Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way for small businesses and start-ups to connect with their target audience, who gather information from search engines, primarily Google… To do it yourself may sound overwhelming or a little intimidating at first because of the wealth of information that is out there on the topic, but a well-structured SEO campaign can actually become part of your day-to-day business management. It helps drive traffic, increase visibility, and boost leads or sales without breaking the bank if you do it yourself (DIY) so why not spend the time to learn about it?
Table of Contents
This guide has been published to take you through the basics of SEO and offer advice to help you get started. If you’re thinking about collaborating with an SEO agency or freelancer, this article will also help you understand the pro’s and con’s in doing so.
If you have any specific questions then feel free to reach out! Heads up, read time is estimated at 17 minutes!
What Is SEO?
SEO is a process to improve a website’s online visibility (aka rankings) in search engine results pages (SERPs). This is primarily done by creating a website, publishing and optimising content, enhancing user experience, and implementing technical SEO best practices.
Small business owners can get their website ranking higher for product or service relevant keywords that are searched by target audiences. The main aim is to make it easier for potential customers to find products or services online. This is done my creating pages that have relevant content.
Google alone processes billions of searches daily, with 49% of shoppers using it to discover or find new items or products according to a research done by Think with Google. Showing up in these search results is essential to attracting customers for small businesses or start-ups.
Here’s a diagram that may help digest it in an easier way:
What Are SEO Ranking Factors?
SEO ranking factors are ‘things’ Google’s systems use to determine how relevant, credible, and popular a website or web page is to decide whether it should appear in their search results. Consider it like a checklist of items they tick-off when crawling or accessing a website.
Yes, Google uses crawlers, also known as spiders, which are essentially robots that navigate the entire online ecosystem. Picture them like spiders crawling the World Wide Web… These crawlers tick-off specific checklist items, such as:
- Does this website have a title?
- Does it have clear headings?
- Does it have a well-structured list of web pages to crawl?
Google’s ‘checklist’ is actually an algorithm designed and developed to assess the relevance, credibility, and popularity of websites. This determines their ability to appear (or rank) on the first page of search results. No one really knows how many search engine ranking factors they have but Google’s SEO Starter Guide offers insights that help us make educated guesses. Taking on a test-and-learn approach to identify what works and what doesn’t in an SEO strategy is often the most effective strategy.
Google regularly updates their algorithm, adding new items to tick-off from their ‘check-list’ when crawling websites. Staying informed about these changes is essential to minimise the risk of traffic declines after each update.
Some key ranking factors for 2025 include:
- Relevant & descriptive content: High-quality, helpful, and engaging content that answers user queries.
- Mobile-friendliness: Websites optimised for mobile devices.
- Page speed: Fast-loading pages that enhance user experience and reduce bounce rates.
- Technical SEO: Elements such as structured data, XML sitemaps, and secure HTTPS connections.
- User experience (UX): Easy navigation and logical site structure.
For more information, refer to the horses mouth… Google’s SEO Starter Guide.
How to Do SEO as a Small Business
SEO doesn’t need a large budget, but keep in mind that competition can be fierce for certain keywords. Sometimes, a higher investment is necessary if you want to accelerate performance. However, breaking strategies into digestible chunks, adopting patience, and a test-and-learn mentality, as mentioned earlier, forms the path for long-term success in any SEO strategy. This can save time and costs!
If you’re learning SEO and planning to do it yourself, then here’s a step-by-step guide to help you kick things off:
Step1: Set clear goals
Determine what you want to achieve. Is it more website traffic, increased sales, or better local visibility? These goals will guide your strategy.
Step 2: Research keywords
Identify keywords your audience is searching for. Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or Keywords Everywhere can help you discover relevant keywords, such as “seo for small businesses” or “affordable seo for small businesses.”
- Here is a small step by step guide to help you do it with Keywords Everywhere.
