SEO Tips For Small Businesses
Having a strong local SEO strategy is essential for small and medium-sized businesses that are looking to compete on the same terrain as larger organisations with more substantial resources in their arsenal. You don’t need to have a huge amount of funding or a thousand links pointing to your site to get visibility to a local audience. Understanding the characteristics of local SEO and applying some basic strategies is all you need for success.
Verify your business’ Google Plus page
Verifying your Google Plus page will allow you to monopolise the majority of search results pages for your brand name; local searches lead to more sales conversions that non-local searches. Be aware that anyone (including your competitors) can edit your business listing, so make sure you keep an eye on your dashboard to ensure no-one makes unwanted changes to your listing.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising
Launching a website is only the beginning. If you’re looking to reach an audience and sell your products or service, PPC advertising is essential, leveraging your web presence. PPC advertising identifies keywords relevant to your industry and helps you understand your target audience in order to generate leads.
Be aware that a large portion of local searches with high purchase intent take place on mobile, due to users looking for services in close proximity to them when they’re out and about. As PPC advertising takes up a bigger portion of screen space where mobile is concerned, having paid search in place will give you the best possible shot of appearing in front of consumers when they’re making such searches.
Optimise images
SEO does not stop at text. Because of the increasingly blended nature of search results, images are now available to view on search listings pages so with this in mind, optimising imagery for search engines is key. Make sure your images have sensible file names that stand out so that they don’t end up being lost in a huge pile of images online. Create content for above and below the images on your site – the more the text pertains to the image the better. Remember to use your local keywords!
Here at HookedOnMedia, our experience covers working with businesses of all sizes across a variety of industries. Contact us today to find out about our SEO packages – we also offer tailored packages to suit your needs and budget.