SEO For Small Businesses: A Complete Guide (+Checklist)

How Do You Optimize Your SEO As A Small Business Owner

We have covered some of the most important must-know elements of SEO. Now, it’s time to actually optimize your small business’s website. On-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO will be covered here. Do these three things right, and you’ll outrank most other websites.

On-Page SEO

Keyword Research

Keyword research is the first step in the content creation process. You want to know what people are searching for in your niche. This determines which keywords you are going to target on your page. This helps search engines match your content to those searches, which will drive more targeted traffic to your small business’s website.

It may be difficult to find some time to do keyword research as a small business owner, especially when you don’t know how to do it. So, let me walk you through the process of keyword research.

You’ll start with Google Keyword Planner. This is a free tool from Google Ads. You don’t need to start a paid campaign to use this, just sign up and go to the Keyword Planner.

Write down 5-10 seed keywords in your niche and that are relevant to your business. You’ll then enter those seed keywords in Google Keyword Planner.

Here, you can see the search volume and competition levels of your provided keywords, but you can also see keyword ideas with volume and competition level that the tool has added for you. These are all possible keywords for you to target if they matter to your business.

Next, download the SEOquake extension in the Chrome store.

This tool will give you an extra idea of the competition level for certain keywords. When you find a keyword that is relevant to your business, we’re going to do a quick advanced check.

So, enter the keyword in the search bar, and you’ll see the top results with a little box beneath every result. Here, you can see the AS (Authority Score) of each result. This way, you can check on which keyword you’ll have the biggest chance of ranking on the first page. If the AS is below 25, the competition level is rather low.

If your website has low authority, I recommend targeting long-tail keywords. These keywords are often low in competition and can be high in volume. So, target low-competition, high-volume keywords that are 3-5 words or longer.

Additionally, you can check Google Autocomplete for more ideas.

You can also use the “People also search for…” feature.

Here are the best practices for a quick, but great keyword research for your small business:

• Target long-tail keywords.
• Search for low-competition, high-volume.
•  Include related keywords.
• Refresh your list regularly to be up-to-date.

Meta Tags

As a small business owner, you can’t forget about your meta tags, as they help you rank higher, but also improve your click-through rate (CTR) to your website. Optimizing your meta title and description helps searchers and search engines understand your page’s context better. Additionally, it shows relevance to the search query.

The meta title is the title of the search result. Ensure your title is between 30-60 characters. Try to add your primary keyword near the front. Make it stand out to draw clicks to your website.

The meta description is the little text beneath the title. Make sure it’s between 75-155 characters. Include your primary keyword here too, and tell the users and search engines how your page can provide value. Add a CTA in the description too.

Avoid duplicate meta tags across your pages. Each page needs a unique meta title and description.

Best practices for meta tags in small business SEO:

• Keep the title between 30-60 characters, and the description between 75-155 characters.
• Add the keyword naturally.
• Ensure every meta tag is unique.
•  Use a CTA in the description.
• –Ensure you mention your page’s value.

URL Structure

An SEO-friendly URL structure tells search engines and visitors what the page is about. Apart from that, it boosts crawlability and boosts user experience.

Keep your URLs under 75 characters, and try to add your keyword naturally.

If you have a messy URL, you can change the existing one with a plugin (if you’re working with WordPress) or via your platform. But don’t forget to set up a 301 redirection to transfer the link juice of the page to the new URL.

I wrote an article on how to change URLs in WordPress without losing rankings in case you’d like to change them.

Best practices for SEO-friendly URLs:

• Include primary keywords naturally (and as early as possible).
• Use hyphens.
• Keep under 75 characters.

Heading Structure

A proper heading structure creates a clear content hierarchy that will help search engines and readers understand your content’s context better. This will improve readability, dwell time, and topical authority, which is key for local (and international) rankings.

It’s quite simple to create a great heading structure. You start with one H1. You’ll then break the content into H2s to create sections. You use H3s and H4s to create subsections. This way, people can skim your content, and search engines can crawl and understand it better.

