that people could really use as an added value in their lives. Don\u2019t you dare create a bad landing page or a boring blog just because you think it might rank!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small businesses\nsometimes try so hard to rank for everything that they end up creating content\nthat isn\u2019t really in line with their product or company\u2014content that doesn\u2019t\nanswer any relevant questions for their audience. And Google recognizes this: it knows everything. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re irrelevant,\nyou\u2019re not ranking. End of story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, beware the trap\nof being relevant to the wrong audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a quick example: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say my company is\na dating app. (Yes, I\u2019m going through with the dating theme!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see that a lot of\npeople are searching for keywords like: \u201cIs my boyfriend going to propose?\u201d I\nsay to myself, \u201cWow, what a great SEO opportunity!\u201d So, I create a blog post that\ngoes into details about that topic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is someone with a\nsteady boyfriend (Googling to ask if he\u2019ll propose!) really going to download a\ndating app? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope not, for the sake\nof that imaginary couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if this blog brings\nsome traffic, that traffic really isn\u2019t qualified, and they won\u2019t buy\/download\nmy product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And at the end of the\nday, if your traffic doesn\u2019t convert\ninto clients, what\u2019s the point?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to make sure\nyour content is relevant, not only to gain traffic, but to gain buyers<\/strong>. Once again: quality over quantity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might take you a little longer to analyze the best small business SEO opportunities and work on really great content, but it\u2019s better than living in fear of a sudden SERP drop when Google launches a new algorithm update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t even try to cheat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Remember: Google knows everything<\/strong>! It\u2019s basically\nSanta, knowing when you\u2019ve been good or bad. It\u2019ll know if you hired robots or\nincredibly cheap writers to fill up your website with low-quality content. It\u2019ll\nknow if your content doesn\u2019t answer the search question properly or if your\nwebsite has nothing to do with the topic you want to rank for. Trust me, Google\nwill know. And it will absolutely hurt your ranking one day or another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, quality content\nthat really helps your readers will get organically backlinked and shared, and\nultimately will rank and give you a steady flow of potential buyers. You\nultimately want to sell your product, and only quality <\/em>traffic, the kind that comes from positioning you as an\nexpert in your particular niche, will help you do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now go out there and create new and relevant content to get tons of qualified traffic! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to learn more about boosting your small business SEO? Get our Ultimate Guide to <\/em><\/strong>Small Business SEO<\/em><\/strong><\/a> here. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, 5 more posts you might like:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n