Jul 23, 2013

Defining Small Business SEO

In this article

For business owners, the ongoing small business SEO discussion is of great importance. Specifically, small business websites do on-site SEO poorly or not at all, leaving large amounts of search traffic and potential customers on the table.
The lack of small business on-site SEO is more about discipline, time management, repetition, and know-how. Here is a simple four-step approach to building high-value traffic through on-site SEO that should be repeated twice per month (minimum) on every small business website.

1. Identify Demand
Every website page should be positioned to catch existing demand as small business SEO (generally) doesn't create demand. This means using keyword research to see how end users search in various categories.
When a small business is just starting, it's important to pick keywords that are easy to rank on until you see some results. Google AdWords will show the competition level in their free keyword tool, as will many other tools.
2. Create Great Content
While small business owners are often the most knowledgeable in their fields due immense practical experience, the lack of strong on-site SEO means their websites often under-perform.
Great content comes in the form of videos, blogs, podcasts, discussions, infographics, white papers, webinars and articles – all targeted toward what the end user is searching for. This is an information exchange.
Regardless of the medium, the content needs to be compelling. Use any of the following tactics to create audience engagement:
3. Tune Content
The majority of on-site SEO articles focus heavily on this topic, and it is important:
• Review your keyword density (yes, this still matters greatly), title tag, URL, image alt attributes, and meta tags.
• Make the page attractive with images that complement the content.
• Add appropriate and informative links to other great on-site content as well as links to highly-authoritative websites.
• Apply authorship code and schema.org attributes for any special features on the page such as video.
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