Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a marketing technique that involves improving digital content to increase your search engine ranking (primarily on Google). By appearing higher in users’ online searches, they’re more likely to find your new business and convert into customers.
For small business owners, though, grasping SEO techniques can be tricky, especially if you have no previous knowledge or experience. To help you get started, leading company formation agent, Rapid Formations, offers 6 top SEO tips in this article.
1. Get your Google Business profile ready
Our first SEO tip is to optimise your Google Business profile for Google. A Google Business profile is a business summary, highlighting key information, like your address, opening hours, contact details, and customer reviews. It looks like this:
Source: Google
An optimised profile is essential for customer-facing businesses. This helps boost your chances of being among the top Google results when someone searches for businesses, products, or services similar to yours. Here’s how to get your profile in shape:
Complete your profile
Assuming you already have an account, log into your Google My Business dashboard and add any missing information. You’ll see a percentage score, telling you how complete your profile is – it should be 100%.
Even if your business has been active for a year or two, this is still worth checking—you might have missed some details, or some might need updating.
Display your exact business name
Make sure that the business name on your profile is your actual business name. For example, if your company is called ‘Mike’s Handyman Services’, your profile should match that exactly.
Avoid, for example, ‘Mike’s Handyman Services: Quick General Repairs and Furniture Assembly London’. While you might think it’s good practice to add those keywords in (usually, it would be), in this instance, it’s against Google’s guidelines, and your profile could get suspended.
Specify the nature of your business
Sometimes, what a business does is not immediately obvious just from its name. If people can’t tell what you do, they’ll simply keep searching.
Creative brand names are great, but you should specify the nature of your business on your profile to keep things crystal clear. For instance, if you’re a plumber, choose ‘plumber’ as your primary category, or if you run a hair salon, choose ‘hairdresser’.
You can choose secondary categories if you offer multiple services. For example, if you’re a plumber but also have a store, select ‘plumbing supply store’ as your secondary option. The key thing to remember is to choose the right primary category—the core of your business—as this is what customers will see first.
2. Do your keyword research
Effective SEO is all about how relevant your content is to the customer. Search engines decide this based on how closely your website’s keywords match those searched by the user. Therefore, it’s essential to conduct thorough keyword research, compile the most suitable ones, and integrate them into your website.
An excellent way to start your keyword research is to simply write down the terms or phrases that you’d expect your target customers to look for. For example, if you own a hair salon, your initial keywords might include:
- Hair salon
- Hair salon [plus location]
- Beauty salon
- Hair stylist
- Barber
Then, check how those keywords are performing on Google Trends. This free tool will show how many people have searched for them over time, their interest by region, and related topics. Use this data to expand and optimise your keyword list.
Other apps, such as the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool, can help you conduct further research. Simply start with your primary keyword (i.e. ‘hair salon’), enter your website URL, and you’ll see the volume of related terms.
You’ll also see the user’s intent for each term (whether they’re shopping, looking for a specific brand, or just browsing) and the keyword difficulty (how competitive that keyword is). Various additional filters allow you to narrow down your search as needed.
Keywords are the foundation of good SEO. They are one of the primary sources that search engines use to determine which results to display and in which order. So, the more relevant and useful your content is, the higher it will rank.
3. Humans first, machines second
When writing digital content, it’s easy to get preoccupied with SEO rules. While they are essential for increasing your online visibility, if overused, they can eradicate the human feel from your writing, which itself is an important SEO component. So, what comes first?
We recommend writing for the human first and then for the machine (search engine). Whether it’s a website header, an answer to an FAQ, or a blog post, start by writing it as you would naturally speak. It helps to read it out loud and pretend you’re having a conversation with someone.
Then, check your content and apply SEO edits – this is for the machine. Shorten lengthy sentences, break up long paragraphs, simplify complex terminology, and disperse your target keyword(s).
If you write in the opposite order, you risk sounding too machine-like, which search engines can (ironically) penalise you for. As a result, it can also put potential customers off if they feel you sound too robotic or notice that you have forced too many keywords into a single paragraph.
4. SEO isn’t just for Google
When we think of SEO, we tend to think of Google immediately. However, SEO techniques also apply to other vital platforms like YouTube (the second most popular website globally, according to Semrush data), Amazon, and Instagram, all of which could be integral to how customers find you.
The good news is that SEO methods are generally universal, with some platform-specific differences. Keyword application, for example, applies across the board.
We recommend starting with optimising your digital content for Google, the world’s number one search engine, and then applying some of those key practices to other sites that might be relevant to your brand. For example, some YouTube-specific SEO strategies include creating compelling thumbnails and generating accurate transcriptions.
5. SEO effects aren’t instant
As much as we’d like it to be, SEO effects are not instant. It’s also not a one-off task; getting SEO right takes time and ongoing effort. Unfortunately, there’s no definitive answer to just how long that could be – it depends on where you are in the process.
If you have just started your business and are creating a website from scratch, expect several months for your SEO to pick up. However, if you run a start-up that’s been active for 12 months, your search engine rankings could improve fairly quickly. Either way, don’t expect your website to be the top Google result immediately after optimisation.
Applying SEO practices to your content is where you lay the foundations for search engines to notice you. They then need time to scan your website and decide how relevant and genuinely useful it is to the user. This will build up over time as more people discover and click on your site.
Furthermore, you need to nurture your SEO to ensure that it continues to be effective. For example, you should check your keywords regularly to see if any new ones might be applicable. You should also keep an eye on what your competitors are doing, how your website ranks in comparison, and identify ways to improve your content.
Automate your analytics
The more time you dedicate to SEO, the more competitive your website will be. You’re probably thinking, “I don’t have the time for this.” We get it—business owners are extremely busy, and SEO is probably one of the last things on your mind.
Don’t worry; in today’s digital world, there’s an app for everything. Here are some free analytics tools that’ll make SEO maintenance a whole lot easier:
- Semrush Keyword Magic Tool (which we mentioned earlier)
- Google Lighthouse: This browser extension runs website audits to suggest what’s working and what needs improving
- Google Analytics: Get Google-specific insights on how to improve your SEO performance
- SEO PowerSuite: Get unlimited keyword tracking and optimisation suggestions
If you want to optimise your content on other platforms, they most likely have built-in analytics features. For example, Facebook has the Meta Business Suite, and Amazon has AWS.
6. Don’t forget about mobile optimisation
Statcounter data shows that (nearly 60% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices, compared to 38% from desktops and just 2% from tablets. With so many active users, it’s essential that your website formatting is optimised for mobile.
When building your website, check how it looks on your phone as you make changes to it. Ensure that all media types are well adjusted to the smaller screen, that none of the text or images are cut off, and that everything loads properly.
If you create your site using WordPress, the page builder offers desktop, mobile, and tablet viewing options so you can see how your content will display on different devices before going live.
Mobile SEO is incredibly important. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, not only will visitors exit it immediately and look elsewhere, but your SEO efforts could suffer as a result.
Thanks for reading
SEO isn’t a quick or simple task; it requires continuous care and attention. But it is essential for small business owners to become familiar and comfortable with SEO practices to improve their brand’s online visibility and attract customers. Use our essential tips in this article to get your small business’s marketing efforts off to a great start.
Rapid Formations is one of the most popular company formation agents in the UK. They are an authorised Companies House e-filing partner, offering incorporation, address, and company secretarial services to new business owners, making the journey as smooth and affordable as possible. Ready to get your new company off the ground? Take a look at Rapid Formation’s packages to find the ideal one for you.
