Small Business SEO Checklist To Boost Rankings Now

Today, in this digital world, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is required for almost every business. No matter how large or small a business is, the fact is that no business can survive without an online presence. 

Small business SEO is the answer if you’ve just started your own business and want to know what steps to take first, or if you’re an agency that helps brick-and-mortar stores with digital marketing strategies.

It include checklists of action that can be taken immediately to boost rankings!

However, if you want to rank higher on Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), the only thing that works is professional SEO practices such as article writing or keyword research – which can be done by any SEO specialist!

Here is a small business SEO checklist so that it may give you an insight into how SEO works for small businesses, or if you are already an SEO specialist, the checklist given below would help you in the long run.

What Is SEO For A Small Business?

Before I get into our top small business SEO checklist, it is important to understand what SEO is for small businesses and how SEO works for small businesses.

The right content, keeping in mind the search intent of the user, is a solid strategy that helps you get better at SEO for small businesses.

If small business SEO is done properly, the results can be amazing. I have seen businesses scale at a rapid growth rate after considering the points mentioned in the blog below.

These are the key components of SEO that you should consider if you have a small business. 

Components Of Small Business SEO

Keyword Research For Rankings

When it comes to SEO, keyword research is crucial for both small businesses and large corporations. It’s all about knowing what your target market types into search engines when looking for your product or service.

Knowing how people repeat their terms and phrases can be extremely beneficial. Including such phrases/keywords in your website’s content will naturally result in your page ranking high on the SERPs.

You can search and add keywords from various sources, like,  tools like Ahrefs for keyword research.

With this tool, you can just type in a parent keyword you want keywords for and you will get an infinity number of keywords through the tool. 

See the image below to get the list of tools for keyword research:

Of course, what people search for and how they search for it change all the time. This is why ongoing review and content updates are critical.

You’ll want to drive as much traffic as possible to your website to increase visibility and promote business growth. As a result, you must stay current with the current trends and demands of your target audience.

Website Content

SEO for small businesses is meaningless without well-written, useful content, website content. In general, your content should elaborate on the relevant keywords that people search for. 

If someone comes across your page while searching for your product or service, you’ll want to make sure the information you’re providing is compelling, useful, and simple to navigate and understand.

Let me show you a website content process cycle. This is how content should be executed on a website.

This is an excellent opportunity to inform your target market about your company and what it stands for. Keep in mind that the more engaging your content is, the longer someone will stay on your page and the more likely they will read the entire thing.

Link Building

Link Building is an important part of SEO for small businesses. When optimizing the content of your website, there are three types of links to consider.

i. Internal Links

This is when you include a link in your content to another piece of relevant content on your website. As a result, you can increase traffic to your other web pages.

Basically, internal links help you retain users on the website.

Read More: Interlinking For SEO: Everything You Need To Know About It

ii. External Link

You can cite or reference someone else’s research or ideas by including a link to their page in your content. This can boost your site’s authority, especially if the links lead to high-authority websites.

In case you don’t understand what an external link is, the image shown below would help you understand:

iii. Backlink

Backlinks increase the authority and visibility of your site. When another website links to your website, this is referred to as a “backlink”. The higher the authority of the site that links to you, the higher you will rank in the SERPs.

Read More: Anchor Text: An Ultimate Guide About Building Backlinks

Usability And User Experience (UX)

The final SEO fundamental for small businesses is to ensure optimal site usability and user experience (UX), mobile-friendliness, and design. If your site is difficult to navigate, slow to load or poorly designed, it will not rank very high in the SERPs. As a result, optimizing your website for your users is a critical component of SEO.

The best way to accomplish this is to hire a website design firm that is familiar with your content management system (CMS). CMS is a piece of software that helps manage content and build websites. A good CMS would help you cope with such issues and create a good user experience. 

People who have a positive user experience are more likely to share, recommend, and, of course, purchase from your page.

When developing and designing your website, keep usability in mind at all times. I will talk more about how to optimize usability in our list of small business guides below.

