Growing your business online isn’t a matter of luck. It requires strategy–and a dash of proficiency. And any effective online strategy needs to utilize Search Engine Optimization, otherwise known as SEO.
You’ve likely come across this term before, but perhaps you never really delved into what it was. Whether you are just discovering what SEO stands for or you are trying to figure out how to leverage its use to grow your business, this blog post is a helpful place to learn about SEO for beginners.
With some expert input from Laura Dolan, Senior Content Marketing Manager at Optimizely, and some hefty research, we’ve created a “magic spell” of sorts to help you understand and use SEO for small business or brand growth.
Just remember that SEO strategy isn’t a one-stop-shop to success. You need to build a strategy that evolves with your brand. This is just the start of the journey and the more you understand SEO, the more you’ll become an expert.
Understanding SEO means understanding search engines
The reason that SEO is so important today is because of how online search engines like Google or Bing operate. Those search engines find, examine and index every piece of content that is available online, whether it is a blog post, an ad, a video or a picture. Then, when someone types in a search term, the search engine will provide the best results possible to match or answer the search.
This is executed through the use of keyword indexing. The search engine also assesses the relevance of the page in relation to the search query, the quality of the content found, the usability of the page and, in some cases, the location in regards to the user’s location. And this applies to all kinds of content such as videos, webpage content, photos and more.
Search engines value relevance and authority in the content that they index and then show to searchers. This criteria allows them to evaluate where results are ranked–the better your ranking, the more likely you are to be seen in the top results or on the first page of results.
Keep this in mind as you start building your SEO strategy: the quality of your content + your keyword strategy + the authority of your website = the success and growth of your audience and brand as you press forward.
The magic spell to start your SEO strategy
This “spell” or guide is going to give you a helpful starting point on your journey to using SEO for small business success.
Step 1. Make sure you have the right tools and ingredients on hand
If you are brewing a potion, you need a pot, something to stir with, and other necessities to get the job done. The same applies to getting your SEO strategy in place. You’ll need:
- Knowledge of your target audience: This is where that fun phrase “get in their head” comes into play. You need an idea of who your target audience is and what they’re looking for so you can meet their pain points.
- Reliable keyword research tools: These tools allow you to figure out which keywords your target audience might be looking for. You can leverage tools such as:
- The types of content that you’ll be optimizing: Where are your keywords going to go? In your website content? On a specific landing page? In your social media captions? In your online ad copy? Make sure you know where the keywords you end up choosing will live because it can be a defining factor in the terms you end up selecting, for example, placing your most “searched for” keywords in the navigation bar. “Strategically placing keywords/phrases in these areas will always yield desirable conversion rates,” Laura points out.
Step 2. Start brainstorming relatable keywords to use
You likely started your business from a dream or an idea and, unsurprisingly, the first few keywords you come up with are going to come from that same creative mindset. Brainstorm some keywords that you relate to your business and that you think someone might type in when they are looking for you.
In Laura’s words, “Take a look at the value proposition of your business. What pain points are you remedying for your audience? Once you establish that, try to get ahead of their thinking, what words or phrases would they search for to find you? It could be a series of single keywords or long tail keywords or phrases.“
She continues, “For example, let’s say you run a business that fixes broken appliances. You want some of your keywords to include ‘appliance repair’, ‘we fix appliances’, ‘affordable machine repair’, etc. Then you can get more specific and include phrases such as ‘dishwasher repair’, ‘washing machine repairs’, ‘HVAC repairs’, etc.”
It may help to choose a few categories of keyword types to make it easier to keep track of things too. For example, you may want to choose keywords that dovetail into certain categories on your website such as:
- Navigational words: keywords meant to direct to different areas on your website via your navigation bar (ex. {company name} products, {company name} services, FAQs, contact us, etc.)
- Transactional words: terms used by people trying to complete a transaction (ex.purchase here, register here, confirm here)
- Commercial words: Meant to obtain information on certain brands of services (ex., local coffee shop, local hair salon)
- Informational words: Terms that allow the searcher to get information that they want or need (ex. what are keywords; what is SEO)
Step 3. Build your recipe (strategy) with SEO keyword research
Once you have some keywords brainstormed then you’ll want to get to researching. Using your chosen research tool (see the list of examples above) you can narrow down or build out that list of keywords based on their relevance, their search volume, and how competitive they will be for you to rank for them. A short-tail keyword term may be relevant and garner high search volume but it may also be highly competitive. You may want to get more specific to yield relevant traffic for terms that are less competitive or easier to rank for.
