In today’s competitive, digital business environment, it can be hard to garner attention and attract customers. One of the best ways to do this is by utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Understanding SEO can feel overwhelming at first, but it can be extremely useful in gaining recognition for your business or brand. In simple terms, SEO is the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business.
Search engines such as Google or Bing utilize complicated algorithms that can make it hard for your business to appear in search results without an understanding of the requirements they deem important to show up in search results. To start, make sure that your Site Map has been submitted to Google Search Console. After that, one of the first steps in Search Engine Optimization is finding and researching keywords that are most relevant for your business.
A keyword is a search term or phrase that makes it possible for customers to find your site on a search engine.
A keyword ranking is your page’s position within the search results for a particular phrase. Your keyword should be simple, common language, and come from the customer’s perspective. It’s best to avoid industry-heavy terms that customers are not likely to use.
For example, when we’re car shopping online, we input “car” into Google, not “automobile”.
When determining keywords for SEO, there are many free tools that you can use to optimize your business and help in the research phase.
Keywords are an important first step in SEO, but there are many other free tools that you can utilize in addition:
Google My Business
Google My Business insights focus on how customers find your listing on Search and Maps, and what they do after finding it.
- The best source for local SEO
- Capture all customers that are physically near your business
- Focus on optimizing your Description, Categories, and Services with the keywords you want your business to be found for.
- Garnering positive Google Reviews is another important step as Google will return specific listings based on terms used by your customers in Google Reviews.
Google Search Console
Search Console tools and reports help you measure your site’s Search traffic and performance, fix issues, and make your site shine in Google Search results.
- Allows you to understand keywords users input to find your site. You can oftentimes use this data to understand how current and potential customers refer to your business in their own search terms.
- You can connect the Search Console with Google Analytics for deeper insights on your site traffic.
- Google Search Console is also where you’ll submit your Site Map to Google. This allows Google to know to index and crawl your site to show up in search rankings and results. This is a crucial step in getting your site noticed and ranking for search results.
Google Analytics
- Helps you understand and analyze your current and potential customers’ behaviors on your website
- Useful to understand from where and when online traffic is coming to your site
Google Trends
Google Trends provides access to a largely-unfiltered sample of actual search requests made to Google.
- Useful when wondering which terms or keywords are the most effective
- Helpful to provide relevancy based on trends when your business is doing keyword research
These are some of the simplest free tools that you can use to optimize your presence on the internet. Without SEO, it’s harder to stand up to competition. Remember that while these SEO tools are free, the results are not instant, and it could take months for search engines to pick up on your site. If you start planning early, however, SEO could be the strategy that defines the future of your business.
To learn more about search engine optimization and digital advertising, visit our Small Business Technology Resource Library.