The first step towards SEO success is understanding the basics. Many businesses that succeed with SEO have simply mastered the basic rules of creating an SEO-friendly website. Conversely, a business that neglects these rules is bound to struggle with SEO, because their website will be viewed as less legitimate and trustworthy in the eyes of Google. In our experience as a marketing agency, a lack of basic SEO principles is often the cause of a small business’s SEO woes.
With this in mind, here are some of the most common SEO mistakes in the small business world:
Neglecting Local SEO
If your business is targeting a specific geographic area, then your business’s website should be optimized for local SEO. This is the practice of maximizing your business’s visibility in local search results. Though local SEO is essential for virtually any business with a physical location, it’s often dismissed in favor of broader SEO strategies, or the desire to attract interest from as many potential customers as possible. This can be a costly mistake, since local customers tend to have higher lifetime values, and they tend to discover new businesses with location-related searches (i.e. “Italian restaurant near me”).
Rule number one for local SEO is setting up a Google Business Profile. The more information you include in your Google Business Profile (i.e. your phone number, hours, location, offerings, industry), the easier it is for someone to find your business when searching for products or services like yours in your local region.
Overlooking Mobile Experience
One of the most common SEO mistakes is forgetting to make your website mobile-friendly. Since so many searches are conducted on mobile devices these days, a website that is not optimized for mobile users is viewed as outdated and even untrustworthy by Google. Why? Because if your website is not mobile-friendly, it isn’t considered user-friendly. Pages won’t load properly, making it difficult for mobile users to learn about your business.
Though optimizing your website for mobile requires the help of a developer, it’s unquestionably worth the time. Beforehand, you may consider running a test to see exactly which parts of your website need to be optimized for mobile, so you can tell your developer exactly what you need help with.
Writing for Google, Not People
When SEO is a top priority, it’s very easy to get so caught up in utilizing certain keywords that your content appears forced and unnatural. Businesses often forget that they are supposed to be writing blog content with their audience – not Google – in mind. The content might have the correct keywords and headings of an SEO-friendly piece, but the content itself fails to engage the reader or provide relevant and useful information. This is not the kind of content that gets rewarded by Google, no matter how many times you mention a certain keyword.
If you take a look at a blog that ranks highly on relevant searches, you’ll see that this business clearly understands the golden rule of blogging: be helpful. Google rewards content that is written with the reader’s needs in mind. It seems more genuine than strategic. To write content that ranks highly, think about how you would speak to a potential customer face-to-face if they came to you with a common question. Would you populate your answer with keywords? No, because that wouldn’t be helpful.
Only Updating Blog Content
Posting regular blog content is extremely helpful, but it’s just one part of your website. If the rest of your website hasn’t been changed in years, your content is less likely to rank highly on search results because Google views your website as outdated. This is your central hub for communicating with potential customers. The more you learn about their needs and preferences, the more effectively your website should cater to them. Updating your entire website – not just your blog – makes your business seem more legitimate and trustworthy, especially when it includes the latest developments in your industry.
SEO becomes much easier when you realize that it’s all about communicating a close relationship with your customers. If you give Google the impression that you are ignoring their needs – like a seamless online experience and informative content – you won’t rank highly. For more SEO tips for small businesses, contact the team at The Found Gen today.