How to effectively use SEO basics for small businesses to increase traffic.

You’ve heard of the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization) before right?

It is the process of optimising your website pages and content for the goal of appearing in the ‘organic’ (unpaid) search results of Search Engines.

Understanding SEO basics is important for any businesses or entrepreneur because it positions your brand for any potential customers.

SEO in a nutshell

When someone types in a phrase on Google search engine, that’s refered to as a keyword. The websites that pops up when that term is searched for are ranking for that specific keyword/phrase.

Imagine having people search for a business like yours, and your website pops up first! That’s a huge accomplishment and the main goal of SEO. You want to be the business that comes up in the search engines when someone is looking for assistance or products similar to what you provide.

The more traffic generated or visits to your website, the better will rank on google. Potential customers need to find your business easily if they want to buy products from you or wants to make use of your service.

What do you do when you can’t find the restaurant you’re wanting to try? You probably type in different keywords, right? And the result is that you’ll end up going somewhere else instead of the restaurant you wanting to try.

How Can I Get Noticed?

There are billions of hits on Google and for your business to stand out or potentialy move up in rankings you need to know SEO techniques and how to rank for something called ‘long tail’ keywords. For example, someone who wants a web designer who specializes in photagraphy websites will search for something along the lines of, ‘web designer for photgraphers.’

This web designer will need to have those exact keywords on their page and a mix of other keywords that are similar to this phrase to begin ranking.

Keep in mind, using these same keywords on social media is helpful as well.

The problem is that Google is getting smarter, so SEO experts need to be more strategic and do in-depth keyword research to find a term that doesn’t have too many hits or searches, so their website will actually rank on the first page of the search engine.

What does it mean to rank for a keyword?

When you rank for a keyword or keyword phrase your website pops up when someone searches for that phrase. This is the most awesome feeling ever because if you’re doing SEO right then you’ve used a phrase that your potential customers are searching for to find businesses like yours.

SEO is one of the best ways to advertise your business. If you find other websites with more credibility and authority than you then it is essential. If you can get these websites to link back to your website, then Google thinks that you must be important. This will give your website a boost in the search engine.

Having a website for your company is one of the best ways to use SEO to your advantage. After finding keywords that your ideal customers are using you can place these keywords throughout your website content.

A bonus tip for SEO: Use keyword phrases of your choice in graphics and photos on your website or even just use your business name when naming images on your website.

How do I find these keywords?

Here are a few tools you can use to get started with SEO for your small business. Keyword io, SEM Rush, and the Yoast plugin on WordPress will help you to manage keywords, phrases, and your website content.

Search traffic is a relatively cost-efficient way to bring in more leads which eventually leads to more enquiries and sales.

Now there’s a lot more that goes into SEO but now that you have the basics you can start positioning your website.