Does SEO Matter For Small Businesses?

Google is changing so fast at the moment. With different levels of AI Overviews appearing at the top of the page, it can be difficult to know where websites stand in relation to these changes. Ultimately, whether you’re doing PPC or SEO it’s a fair question to ask: is any of it worth it for smaller businesses?

With competition from bigger brands and now Google itself, is it worth spending your time and budget on these channels.

 

Your Size Is An Advantage in Local SEO

Local SEO should still be a part of your strategy. Bigger brands can’t niche down to your local area and target these areas effectively with SEO.

When compiling results for local searches Google still takes into account relevance and proximity to the searcher before displaying different local websites. Yes, big brands can and do show in this list but you’re more likely to appear here if you complete basic SEO optimisations.

We’d recommend with making it clear where you are and which areas you cover as part of your services. Complete Google My Business Profiles, Bing Business Listings and Apple Maps listings to help customers navigate to you as well as sign post where you are.

Don’t forget to monitor these and keep them regularly updates, customers can leave reviews on these platforms so keep an eye out to respond to them, the good and the bad!

 

Get The SEO Basics Right

There’s still a lot to be said for doing the basics and doing them well! We’re not even talking about fancy things here. Making sure all your pages are accessible, if they need to be, that your page loads quickly on mobile and desktop and having content that’s high quality and relevant can get you most of the way there!

If your website is a one page website that doesn’t have nay information a customer would want, doesn’t explain what you do or where you’re based why would Google want to send a user to it?

It can be helpful to put yourself in the mind of a local customer, what information would they need about your products and services? How would they search for a business like yours?

If you’re not sure we offer a local SEO package tailored to smaller businesses to help you get started online, compete with the bigger brands and grow your revenue. Contact us for a quick chat to see how we can help you get seen online.

 

Make Sure Your Website Works

User experience can help with your local SEO and organic visibility. Websites that work well, load quickly and don’t have spam are always going to be favoured by users and the algorithm alike.

Prioritise a good user experience on all devices. Make sure it’s clear for a user where they need to go to get in touch with you so they don’t get frustrated and leave for a competitor.

 

 

Have key information prominently on the website like your phone number, forms and when you’re open.

It sounds simple, but it works!

If you’re not sure where to make improvements to your user journey, we can run an audit of your website to find the areas where your customers get frustrated and leave. Helping you to retain customers and get more leads from your website.

 

Use SEO With Other Channels For Growth

It’s undeniable that Google is sending less traffic through to websites through information queries (“Why is the sky blue?”, “How to change a lightbulb?”) vs transactional keywords (“led lightbulbs” or “used cars near me”).

The way to maintain your search level is to use SEO practices to stand out locally, provide a great experience and combine this with other channels to grow your brand.

This can something as simple as organic social, starting to regularly post content and updates from your business on social platforms like Instagram & TikTok. If you can find the time, video content is becoming stronger all the time on these platforms, film snippets of your day to day to put together videos showing off your brand and products.

This helps you build an online presence, brand recognition and can bring new customers to you in it’s own right.

To be seen faster on Google search results, there’s still PPC. For transactional searches, the cost can vary significantly based on your industry. for example legal, health and property based keywords are typically higher than the average. However, if you restrict the area your ads can show and choose keywords that are very relevant to your business you can find a sweet spot where you get traffic and leads without massively inflating your budget.

If you’re interested in getting started with PPC, we can help. Fill in our form below to get started! Whether you’re just launching a website for the first time or are wanting to grow your current business to get seen locally, we can help. You can call us on 0330 229 3022 to speak to one of our team or contact us online to book your free consultation.