Step 3: Optimise on-page elements
Most modern website systems such as WordPress, or Wix, allow you to optimise different parts of your pages. The parts of a web page that you want to write descriptive information on and factor potential keywords are:
- Titles: Include primary keywords in your page titles, CTAs (call-to-actions), and your brand name. Try keep it to 60 characters.
- Meta descriptions: Write concise summaries about your web pages that invites the user into your website. Try keep this 150 characters.
- Headings: Make sure they accurately describe the content that follows, think relevance, think users, think unique, and ask yourself, does this encourage users to continue reading the contents that follow? Make sure you have one H1 on a page and it follows a logical order, e.g. H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and finally H6… there’s no such thing as a H7.
All these items help generate the advert that appears in organic search results. For example:
Step4 : Create valuable content
Google emphasises the importance of creating helpful, audience-focused content. They have a whole website dedicated to providing information for people who want to learn about SEO and drive traffic by publishing bespoke content for their target audience. Check out their guide on creating helpful content to learn more. In the meantime, here are a few points to consider if you’re actively publishing and creating content in the form of news, articles, and blogs on your website:
- Research user intent: Find out what your target audiences are looking for and meet their needs with content.
- Use multimedia: Add images, videos, and infographics to make your content interesting and clearer.
- Update content: Keep your information new and relevant by checking and refreshing your content from time to time.
- Author the content: Make sure users know who’s written the content to improve credibility an trust metrics.
- Link to credible sources: Add links to credible sources that relate to your content to encourage users to gather more information and help the credibility of what you are writing about.
- Break the content down: Make sure the content is broken down into clear digestible sections that flows with the overarching topic and theme.
- Make use of CTAs & internal links: Link to other relevant articles, products, or service pages. This will encourage readers to interact with more pages on your website helping the overall experience and reduce bounce rates (people leaving your website). In addition, they may even buy a product or get in touch for your services!
Step 5: Improve technical SEO (experience)
This involves fine-tuning your website to make it easier for users and search engines like Google to find and read your content. The aim is to speed up how long it takes for your pages to load and improve your user experience metrics such as pages per session, average time spent on the pages they are on, returning visitors and bounce rates, as well as implementing technical Web(W3C)/SEO best practices across certain elements of a page.
Google offers a section detailing the specifics and how to get started with technical SEO, check out the link to learn more. Some key factors highlighted include:
- Duplicate content: Does your website have the same content on different pages? If so, make sure every page is unique and targets a specific topic relevant for your target audiences.
- Mobile usability: Can users access your website from multiple devices? Mobile, desktops, and tablets. Making sure your content is accessible helps your business reach consumers through multiple touch points.
- Fix broken links: Often overlooked but if users click on a broken link then it interrupts their journey and potential to buy your service or product…look for and fix broken internal or external links.
- Page speed: How long does it take for your webpages to load? Do you use heavy images? Is your website modern adhering to performance best practices? Implementing these best practices can help improve page speed metrics like loading speed (LCP), responsiveness (FID), and layout stability (CLS).
- Use HTTPS: Is your website secure when users buy a product or send a lead? If not, then protect your site with an SSL certificate to help keep user data safe.
let’s collaborate.
How to Create a Google Business Profile Page
If your business serves a specific area, claim and optimise your Google Business Profile. This platform can compliment an SEO strategy and help drive brand awareness for branded search terms for your company name. It can also drive brand awareness by helping you appear in Google Maps that take up a lot of real estate for location based search terms. Here are a few steps to help you create one:
Step 1: Go to Google Business Profile
Click on the “Start Now” button.
Step 2: Login to Google & Add Your Business
Enter your business name. If it doesn’t appear in the dropdown, click “Add your business to Google.”
Select the appropriate category for your business.
Step 3: Choose a Business Location
If you have a physical location (like a shop or office), select “Yes” to add the address.
If you serve customers in a specific area (e.g. plumbing services), choose “No” and set up service areas instead.
Step 4: Add Contact Details
Input your phone number and website URL (if available).
Step 5: Verify Your Business
Google will ask you to verify your business. Common methods:
- Postcard: Google sends a postcard to your business address with a code.
