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Many small businesses often struggle to attract quality leads to their website. That’s because there’s a common misconception that you need a big budget for advertising, which leaves many entrepreneurs feeling trapped and unsure of how to improve their digital presence.
The truth is that search engine optimization (SEO) can help you get consistent leads without having to pay a ton of money for advertising. SEO is a great way for your content to rank well on search engines, thus establishing your authority and improving online visibility.
And yet — some business owners shy away from SEO because it seems complex, and they don’t have time to learn all about it. Luckily, you don’t have to.
In this article, I’ll tell you about the five most beneficial things you can do to leverage SEO to grow your business. Let’s dig in.
Related: 3 Powerful SEO Techniques That Will Boost Your Website’s Search Engine Ranking
1. Create quality content
Your website is an information hub that search engines analyze to determine whether it’s relevant to users. This means that if you want to establish topical authority and secure a good ranking on search engines, you need to create quality content.
For example, if you run an accounting agency, your website should have a blog section covering the most important topics about accounting. That way, search engines see you as an authority in the industry, which increases your chances of ranking high for relevant keywords.
So, what does quality content look like?
Quality content should be relevant, addressing the questions and needs of your target audience. It should also be deep, offering insights and solutions that showcase your expertise and match user intent.
Your content should also be engaging and valuable. You can achieve that through user-friendly storytelling, recent and trustworthy data, interactive elements, good visuals or thought-provoking discussions.
Poor-quality content is a short wall of unstructured, uninformative text with excess keyword stuffing, no visual elements and a lack of any benefit to the reader. Publishing this type of content brings no value to your business.
2. Use guest blogging
Backlinks are crucial to your website’s authority and ranking because they help establish credibility with search engines.
When other factors like content quality and user-friendliness are equal, search engines perceive a website with a higher number of quality backlinks as more authoritative and trustworthy. Essentially, backlinks function as endorsements from other websites, signaling to search algorithms that your content is valuable and relevant.
So, how do you get backlinks?
One practice you can use to acquire backlinks to your website is guest posting. It allows you to contribute well-crafted, insightful content to reputable websites in your industry, giving you a chance to position yourself as an authority.
Guest blogging has multiple benefits: It allows you to showcase your expertise in front of more people and helps you build backlinks. That’s a perfect way to boost your online visibility, outrank your competitors and attract a broader audience to your digital domain.
Related: 5 Common SEO Mistakes That Are Killing Your Rankings
3. Create service landing pages
Service landing pages are dedicated sections on a website that provide detailed and focused information about specific products or services a business offers. They help support targeted marketing efforts and improve overall user experience.
Each service page presents an opportunity to optimize for specific keywords related to that offering. That allows you to match the user’s search intent and contributes to your overall SEO strategy.
Navigating a website becomes easier when visitors can easily find detailed information about the services they are looking for. Service pages streamline the user journey, reducing bounce rates and increasing engagement. They guide potential customers from exploration to engagement.
What does a service landing page look like?
Let’s say you are a personal injury lawyer looking to boost your SEO. Your service landing pages should be about slip and fall injuries, automobile accidents and workplace injuries. That provides quick and valuable information to people looking for these services and improves your visibility on search engines.
4. Create location landing pages
Location landing pages are designed to provide specific and localized information about the products or services a business offers in a particular geographic area.
They are crucial for businesses serving multiple locations because they improve local SEO efforts, offering a tailored approach that caters to the unique needs and search intent of users in a specific area. Dedicated landing pages for each city or region improve online visibility in local search results and provide a more personalized experience for potential customers. This increases the likelihood of successful conversion.
For example, a small personal injury law firm based in Texas would benefit from having location landing pages for cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano and Irving. Creating these unique pages on the website tailored to the legal needs of residents in each city can significantly improve local SEO efforts.
Related: 7 Practices for Creating High-Converting Landing Pages
5. Improve website experience
In 2023, user experience impacts how well your content ranks on search engines. That’s because Google and other search engines want to ensure their users are satisfied with search results, which is why they go for solutions that are simple, quick and accessible.
Here’s how you can improve your website experience for your visitors:
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Make your website mobile-friendly
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Design a simple website bar for easy navigation
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Increase page loading speed
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Create strategic CTAs to guide users in their journey
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Optimize content readability
In 2023, you don’t need a hefty advertising budget to grow your small business. All you need is to be strategic with your SEO efforts.
Creating quality content, service landing pages and location landing pages helps you set a good base for your SEO. Guest blogging and optimizing your website experience can help take your SEO to the next level.
Use these five strategies to transform your digital presence and grow your business.