Small Business SEO Checklist

Create Business Profile On Google My Business

This is First and foremost thing in small business SEO checklist, ensure that your company appears on Google’s list of businesses when internet users search for a relevant product or service. Simply create an account, enter all of your information, and choose the photos you want to display.

This is beneficial to potential customers who want to be certain about the specifics of your company. This includes information such as your location and hours of operation, as well as reviews.

See the image below to learn all the benefits of Google My Business:

It is also beneficial to you as a business owner. You can access all of your applications in one place and share any news or updates with your customers via the platform.

If your company has been verified through Google My Business, it will appear more credible.

It will also appear on Google Maps for convenience.

Optimize Your Metadata

The next thing that comes in our small business SEO checklist is to optimize the meta data.

Metadata is the data you give search engines to describe your company’s website. It informs search engines and users about the content of your website. 

Consider the following 3 pieces of information when improving your local SEO:

i. Meta Title

A Meta Title, also known as a Title Tag, is the name that appears on browser tabs and search engines for each page on your website. 

Keep Meta Titles under 55 characters long, localized, and avoid keyword stuffing (using too many keywords irrelevant to your business in an attempt to trick search engines to improve your SEO ranking).

See the example below:

This is one of the perfect meta titles that can make a user take action.

ii. Meta Description

On search engine results pages, the meta description appears beneath the meta title (SERPs). In 50-300 characters, it should describe your company, mention a city or region, and include a call to action for searchers.

See the example below:

iii. Alt-Text

Alt text, also known as alt tags, are short descriptions of images on your website that assist search engines in understanding the content. When possible, include relevant context and local keywords.

See how I have added Alt-text for my images:

Read More: Tweaks For Page Title & Meta Description That’ll Boost Your SEO Traffic & CTR

Get Listed On Local Business Directories

Local business directories, such as Yelp or Bing, are among the first places customers look when conducting a local search. These platforms allow you to communicate with a high-intent target audience while also directing search traffic to your website. 

Ranking high in search results is critical, as nearly 40% of users click on the first result for all searches, and 17.8% click on the first result for local businesses.

Add your business listing on local directories to increase your exposure and include relevant information such as your business name, description, and contact information.

For example, once you claim your Yelp Business Page, you can add a business description, contact information, and photos of your company.  Make certain that your business listing contains consistent business information.

Here is a list of local business directories that you can submit your business on:

A complete local citation includes your business category, name, address, and phone number, as well as any mention of business details online. If a search engine recognizes that a local citation is not consistent across the web, it could hurt your local SEO.

Your company information should also be consistent with what is on your website.

Make your company’s address and phone number visible in the footer of your website.

Conduct An SEO Audit Of Your Website

Now that you have the essential tools for small business SEO, your company can begin developing and implementing your SEO strategy.

Conducting an SEO audit is a part of small busines SEO checklist that maily helps in finding the errors in your website.

However, before you develop your strategy, you must first understand the current state of your site’s SEO. An SEO audit provides your company with a report card on the SEO of your website.

An SEO audit will show your team where your small business SEO is succeeding and where it could be improved. Your review is crucial because it serves as the foundation of your SEO strategy.

While you can conduct an SEO audit in-house, getting feedback from an unbiased third party is beneficial. The best SEO companies for small businesses have a wealth of experience and can frequently identify potential improvements that your team may overlook.

With free SEO audit tools or SEO audit services, you can get a third-party SEO audit.

Invest in SEO audit services for the best results. They connect you with an experienced SEO specialist while also saving your team a significant amount of time, which is critical for an SMB.

Here are the 18 steps to performing an SEO audit. See the image below:

Regardless of how you approach your SEO audit, once you receive your SEO report, you can begin developing a strategy. Most of the time, your strategy will include tasks for fixing and optimizing existing pages, as well as checklists for creating and publishing new content.