- Phone: Some businesses can verify via text or call.
- Email: If available for your business type.
Step 6: Optimise Your Profile
Add the following information:
- Business hours
- Photos of your store, products, or services
- A detailed description of your business
Enable messaging (optional).
Step 7: Publish and Manage
Once verified, your profile will go live. You can manage and update it through the Google Business Profile Manager. You might want to consider reviewing and doing the following activities:
- NAP consistency: Ensure your Name, Address, and Phone number are accurate across all online listings.
- Photos: Include high-quality images of your location, products, or services.
- Encourage reviews from existing customers: Politely ask customers to leave reviews on Google and other platforms.
- Publish posts that links to your website: Create some content that interest your target audience and direct them towards your website with a link. Keep doing this probably around once or twice a month… it compliments your SEO strategy too so why not!
Understanding Your Audience’s Pain Points
To make content that really hits home with people, first figure out their problems. When you know what your target audiences are struggling with or what they need, you can create content that directly addresses that, helping them through the buying process.
For example, if someone needs running trainers and doesn’t know what to buy, the likely-hood that they will search for that information beforehand is pretty high, and if you sell running trainers then it makes sense to give them the information that they want before buying a pair from you, no?
Why Pain Points Matter
Google’s helpful content guidelines stress the importance of understanding your audience’s challenges. By concentrating on this, small-businesses and start-ups can establish themselves as trustworthy information sources from the get-go. This is important at the start of the customer’s journey, as they begin thinking about making a purchase.
Google basically understands the problems that the audience face in many industries so they try to give them the content that will help them out the best in organic search results.
How to Research Your Audience and Understand the Pain Points
- Capture feedback and insights: Buy or conduct surveys. Ask them questions through email, in social media, or in-person conversations. Ask questions like “What problems are you encountering before X?” or “What information would be most beneficial to you when X?” These questions can uncover valuable insights.
- Monitor social media discussions: Keep an eye on social media to understand what people are talking about but engage with them too. Tools like Meltwater, Hootsuite and Sprout Social can help tracking mentions, hashtags, and current trends.
- Research keywords: Make use of the keyword research tools mentioned earlier or have a play with Google Trends and AnswerThePublic to discover what people are actively asking Google. These tools can highlight trending topics and frequently asked questions.
- Engage with online communities: Engage in platforms like Reddit, Quora, or specialised forums related to your industry. These are great spaces to observe discussions and spot recurring challenges in your area of interest.
Create Content to Address Pain Points
Once you know your audience’s needs, focus on creating content that provides actionable solutions. For example:
- Write blog posts that explain how to solve common problems.
- Develop guides or tutorials that walk users through complex processes.
- Publish FAQs to address specific queries.
The Role of Helpful Content in the Path to Purchase
Google highlights that helpful content is significant to help influence target audiences to make purchasing decisions. People turn to search engines to find answers, evaluate options, and gain confidence in their choices. By publishing content that meets these needs, businesses can:
- Build trust with potential customers.
- Encourage repeat visits to their website.
- Become thought leaders in their industry.
Is SEO Worth It for a Small Business?
Absolutely! SEO is long-term, and it offers benefits that make it a valuable investment for small businesses. To keep costs down, start small then scale. Data speaks for itself so measuring sales or lead performance will help you undestand and make informed decisions on continuing or increasing your investment be it time or money.
By appearing and ranking higher in search results, businesses can:
- Increase brand awareness.
- Drive consistent, organic traffic.
- Build trust with potential customers.
Think with Google reports that 59% of shoppers say they research a product before they plan to visit a shop and buy it in-person, or go to buy it online. This demonstrates how critical it is for businesses to appear in relevant search results, particularly when consumers are close to making a purchase decision.
let’s collaborate.
What Are the Pro’s of Using an SEO Agency or Specialists?
