I’ve been learning about search engine optimisation (SEO) for a little more than five years. While this might not seem like a long time, when working with new clients, I am often reminded of just how much I know about it.
In other words, I forget that most people know nothing about writing SEO content. What’s more, I am not only familiar with the basics but also know what organic methods actually work and what cheap tactics to avoid.
Anyway, with this in mind, I wanted to lay out a quick guideline for small businesses that want to improve their online presence.
3 Quick Ways to Improve Your Online Presence
1. Clean Up Your Existing Content
It’s important to clean up your existing content. For instance, you should remove any badly written posts and optimize the ones you keep. Just so you know, this simply means that you might insert better keywords to an existing article and add internal/external links to the piece for better SEO.
Tip – Google appreciates internal links as they help search engine crawlers navigate the website. Meanwhile, external links to authority websites such as newspapers or established websites adds credibility to what you publish.
2. Get the Most Basic Backlinks Sorted (And Fix Your Branding)
You need to know about backlinks and understand that these backlinks play an essential role in getting to page one on Google. However, you also need patience and to know that something like this can take many months and years to master. Moral of the story? Start now.
Here are some quick backlinks to sort out right now.
Google My Business – Free tool to help customers find your business. It’s integrated with Google maps and allows you to update business information such as opening hours, website address etc.
Linkedin Page – High authority site which allows you to include your website domain and add a professional touch to your online presence.
Social Media – It should go without saying that your business should have a page or account on all social media channels. However, you need to make sure your website is attached the these accounts to increase your authority in the eyes of Google. That goes for Facebook, Insta, Twitter etc.
Now, it should be clear that creating the above backlinks is just as important for branding as search engine optimisation!
3. Know the Power and Importance of Online Reviews
If you have a review system, set up an account on Yelp or another website which allows for reviews. Googles places a lot of importance on these websites as online users absolutely LOVE to read reviews!
Needless to say, you should also encourage reviews on Facebook or any other accounts which facilitate them. And best of all? This entire process is automated so as long as you provide an outstanding service, you can expect these reviews to work in your favour.
Now, this is only scratching the surface in terms of SEO for small businesses. And just so you know, I’m a content writer in Ireland and can help you with each and any of the above as part of my services. So feel free to contact me!
