An SEO marketing guide gives you a step-by-step plan to improve your business’s search rankings. It allows you to see the opportunities you may have missed.
SEO is more than just using all the relevant keywords; it’s about understanding how your customers search and ensuring your website delivers the answers they need.
Here’s why you should care about SEO: Implementing SEO strategies helps boost your website’s visibility, attract more customers, and grow your business.
7-Step SEO Marketing Guide for Small Businesses
Small businesses like yours – gain a better understanding of Google ranking and traffic to improve their search engine presence.
Ranking isn’t as simple as creating a website or posting on social media, but it also isn’t as complicated as many seem to believe.
Here are the essential steps to help your business thrive on search engines like Google.
1. Get to know your market
2. Use the right keywords
3. Write people-first content
4. Don’t overlook your metadata
5. Make sure your website is user-friendly on all devices
6. Get the other websites or users to link back to you
7. Avoid using black hat techniques
1. Get to know your market
In search engines, it’s all about creating content aimed towards the user or your target audience.
Creating content with your target market in mind does two things:
- Engages your audience.
- Pleases search engines.
That’s a win-win.
Search engines penalize manipulation attempts while rewarding those who focus on their target market and bring value to their users.
But identifying your target audience is more than just learning about their gender, age, and location.
It’s about figuring out what their interests, pain points, and desires are. Here’s how you can find them:
– The Storybrand Brandscript is an excellent tool to help you delve into your audience, as well as using Google Analytics and Facebook Insights.
– Search online forums and social media to learn about the issues they have related to your products and services.
– Asking your customers or visitors to take a survey is one of the traditional ways to learn about your target audience.
– Surveys can compile information about their thoughts about your offer, pain points, demographics, and other important details.
Understanding your target market shapes everything in your marketing, not just in SEO.
You’ll find the right tone for your content, a voice that speaks directly to your audience, and discover the exact keywords they use when they search on Google.
Understanding your target market also reveals where they are in the buying process, whether they’re just browsing or ready to buy.
2. Use the right keywords
Knowing your target market is key to choosing the right keywords. This connects your brand with your audience by using the same words they search for.
Understanding the intent behind people’s search queries is crucial for effective search engine optimization.
Keyword intent helps you find the right keywords at each stage of the sales funnel:
- Informational Intent:
Imagine someone just starting their search. They’re curious, asking questions, and not looking to buy yet.
They’re at the top of the sales funnel. For example, a keyword like “What are the features of iPhone 12 ” is perfect here. It’s all about learning and exploring.
- Navigational Intent:
For users who know what they want, like a specific brand or product.
They’re typing in something like “Apple iPhone 12.” It’s like heading straight to a store because they know what they want.
- Commercial Intent:
This is where people are considering a purchase but are still comparing or looking for reviews.
They might search “best iPhones in 2024,” trying to find the perfect fit for their needs.
- Transactional Intent:
Finally, we have those ready to take action, with wallets in hand. Keywords with transactional intent are direct, like “buy iPhone 12 now.”
By aligning your keywords with user intent, you can effectively guide your audience through the sales funnel, providing the right information at each stage.
Long-Tail and Short-Tail Keywords
Understanding the difference between short-tail and long-tail keywords is important for your SEO marketing.
Short-tail Keywords are general, broad terms, usually three words or less. Examples are “Apple,” “digital marketing,” and “best gaming headset.”
Think of them as wide nets you cast in the ocean – they cover a lot, but it’s tough to rank for them because there’s a lot of competition.
You’ll often see these keywords on home pages or in major pillar content.
They set the stage, laying the foundation for your content.
Long-tail Keywords are the more specific, longer phrases. They’re like using a fishing rod in a specific part of the lake.
Examples are “Apple latest mobile model,” “digital marketing Google free course,” and “best gaming headset jb hi-fi.”
Long-tail keywords commonly have less traffic volume, but they’re easier to rank for.
These keywords are better to use if your website is new or your brand isn’t widely known yet.
[ For a successful SEO strategy, you want a mix of both short-tail and long-tail keywords] {designers quote}
3. Write people-first content
Gone are the days when keyword stuffing and sneaky tactics could get you to the top of search engine pages.
Today, it’s all about writing content that’s helpful and engaging for people, and it is what this SEO marketing guide encourages you to do.
What does Google say about it?
According to Google’s latest algorithm update, content that is people-first will be more favored than content created for the sake of content.
This means that brands that only write content to rank instead of speaking to their customers will be penalized.
But how do you know if you are creating content that is people-first-orientated?
This questionnaire from Google Developers will help you align your content with Google’s standards and maximize your results.
Answering yes to the questions below means you are on the right track with a people-first approach:
– Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?
– Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
– Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
– After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
– Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
How E-E-A-T can help
The concept of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) is also key in Google’s approach and can help make your content more customer-focused.
