If you googled your business right now, would it come up? What if you just googled your industry and city? Would a search engine know to pull up your website? Go ahead, give it a try!
Knowing how to get your website found in search engines is a crucial component of any modern business’s marketing strategy. You may need an agency’s help for certain SEO techniques – such as building a mobile-friendly website. But fledgling entrepreneurs and small businesses might not have the budget to work with an agency yet. Don’t worry, there’s a lot you can do on your own!
Read on for 7 basic SEO tips you can use to DIY your search engine optimization.
Seven Easy SEO Tips You Can Do At Home
#1: Claim Your Google Business Listing
Claiming your Google My Business is one of the easiest things you can do to boost local SEO. It won’t take long at all, either. Give yourself about 10-15 minutes and follow these steps:
- Go to Google My Business.
- Go to the “start now” icon in the top right-hand corner.
- Enter your business’s information in the menu to the left, including name, physical address, and website address.
- Google will send you a verification code, and once you’ve entered the code into your Google account, you’re all set!
If you see a screen that matches your business to an existing business, verify that the listed business is indeed yours. If it is and has already been claimed, Google has suggestions on claiming your business page when someone else has already verified it.
#2: Start A Blog
You’ve probably heard this SEO tip before, but it’s an effective one!
Why?
Search engines love content.
They want to provide searchers with great information, so posting accurate, in-depth content is a great way to get your website found! Starting a blog is the perfect way to share more information about your company and industry!
That may sound like a lot, but it doesn’t have to be a chore. Blogging should be fun! You love your company and you’ve worked hard to get where you are! Your blog gives you a chance to share that passion and experience with potential customers.
Ready to start brainstorming topics? When deciding what to blog about, start by asking yourself what questions your customers have and how you can answer them.
#3: Link To Other Sites
Who are the thought leaders in your industry? In the world of marketing, Hubspot and Moz are great resources. Their blog posts tend to pop up in the first couple pages of search results because they’re high-quality and accurate.
Who are the thought leaders in your field? Which brands or people are respected sources of information?
Include links to relevant content by industry leaders in your blog posts. Linking to high-quality content makes you look like more of an authority on that subject, to both your readers and search engines.
#4: Start Using Keywords In Your Content
When a potential customer looks for your product, they’ll enter a keyword in the search engine, like “Car Wash in Rocklin, CA.”
So when the search engine crawls through website content to find the answer to their query, it’ll look for sites that, among other factors, contain phrases similar to “Car Wash in Rocklin, CA” to help the searcher find exactly what they’re looking for.
Boost your SEO by using keywords and phrases like the one above to indicate exactly what your site is about. You’ll want to work keywords into key areas such as blog titles and headers as well as the content itself.
(You don’t have to go overboard and stuff the content with your keyword, though! Google is good at picking up on variations of a keyword or phrase to figure out what your content is about. Let it come up in your content naturally.)
Not sure what your customers are searching for? Tools like Moz’s Keyword Explorer can help you figure out which keywords are most effective.
#5: Rep Your Hometown
If your business has a physical storefront, make sure you’re tailoring your SEO for your geographical region.
For example, when you’re choosing blog topics cover industry events and activities in your area and mention the city by name. When you’re choosing keywords, using the name of the city is a great way to reach local customers. (That’s what we did in our example above, “car wash in Rocklin, CA.”)
Getting your business listed in local directories, such as with your local chamber of commerce, can also help with local SEO.
#6: Explore Google Analytics
Finally, take a look at the Google Analytics data for your website. (If you don’t yet have Google Analytics on your site, your web design team can help you set it up.)
This will show you what’s working for you and what’s not. Which pages do people visit the most? Which ones do they click on and then immediately leave?
Use this to track how well the SEO tips you’re using are working! Are you using your Facebook posts to direct people to a particular page on your website? You can use this data to see if people are accessing that page from Facebook, and if so, whether they’re staying on the page or bouncing off.
You don’t need an arsenal of tools to get started optimizing your site for Google. The same crafty thinking and elbow grease that you used to get your business off the ground will allow you to dive into the world of SEO.
Plus, when you’re ready to take your SEO strategy to the next level and work with a marketing agency (wink wink, nudge nudge) knowing a few basics like the SEO tips above will allow you to take a more active, educated role in your website design and marketing.