SEO for small businesses – our services
Jargon-buster: SEO is the practice of setting up, then making improvements to, the data that makes up your website to make it as findable as possible to people online.
We make no bones about it: SEO takes skill and shed-loads of good, honest graft. But we love it. And it can pay off big style for small businesses.
We provide practical, punch-above-your-weight help with:
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SEO website audits and benchmarks – where you are now, and how you can improve
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Technical SEO – SEO for your website
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On-page SEO – SEO for your site's content
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Structured data
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Local SEO
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Google My Business
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Google Analytics and Console
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SEO-friendly content and copywriting.
All while keeping the SEO jargon to a bare minimum.
We can also provide you with clear, regular reporting on your SEO performance, so you can see the value of our efforts and a proven return on your investment.
Demystifying SEO once and for all
SEO is probably the aspect of online marketing that mystifies small business owners the most.
"How am I supposed to master this SEO business when I’m so busy running my own?", we hear you cry.
You probably know SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, but what does it entail in reality?
SEO is about making sure your site follows a series of best practices that Google considers fundamental to a great website. And the happier you keep Google, the more likely you are to appear in a Google search.
The fact is that most digital agencies want to keep SEO as mystifying as possible. It’s one of the many marketing acronyms designed to make the uninitiated tremble with technophobe fear. And that way they can overcharge to handle it for you.
We still hear tales of small business owners paying hundreds of £ every month for an agency ‘to do the SEO’ for them. With no evidence of it working.
Why SEO is so important for small businesses
Alongside an eye-catching and responsive website, SEO is the most important part of online marketing for a small business.
Why? Because SEO is the great leveller. Get it right and your small business can mix it with the big boys and grab those coveted spots atop the Google rankings.
Let’s start with a real-world example.
Here’s the first page of results for the Google search ‘what are my options when buying a designer wedding dress’:
The top spot for this Google search (known as position 1) is occupied by a client of ours, a local independent bridal shop in Derbyshire called Alexandra Anne.
Out of more than 45 million possibilities, Google has decided that this page is the most relevant to this particular search.
Not only that: it's suggesting another page from the Alexandra Anne site as the second-most relevant (position 2) as well.
That’s ahead of well-known magazines like Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar, trusted newspapers like The Independent, and high-profile bridal blogs like Hitched and Brides.
And it doesn’t cost a thing.
No marketing team. No monthly agency costs.
This is one example of SEO (and content strategy) in action. We identified an area of common interest for the bridal shop's target audience. Then we created a piece of Google-friendly content (in this case, a blog post) that now outperforms global mega-brands and drives potential customers straight to our client’s website.
Fancy joining the SEO party?
How SEO helps you meet your customers wherever they are
Fact: According to Google, more than 4 out of every 5 internet sessions start with a search. That’s well over 5 billion searches every day on Google alone.
We live in an always-on, always-on-the-move world. 87% of millennials have a smartphone by their side day and night. The next generation, Gen Z, expect instant answers and impeccable levels of service. They shop and interact with businesses like never before. And their brand loyalty is next to non-existent.
For shoppers, those once-predictable sessions of activity – going late-night shopping at a city-centre department store after work on a Thursday – are quickly being replaced by micro-moments online. Anytime, anywhere.
It’s the couple waking up to a heatwave and searching for the best local place for ice cream.
It’s the frazzled parent at 3am researching the best soother for a teething baby.
As a result, a simple Google search turns into a battleground, with businesses big and small vying for attention and a potential sale.
Google themselves call this the zero moment of truth.
And with voice search becoming ever more popular, there will be even more of these moments for your business to win.
That’s where SEO-friendly content comes in.
The importance of local SEO to small businesses
Fact: Online voice searches are now 3 times more likely to be local searches (e.g. ‘bike repair near me’). That’s a giant opportunity for local small businesses.
If you’re a local business, SEO is like a free set of signposts pointing Google (and Google Maps) users straight to your doorstep.
And it could be the difference between a customer coming to you for the very first time and choosing to head elsewhere.
Fact: Almost a decade ago now, Google’s The Mobile Movement study revealed that 88% of mobile users called or visited a local business within 24 hours of finding them online. 36% acted immediately. (That was way back in 2011. Just imagine what those numbers must be like now!)
Time to put your micro business on the map?
The difference between SEO and PPC
"Wait, can’t I just pay to be top of the Google rankings?"
Yes, you absolutely can. (We can help you with that, too.)
Jargon-buster: PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click. It's the model used by online advertising platforms like Google Ads.
The key difference is that those top search results with ‘Ad’ next to them are bought using Google Ads, whereas search results gained through SEO are earned. (Google's own word for this is organic.)
If a Google search was a holiday resort, PPC would be the shouty restaurants on the seafront. SEO would be the neighbourhood taverna where the locals eat, tucked away down a side street. They both get you where you want to be (fed), but they go about it in very different ways.
And consumers are getting wiser to paid advertising. Some would even argue that position 1 (the first earned/organic search result) carries more weight – and is therefore more attractive to the user – than a position 0 (the Ad result) that’s been paid for.
So rather than spending a fortune on online advertising, we prefer a more thought-through approach: targeted PPC where it counts, but always backed up by solid SEO.
You’ll reduce your Google Ads spend, and start building yourself a more meaningful reputation online.