They look for these aspects, especially in content related to health, finance, safety, and societal welfare (your money, or your life).
When Google evaluates content, especially in these sensitive niches, it wants to ensure that the information is accurate and comes from sources with a solid foundation.
Experience
Google looks for content created by individuals or organizations with real-world experience in the subject matter.
Whether it’s health advice, financial tips, or safety guidelines, having hands-on experience lends credibility to the information presented.
Expertise
Expertise is about showcasing a deep understanding of the topic.
Content creators should demonstrate a level of expertise that comes from thorough knowledge and understanding, whether gained through:
- Formal education.
- Professional experience.
- Extensive research.
Authority
Authority is about being recognized as a trusted source in your field.
This could be through industry recognition, endorsements from peers, or a strong track record of producing reliable and accurate content over time.
Establishing authority helps build trust with your audience and with search engines like Google.
Trustworthiness
Users need to feel confident that the information they’re consuming is reliable and unbiased.
Content should be transparent, citing credible sources where necessary, and avoiding any misleading or deceptive tactics.
By focusing on providing valuable, accurate, and trustworthy information, you improve your chances of ranking well on search engine results pages.
It also builds a loyal audience base who rely on you as a reliable source of information ensuring your content delivers real value to your audience.
“Google’s ranking systems aim to reward original, high-quality content that demonstrates qualities of what we call E-E-A-T: expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness…
…Our focus on the quality of content, rather than how content is produced, is a useful guide that has helped us deliver reliable, high-quality results to users for years…”
Human vs. AI-generated content
According to Insight Partners, if you are not using AI in your marketing, you are missing out on an opportunity to dive into a $107.5 billion industry by 2028.
But this also doesn’t mean only using AI in your marketing. You also need a human’s touch.
There has always been a debate among experts about whether search engines, like Google, prefer content created by humans or AI.
Here’s a short excerpt from Google:
“ … It’s important to recognize that not all use of automation, including AI generation, is spam.
Automation has long been used to generate helpful content, such as sports scores, weather forecasts, and transcripts.
AI can power new levels of expression and creativity, and serve as a critical tool to help people create great content for the web.”
Google itself doesn’t care if your content is created by a human or AI, as long as you provide high-quality content.
If Google had it out for AI-generated content, then Wordlift’s post on ‘Can AI Content Rank on Google?’ would have already been penalized.
But guess what? It’s placed as a featured snippet on the first page of Google’s SERP!
And according to ZeroGPT, a free AI detector tool, this content is 98.23% AI-generated.
HOWEVER, does this mean you can use AI for content creation freely?
Not exactly.
AI tools are available to everyone, including your competitors, which means that a lot of the technical and theoretical information might already be out there.
If everyone’s using AI, you need to offer something new and beneficial to your readers to stand out.
We express our support for AI as a helpful tool that should assist in speeding up work processes. It is the key to success when using AI for SEO optimization.
Adding your unique touch and expertise to your content ensures your content is original and valuable to your audience.
4. Don’t overlook your metadata
Think about metadata as the ID card for your webpage. It tells search engines what your page is about and helps search crawlers decide if they should index your page.
There are many different types of metadata, but this SEO marketing guide will focus on the following:
- Title
- Description
- Alt tags
- Robot
- Viewport
Title
The title of your webpage is the first impression on a search engine.
If your title is catchy, people are more likely to click on it. Think of it as the headline of a newspaper article – it needs to grab attention.
But also remember: your title should deliver what it promises.
If someone clicks on your title and doesn’t find what they expected, they’ll quickly leave your page.
This will cause a high bounce rate, and can negatively impact your search engine rankings.
This high bounce rate tells Google that your page might not be fulfilling what the reader was looking for.
Description
While Google says that the meta description isn’t a factor in your page ranking, it doesn’t mean it’s not important.
Meta description influences whether someone will click on your website or not.
It’s like the blurb on the back of a book. If it’s intriguing and gives a good preview of what to expect, people are more likely to dive in for more.
Your meta description is your chance to convince users that your page has exactly what they want. It’s about making that connection in a few brief sentences.
So, while it might not boost your page’s rank directly, it plays a crucial role in drawing in the right audience.
Alt-tags
Search engines can’t interpret images the way humans do so it is imperative you use alt tags.
These short descriptions let search engines understand your images while also making your website usable for visually impaired visitors.
Why Alt Tags Matter:
- Accessibility: Visually impaired users rely on screen readers, and alt tags let those readers describe your images.
- SEO: Alt tags give search engines the context to understand your visuals, boosting your search rankings.
- Backup Plan: If an image doesn’t load, the alt tag appears, so users still get an idea of what was supposed to load.
Here’s an example.
Imagine a photo of a golden retriever puppy playing with a ball in the grass. A great alt tag would be:
– “Golden retriever puppy playing with a red ball in the grass.”
This is concise and descriptive and helps with searches about golden retriever puppies.