Generate Backlinks To Your Site

Backlinks—links to your website from other websites—show search engines that you are an authority in your field. Like customers, search engines prefer quality over quantity.Get backlinks from reputable websites, such as well-known businesses, community organizations, or local publications.

Getting backlinks from other sites is important part of small business SEO checklist.

To begin generating backlinks to your website, you must first create content that is worth linking to—a process known as content marketing. 

Consider creating blog posts, videos, or other types of content related to your industry, such as infographics with home improvement tips or behind-the-scenes stories from your most recent product launch.

To get noticed by authoritative sites, share your content on social media or in an email newsletter. You can also collaborate with other companies that reach your target audience.

Develop A Social Media Strategy

Having a strong social media presence will allow you to engage customers in meaningful ways, such as asking for feedback, answering questions, connecting with other businesses, and more. As a result, social media engagement can increase the visibility, recognition, and trustworthiness of your brand, resulting in increased traffic to your website.

Rather than creating profiles on every social media site, focus on the channels that are relevant to your business and target audience. Consider your audience’s demographics and tailor your messaging to each platform.

For example, a tax preparation company may benefit from posting educational content on a platform that focuses on professional connections, such as LinkedIn. A homemade jewelry business, on the other hand, might do better on a photo-driven site like Pinterest or Instagram, where the owner can share how-tos and show off their work.

Create a social media strategy outlining what type of content you will post and how you intend to grow your following and your business. Concentrate on engaging your local audience and developing relationships with your followers. 

Remove Duplicate Content

Websites that reuse the same content on multiple sites or copy external sources word for word get penalized by Search Engines. Search engine algorithms—the set of rules that govern search engine rankings—can detect duplicate content on your site, which can harm your search rankings.

Copying and pasting between your sites is quick and easy, but it’s not the best strategy for improving your search engine rankings. For example, if you create multiple landing pages for your products or services, make sure each one has a distinct description.

Fix Broken Links

You’ve probably visited a website that displayed the message “Error 404: Page Not Found.”

That is a broken link, and it must be repaired. Broken links not only direct users to dead ends, but they can also harm your local search rankings.

Broken links can occur for various reasons, including moving a web page address and forgetting to update your internal links, or linking to deleted content.

The image below could help you better understand the reason behind the broken links:

If a site visitor encounters a broken link, the poor user experience may increase your bounce rate, which is the percentage of visitors who leave your site without viewing any other pages.

Update broken links as part of your small business SEO checklist to ensure your website provides a good user experience. You can use a free SEO tool like Screaming Frog to identify broken links and then redirect traffic to other pages on your site.

Outreach To Build Valuable Links To Your Site

Your company must create shareable content when it comes to SEO for small businesses. That is, after reading your blog posts or online guides, people want to share them with their friends, business professionals, and colleagues. However, that is not always easy for a small business.

As a result, outreach is a critical component of SEO for a small business website.

You use outreach to connect with publishers and bloggers in your industry and pitch them your content. They may occasionally link to your content.

These links offer a wealth of SEO assistance to small businesses. Because outreach takes time, it is frequently one of the most significant challenges of small business SEO.

It’s an important part of SEO. 

This is because Google’s search engine algorithm considers the quantity and quality of inbound links (or websites linking to your site) when ranking search results. If your company lacks the time to conduct outreach, consider investing in content marketing services.

Conclusion

In this small business SEO checklist, I’ve shared the top tips I believe can help your small business grow and thrive. You can benefit from using search engine optimization in a variety of ways. You can improve your product or service’s visibility, site traffic, and, of course, sales potential. The above small business SEO checklist can help you generate great results, whether you are a budding entrepreneur or a startup owner who wants to be number one on Google and SERPs.

If you can remember the fundamentals of SEO, you are already on the right track. While large corporations frequently have an advantage in terms of search engine visibility and SERP rankings, you should not be discouraged.

Engaging in SEO practices and tactics can do wonders for your business by allowing you to reach a larger number of people.  You can hire our experts for assistance in initiating or establishing a strong SEO for your small-sized business and witness rapid growth!