SEO usually takes a while to learn. There are so many suggestions from different specialists, but everyone, in their own right, executes strategies and processes in slightly different ways. Some are better at audience mapping, while others excel at technical SEO or content creation. Yes, there are best practice guidelines that need to be followed, but ultimately, you will never know what works unless you test and learn from what you implement and patiently look at the data.
Here are some benefits for getting an SEO agency, consultant, or freelance to help you execute on your SEO strategy:
- Access to advanced tools: Specialists have experience and access to industry leading tools for things like keyword research, competitor analysis, and performance tracking. These tools provide insights that can be difficult to uncover without previous or specialist knowledge of the software.
- A collaborative approach: Partnering with them creates an environment where businesses and experts can work together to share ideas and tests to gather insights about their audience. This collaboration helps uncover consumer data more effectively, resulting in publishing real content that resonates on a deeper level.
- Regular audits and updates: The ones who keep a close eye on performance tend to provide regular updates on key metrics. This can reassure you that they make sure website, and content, remain in line with modern search engine best practices and mitigrate any risk of algorithm changes effecting performance.
- Content scaling: Most can help produce a higher volume of quality content more efficiently. This keeps the audience engaged while maintaining a competitive edge in the market.
What Are the Con’s of Using an SEO Agency or Specialist?
Despite the benefits mentioned above, it’s important to consider the potential downsides…
- Costly investment: Some have really high competitive rates which are often prohibitive for small businesses or start-ups with limited budgets, and models are based on a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to address the unique needs of your business and target audience.
- Lack of transparency: Some may not be upfront about their work. Business owners can struggle to understand what’s being done or whether it follows Google’s best practice guidelines. If shortcuts or black-hat tactics are used, it could lead to penalties that undo any progress made.
- Overdependence: Relying too much on on them can limit a business’s ability to learn and manage SEO independently. ‘Google’s Do You Need an SEO?’ guidance highlights that many improvements can be handled in-house with the right resources.
- Delayed results: SEO takes time, but working with an agency, freelancer, or consultant can sometimes cause additional delays due to limited internal resources or a lack of readiness to bring in extra support. Good SEOs are not only challenging for businesses to find, but finding reliable help to get the work done on both sides can also be difficult. Furthermore, miscommunication or prioritisation of larger clients may leave smaller businesses waiting longer to see tangible results.
- Misaligned goals: If they don’t fully understand your business objectives, their strategies may miss the mark. Focusing on vanity metrics like keyword rankings instead of meaningful outcomes like sales or conversions can waste valuable time and resources.
Tools to Measure SEO Efforts
Tracking progress is important to understand what’s working. It’s equally important to use tools that are affordable, reliable, and capable of providing valuable insights. Here are some FREE tools to help measure website traffic, keyword positions, user engagement, and conversions:
- Organic traffic & user engagement: Use tools like Google Analytics to track visitors arriving at your website from organic search. Key metrics include sessions, users, new users, bounce rate, time on site, and pages per session.
- Tracking keyword positions: Google Search Console can measure clicks, impressions, CTR (click-through rate), and positions for your website on Google search results. It reports data on a keyword and page level meaning you can really understand what’s delivering traffic, and where it lands.
- Conversions (sales or leads): You can set up conversion tracking in Google Analytics for free to understand whether the traffic generated to your website is actually driving business results.
To wrap up…
Kicking off an SEO campaign as a small business or start-up on your own might feel overwhelming, but with the right strategy, and applying patience, it’s entirely manageable. Here is a summary of the key tips to get you started:
- Research your audience to find out what their pain-points are and how they search online.
- Optimise your website and publish content for the topics that matter to them. Base your content on the keywords identified and don’t forget to be helpful!
- Create a strong user experience to attract and engage customers.
- Engage with your target audience across different social channels.
- Distribute the content you’re creating so your target audience can discover it in other websites, or social platforms.
- Measure and analyse the data, then repeat what works!
For additional support, had a read through Google’s SEO Starter Guide and How Search Works. They can offer valuable insights to start with. Alternatively, feel free to reach out with any questions you may have and I’ll be happy to share some ideas!
Leave a Reply