It’s like adding a caption that says, “Hey, this picture is about this topic.” This helps search engines understand what your image is about and how it relates to your content.
Alt-tags improve how well search engines index your site’s images.
They make your images more findable, and can give your content a real boost, especially if your site is heavy on visual content.
Robots.txt
Robots.txt is like giving instructions to search engine crawlers about what they should and shouldn’t pay attention to on your website.
For example, you might not want your ‘Thank You’ page, which shows up after someone fills out a form, to be indexed.
Or perhaps you prefer to keep your site’s WordPress login page out of search results.
Robots.txt is your way of setting these boundaries.
Viewport
The viewport is a set of instructions that tells search engines how to properly show your webpage on different mobile devices.
It’s crucial because it makes sure your site looks good and works well, no matter if someone’s using a tablet or a smartphone.
In simple terms, the viewport contributes to how user-friendly and consistent your site is when viewed on a phone, iPad, tablet, or computer.
5. Make sure your website is user-friendly on all devices
Nowadays, more people are browsing the internet on their mobile phones than on desktop computers.
It’s not surprising, then, that Google emphasizes how user-friendly websites should be on mobile devices with their Mobile-First Indexing update.
It means that when Google looks at your website to decide where it should rank, it primarily uses the mobile version of your site’s content.
This is true even if the person searching is using a desktop computer.
If your website is not easy to use on a mobile phone, you could run into some trouble ranking on Google even if it looks fantastic on a desktop.
6. Get the other websites or users to link back to you
Backlinks are links from third-party websites to yours.
Google analyst Gary Llyles mentioned that backlinks are no longer one of the top-ranking factors. But does that mean they’re not important?
Despite what search engines say about lessening the importance of backlinks, the reality seems a bit different.
When I attended the World Search Event in 2023, Matt Diggity, a prominent figure in SEO, said this:
“I spent so much time digging into the helpful content documentation, looking at every single line of it, trying to figure out where Outlook India is outperforming me on any of these factors…
Where are these low-quality articles on Forbes doing better in helpful content? Literally nothing. The only thing these websites are doing better than me is that they have more backlinks.
According to him, most search algorithms are more heavily influenced by backlinks.
It’s about more than just getting any backlinks – quality matters. Links from reputable and relevant sources are what count. Low-quality backlinks can harm your site’s ranking.
Here is how to get these backlinks:
- Post on Social Media:
Share your content on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
- Forum Posting:
Participate in forums related to your field and share useful information along with your website link.
- Guest Posting:
Write articles for other websites in your industry and include a link back to your site.
- Citations in Google My Business and Online Directories:
List your business in directories with a link to your website.
- Reaching Out to Bloggers and Reputable Sites:
Collaborate or ask for a feature on their platforms.
- PR Releases:
Issue press releases that include your website link.
It’s about building relationships and offering value. When you do this right, the backlinks will follow, helping your website gain credibility and improve its ranking.
7. Avoid using black hat techniques
The best advice you can ever get on using black-hat SEO techniques is – don’t.
They might seem like a quick fix to boost your rankings, but it’s a short-lived victory. Google is smart and getting smarter all the time at spotting these tricks.
Using black-hat methods can backfire.
Google doesn’t take kindly to these tactics and will penalize your site for it significantly dropping your rankings, and making it harder for people to find you.
Worse, Google might de-index your website entirely. That means your site won’t show up in the search results at all.
We stick to the rules – we focus on building our SEO the right way from the start. It might take longer, but it’s worth it for lasting results and a clean reputation.
3 Quick SEO Tips to Apply SEO to Marketing If You Own a Small Business
If you are running a small business, you need an SEO marketing guide to help you incorporate SEO into your business, especially when resources are tight.
High-end tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs are nifty, but they are pricey. So, here are some quick, budget-friendly tips to add SEO to your marketing:
- Utilize Free Tools and Search Engines:
There are lots of free tools out there that can give you a good start.
Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and other free resources can offer valuable insights into your website’s performance and how visitors interact with your content.
- Reverse Engineer:
Look at what your successful competitors are doing and learn from them.
This doesn’t mean copying their content, but understanding their strategies – like what keywords they’re ranking for and how they structure their content.
- Outsource:
If SEO feels overwhelming, consider outsourcing some aspects of it.
This could mean hiring a digital marketing agency. They have all the nifty tools and can handle the complex parts while you focus on running your business.
Our article on SEO tips for small businesses goes into more detail on these strategies, along with additional advice.
And, if you need a more personalized SEO guide in marketing, schedule a free consultation with an expert.
See how our team can drive an insane amount of highly targeted traffic to your website and then convert it.
Websites that sell:
Most websites don’t convert, your’s will.
SEO that ranks:
Get on the first page of Google, guaranteed.
Ads that work:
Clear predictable returns.
Content Marketing:
Our team will create the images, write the articles and grow your brand.