Try to use your keywords in your headings where possible, but always keep it natural. If it doesn’t fit, just leave it out. Always ensure you maintain the hierarchy, that means H1>H2>H3>H4…

Best practices to create an SEO-friendly heading structure:

• Use one H1 with your primary keyword.
• Use H2-H6 hierarchically to make it scannable.
• Include other keywords in H2s and H3s.
• Keep your headings short, a maximum of 60-70 characters.

Image Optimization

Search engines can’t see your pictures. If you optimize them, you can rank in image search, which will drive extra traffic to your website. Apart from that, image optimization also speeds up your website by reducing file sizes and using the right format.

You optimize your images by using descriptive file names and adding alt text via your editor. Make your alt text descriptive with your keyword, but keep it shorter than 125 characters.

Use a WebP format to speed up your website even more.

Best practices for image SEO:

• Use descriptive file names with hyphens and keywords.
• Compress images with TinyPNG.
• Implement lazy loading.
• Create unique alt text for every image.
• Keep the alt text under 125 characters.

Internal Linking

Internal linking will help you spread link equity across the various pages on your website. It will also help crawlers discover pages and guide users through your website to find the content they need. This signals quality to Google and increases the time spent on your website.

Create content hubs to create an internal linking network. Use pillar pages with supporting pages and link them to each other. Try to add between 3-5 internal links in each piece of content and use descriptive anchor text. Anchor text is the text that contains the hyperlink and is clickable.

Vary your anchors, and link from new posts to old ones. Use your menu and footer for navigational links to key pages (with services or products).

Best practices for internal linking:

• Use keyword-rich, varied anchor text.
• Link to related content.
• 3-5 internal links per 1.000 words.
• Build topic clusters around pillar pages for topical authority.
• Audit regularly.

Off-Page SEO

Link Building

Backlinks are an important part of ranking your content as they build authority. You start link building by earning backlinks from reputable sites. Just as with content, quality matters more than quantity. There are various strategies to start acquiring backlinks. Start in your niche with reputable websites, and avoid spammy websites (or directories).

I’d recommend starting by signing up for trustworthy directories in your niche. These will build your foundation. 5-10 is enough to start with. After that, it’s important to get in-content links too.

My favorite strategy to gain in-content links is guest posting. With a guest post, you’ll write an article for another website within your industry in exchange for a backlink to your website. When choosing a website to publish on, make sure the DA (Domain Authority) is solid so you’ll actually gain SEO value yourself.

You can find these opportunities by using Google Search:

• “Niche” + “Write for us”
• “Niche” + “Guest post”
• “Niche” + “Become a contributor”

Here, you’ll need to fill out a form, and they will contact you back. Keep in mind that some of these websites charge you for a guest post as they are also aware of the value of a solid backlink.

Another strategy is the broken link building method. Here, you’ll find pages that link to broken sources. You’ll then build a replacement page and reach out to the website to inform them that they have a broken link and that they could link to your page instead.

You can use tools like SEMrush or Check My Links to discover these broken links.

Always keep your outreach email polite and offer benefits to them. Do a follow-up once, but if they don’t respond respect their time and leave them alone. You don’t want to get the reputation of a “stalker.”

Social Media

You can use social media to reach more people, but the engagement that goes along with it, boosts your SEO indirectly. When people engage actively, you’re building a community, which signals relevance to search engines.

It all starts with consistency. Link back to your site in your profile, in your posts, etc. Make sure you keep track of what drives traffic to your website and double down on that kind of content.

You can repurpose your blog posts as social media content.

Brand Mentions

Brand mentions are references from people online who are talking about your brand, your brand’s products, or your brand’s key people. These mentions can be linked or unlinked, and they build brand recognition and authority signals.

You can set up Google Alerts to get an email when someone mentions your brand. The unlinked ones, so the ones without a clickable link, are opportunities to gain backlinks. Converting unlinked mentions to backlinks will also build domain authority too.

