As a small business owner, working out where SEO fits into your marketing strategy and advertising budget can be a tough feat. However, in 2024, implementing SEO techniques is more important than ever. To expand your online presence, increase visibility and gain new organic traffic from search, you will need to consider search engine optimization strategies to see your business grow.
As of 2019, businesses that have marketing budgets of more than $1,000 a month allocate around 55% of their monthly budget to search engine optimization.
So, what if you don’t have $1,000 per month to spend on SEO? There are hundreds (or thousands) of small businesses competing for the same spot in the search engines in your niche and area.
Fortunately, you don’t necessarily need an extensive marketing budget to execute basic SEO. All you need is a reasonable amount of time to dedicate to learning how to implement SEO strategies into your business.
Businesses not implementing SEO into their marketing strategies in 2024 are missing out on an enormous opportunity to increase online exposure. In today’s digital age, it is essential to understand how a business can flourish with Google and expose itself to new audiences and generate new leads.
One of the main reasons businesses avoid SEO is because search engine optimization is viewed as one of the most confusing aspects of digital marketing. Due to Google’s ever-changing algorithm and the uncertain nature of what is involved in ranking a website, basic SEO is often overlooked and put into the too hard basket.
Search engine optimization is one of the most cost-effective and scalable ways to increase your digital presence when compared to other advertising mediums such as paper quick and social media marketing.
Not every business can afford to hire an SEO agency to help them with their search engine optimization, however, there are still several steps that you can take to implement effective SEO with a little bit of strategic thinking. Search marketing company Safari SEO Sydney shares three actionable ways that small businesses can improve their organic traffic on a budget.
- Google My Business
If your business relies on online exposure for generating leads, then you need to have a Google My Business (GMB) account. If you haven’t already set up your GMB listing, there is a good chance that someone else has already done it for you and therefore you have to claim the listing. Google my business is a great way to increase your local exposure and is an essential first step in SEO for any company.
There are several aspects of search engine optimization that are complicated. However, Google my business is one of the most straightforward steps that you can take to improve your online visibility. Google is trying to help businesses by offering this service; if you are not using it, then you are missing out on an enormous opportunity.
- RefreshExisting Content
Regularly publishing fresh content on your website can seem like a pretty daunting task. Particularly for small businesses that don’t have a dedicated marketing or content development team, it can seem intimidating to have to update your website with fresh content regularly.
The fact is, Google’s web crawlers are frequently indexing new content, and every time a website publishes new content, it will be re-crawled and re-indexed by the search engine. Websites that regularly post new content have a much higher crawling index right and are much more likely to move up in the search engine rankings.
Adding new content to your website doesn’t have to be a massive chore. Try to set aside a couple of hours each week that you can dedicate to creating new content for your website. Over weeks, months, and years you will dramatically increase the number of pages on your website and broaden your ranking potential.
- Focus on Longtail Keywords
Getting to the top of the search engine results pages can take months or sometimes even years. If you are a small business or a new website looking to attract new leads, the smartest thing that you can do is focus on long-tail keywords.
Ranking for highly competitive key terms is what takes months or even years. By targeting more specific long-tail keywords, you have a much higher chance of ranking on page 1 and attracting new leads to your business. Furthermore, long-tail keywords typically have a higher conversion rate and greater user intent then broad, highly competitive general keywords.
Wrapping Up
Search engine optimization is a long-term strategy. Increasing your organic presence in the search engine results pages takes serious commitment. However, you don’t need to have an intricate knowledge of every single aspect of the Google ranking algorithm. You also don’t need a substantial allocated marketing budget to be successful with SEO.
Instead, if you are a small business that is looking to increase your leads, you need to focus on a few of the critical areas mentioned above. Taking small steps in SEO is much more useful than taking no actions. Implementing these strategies into your small business marketing strategy will skyrocket your organic presence, increase inbound leads and enhance your online presence.