Make sure to do your research and choose wisely and consider a range of factors such as:
- Where search terms are coming from: Search terms are different based on whether they are entered on a mobile device, a computer, or through a voice search. (Voice search is used when someone performs an online search using voice to text or an AI such as Alexa or a Google Home speaker).
- If your chosen terms are on-page or off-page: You are going to use different terms for a guest blog or a social media post than you would for a landing page on your website. Using both on-page and off-page SEO in your strategy is important to remember.The landing page is going to contain on-page SEO keywords while the off-page SEO keywords are for content that doesn’t directly live on your website. Other examples of this can include:
- On-page SEO can be used for title pages or navigation menus, on-site blog posts, or webpage content.
- Off-page SEO terms are those used in social media posts, provided for guest blogs, PR links, and backlinks.
- Regional search terms: If you are trying to get business closer to home, or even just within your state, it may help to include geotargets or location names in some of your keywords.
- User intent: This is a big one. This can define how people word their online searches. For example, if they are trying to find jewelry for a friend who likes to support local businesses, they might search for “locally-made gothic jewelry.” If someone is trying to find affordable alternative clothing, they might look for a term like “low-cost alternative clothes near me.” Again, try to get into your core audience members’ heads so when they go searching, you are ready to meet them halfway.
Here’s the thing to remember. No matter how you start out, strong or weak, an SEO strategy and the use of keywords is an ongoing process of choosing terms, trying them out, and adjusting your strategy based on what does and does not boost your traffic. As David Booth puts it in his LinkedIn course, “SEO is a never-ending journey, a long term process that creates long term value, based upon building authority and creating valuable content.”
Step 4. Make sure that you have quality content as your base
Now that you have your list of keywords that you think fit your brand and are likely to be what your ideal customer is hunting for, it is time to make sure that the “brew” you put these ingredients into is a good one.
Remember how we mentioned that online search engines judge the authority and quality of every page they index? That means they are judging your content. This is meant to help weed out those who might use black-hat tactics such as keyword stuffing or hidden text with keywords in it. Google and other search engines will give more preference to website pages and other forms of content that are done well.
If you already have your content created and living on your website, you’ll want to make sure to pair each keyword to one page on the site, making sure it makes sense with the copy and is fully relevant.
If you don’t have your content done yet, you can create content revolving around the keyword. For tips on creating quality content or copy for websites, social media platforms and more, you can get usable pointers here: Content Writing v. Copywriting: The Similarities, The Differences and Tips For Good Content.
Laura gives a bit more sage advice for us here: “If you determine a blog is the best way to go in covering different topics and including your keywords, start assembling a cadence for blog posting and dovetail it into your content calendar. In addition, start thinking about different content channels that you could leverage to supplement your site, do you plan to have videos, podcasts, webinars? Those are also great opportunities to create copy around those landing pages or include your keywords in your metadata on the backend to assist with Google crawling.“
Step 5. Add the keywords that best answer your audience’s ideal search queries
Too much cinnamon and nutmeg can easily ruin a recipe the same way that keyword stuffing can ruin content. As we mentioned above, you want to choose one to two keywords per page. These terms need to be highly relevant to the content (or vice versa) or a search engine may flag it as unreliable. Likewise, if an irrelevant term brings an ideal customer to a certain page that doesn’t have much to do with the term that best matches their query, they may write off your site as unhelpful or unreliable as a result–even though you have exactly what they’re looking for!
Step 6. And now, we wait
David Booth wasn’t lying when he called SEO a “long-term journey.” SEO is not going to provide overnight results. Creating and implementing a good keyword strategy requires an investment of your time. It may end up costing you money as you pay for better access to certain research tools or even bid on terms to see improved traffic performance sooner, and decide whether you want to use them to garner organic traffic or not.
Whatever the case may be, a strategy starts the day that you start implementing it and grows and changes over time. Part of implementing your SEO strategy will include determining what measurements you’ll use to track the success of different terms so you know what can stay, what can go, and what can be tweaked to help your business reach the people that it is meant to reach.
“Changes NEVER happen overnight!” Laura emphasizes. “In fact, anything you modify on your website could take up to a year before you notice any differences in traffic or engagement. Please grant yourself the patience it takes to see if the work you’re putting in has any effect. Never give up on your efforts!
Using SEO strategy to leverage your website or your social content is more than just choosing random words. The better your strategy, the more likely it might be to pay off in the long run. If you need help getting started or figuring out where to go with the long list of keywords that fit your brand, we can help with expert keyword research and SEO planning.
Contact RM Creative Services by sending a message to rachael@rmcsofficial.com or visiting our Contact page.
Written by Brianna Fries, a California-based writer, editor, bookworm, and mother of two. You can discover more of her work at brianna@rmcsofficial.com.