When you find an unlinked one (via Google Alerts), you reach out to the website owner, and ask them politely to link back to your website. Even if you can’t convert them, they still help with reputation.

Local SEO

Local SEO is all about optimizing Google My Business, reviews, mentions, and local backlinks. So, you’ll start by optimizing your Google My Business profile. Ensure your name, address, and phone number are correct. In your description, you add your targeted keywords. Include categories and all the information about your business.

Next, encourage happy customers to leave reviews and respond to them. Try to include your keyword if possible.

Ensure you get mentioned in local directories, this will boost trust and make you more visible. The NAP information needs to be exactly the same everywhere (the way you did in your Google My Business profile).

Finally, partner with nearby businesses for local backlinks. For example, if you’re a physical therapist, partner with your local football club and write an article about “injury prevention” with a backlink to your website.

You can also gain backlinks through sponsorships or by donating to charities.

Technical SEO

Crawlability & Indexability

Crawlability means that Google bots can explore your site without any resistance. Indexability ensures those pages appear and rank in search results. If you don’t set up your website properly for crawlability and indexability, it won’t be discovered or ranked.

You help bots by fixing your robots.txt files and internal links. Block pages that you don’t want to rank or that aren’t important. This saves crawl budget for the pages that are important.

You can check Google Search Console for crawl or indexing errors.

Site Speed

Fast websites are an absolute must for your SEO performance. Google ranks fast-loading websites higher, as their users hate waiting. Imagine you visit a website and you have to wait 10 seconds or more before it loads, you’ll get annoyed. This way, you’ll miss out on potential customers.

You can optimize this by compressing images and minifying CSS and JavaScript files. Enable browser caching on your server. If you’re working with WordPress you can install a plugin like LiteSpeed Cache plugin. In the settings, you can enable these options.

You can test your page speed with Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. Try to aim for under 3 seconds on mobile. Add a CDN (Content Delivery Network) like Cloudflare for global speed boosts.

Mobile-Friendly

Today, most people search on their phones. So, your website has to be mobile-friendly. A mobile-friendly design adapts your site to phones and tablets.

Most platforms offer the possibility to design the mobile version of your website. Fix tiny text, close buttons, or viewport issues. If you use WordPress or Shopify, use responsive themes.

HTTPS

HTTPS is a must-have for every website. It adds encryption via SSL certificates, showing the lock in your browser.

It makes users feel safe, and Google favors secure websites. It builds trust. You get a free SSL from most hosts. If you’re thinking about starting, I recommend Hostinger, an SSL certificate is included here.

If you still have an HTTP website, set up a 301 redirect from HTTP to HTTPS. Check your internal links, and update them if necessary.

Canonical Tags

Canonical tags tell Google which page you prefer among duplicates. They prevent penalties from similar URLs. This is vital for small e-commerce businesses.

You can spot duplicates with Screaming Frog. If you find duplicates, determine which page is the best or most important and add a canonical tag in the <head> section:

• <link rel=”canonical” href=”your-preferred-url”>

If you use Rank Math, you can add a canonical tag by going to the advanced section in the Rank Math SEO box. Here, you can add a canonical tag.

You change the canonical tag on the duplicate version, and in the box you add the main page’s URL. You tell Google that the other page is the most important one.

Structured Data

Structured data is code that helps Google show rich snippets like review stars or pricing. It makes your results stand out in search results. This is great for local businesses, and for your products.

It tells Google what kind of content your page contains. You can implement schema for your website from schema.org. Use Google’s structured data testing tool to validate the added schema.

Sitemaps

Sitemaps speed up the discovery of new pages. This is essential for growing your website as a small business.

I use Rank Math, and it generates the sitemap automatically. You can choose which pages to add and which not to add. After it’s done, it looks like this.

Then, you upload this sitemap to Google Search Console.

This will index your pages faster, so new content will rank faster.