SEO Services That Can Improve a Small Business’ Reach

Interested in SEO services but not sure if your small business can afford it? Know how an SEO company can improve your reach and decide if it's worth it.

In a nutshell, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of crafting your content to be at the top of the search results. Finding a good SEO service company is key to generating organic traffic to your business.

Ideally, you’d want your audience to reach your website within a few clicks. When users search things on the Internet, one of the first places they’d go to is a search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Optimizing your content to fit a search engine’s algorithms (also known as “crawlers”) can help propel your website to the top of search results and push users to your website. That’s where SEO comes in.

If you’re up to the task, you can develop a better understanding of SEO best practices and create content on your own. Bear in mind that you can even partner with companies who specialize in digital marketing services to help you out with your content.

Understanding SEO

Whenever you set up an online page for your business, it’s only natural you release content in order to fuel traffic. That may be in the form of blog posts, product reviews, or promotional videos. By using SEO, your content should be among the top results of a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). In other words, you are trying to make your content more discoverable by users through a search engine.

However, there are taboos when it comes to SEO. These practices violate a search engine’s terms of service by artificially manufacturing a website’s rank. These are otherwise known as black hat SEO, and can lead to your website being blacklisted by top search engines. Avoid these practices if you want your website to maintain a strong presence in the future.

Now, there are four types of SEO to help you get started on your journey.

Each type all leads to the same path: that you get your content at the top of the pile. Let’s discuss them in detail:

On-page SEO

As its name implies, On-Page SEO (or On-Site SEO) is the practice of making content so your website ranks higher in search results and earns more relevant traffic. There are many pieces to this puzzle to help you build your website’s SEO ranking.

1. Content. You want to have a content strategy plan that helps deliver views to your brand. That means you do an inventory of the content you’ve already produced, how well it’s doing, what your competitors are doing, and then begin your SEO approach from there.
2. Keywords. For content to be considered relevant, it must have keywords or phrases that directly relate to a projected search. Do take care not to force keywords for the sake of it, or to stuff your content with keywords.
3. Title tags. Also known as page titles, your title tags should also be relevant to a user’s intended search. Search engines typically start with title tags to determine how relevant it is to a search query. It should be unique, descriptive, and concise to help give users a quick idea of what to expect.
4. Meta descriptions. Meta descriptions are small snippets of text that best describes your web page. This feature gives users a more detailed explanation of what your web page is about. Include your target keyword here, and have a strong call to action (CTA) to entice users to your content.
5. Robot tag. A robot tag is an HTML code that you insert into your web page. Essentially, these tags inform a search engine how to read, index, and browse through your content. They can even be used to tell a search engine how to display pieces of your web page through a SERP.
6. Images & videos. SERPs also extend to a search engine’s images and video search tabs, so make sure you attach relevant images to your content. Remove the irrelevant visuals from your web page, as search engines may even ignore these images altogether.
7. Internal links. By interlinking your pages to each other, you allow users (and crawlers) to explore your page and improve their confidence in you. It also helps bring organic traffic to existing pages on your website. If it’s relevant enough to your current page, it won’t hurt to link pages to each other and let users know more about your business.
8. External links. Much like internal links, external links can also help improve your SEO ranking. For example, having external links in a blog post can help crawlers understand your content better and connect it to a wider group of websites. You could think of it as adding your web page to an existing network of web pages.
9. URL slugs. A URL slug is the end part of a URL, usually appearing after the “.com” portion of a web page’s URL. When a new web page is born, its URL slug is a mix of random words and letters. For the ordinary user, this could make a website seem untrustworthy. The same goes for crawlers. Generate your own URL slug to boost your SEO ranking.
10. Heading tags. You can divide your content into different parts using heading tags. They can look neat and tidy for your readers. Plus, you can provide crawlers with an outline with which to study your content. HTML currently supports up to six headers, so make the most out of this feature.

Off-page SEO

In contrast to on-page SEO, off-page SEO are measures to help you determine how strong your content is with respect to other websites. As the name implies, they are not done on your website at all, but are rather practices done on other websites to make sure you’re getting traffic. To better understand, here are the three main pillars of off-page SEO:

1. Backlinks. Backlinks are links from other websites that link back to yours. Basically, you are the external link that these websites are linking to. If you find that many reliable websites are linking back to your content, rest assured that your SEO ranking is getting stronger.
2. Brand signals. A good way to gauge your brand signals is to see how often other trusted brands mention you. This helps search engines identify your brand as a trustworthy one, and improves your SEO ranking.
3. Vertical search rankings. Ahrefs defines a vertical search as “a term used to describe niche or specialty search engines that focus on a single… type of content”. A good example for this is AirBNB for renting out homes. Ranking high on these platforms also helps your overall SEO ranking with search engines.

Technical SEO

Your website also has several technical parameters that search engines like to check. These are called technical SEO and can range from website security to how fast your website loads. The better your website runs, for example, the more crawlers trust your business. Here’s a quick rundown on the big technical aspects for SEO:

1. Crawling and indexation. Truly, the first thing crawlers check for is whether they are allowed to visit your website and index your pages. Make a quick inventory of your website and make it possible for crawlers to visit and study your content.
2. Website speed. Both users and crawlers like web pages to have a quick loading time. It is recommended that you keep this to at most 3 seconds, otherwise you lose both credibility and potential sales.
3. Website structure and hierarchy. Your website’s architecture also provides crawlers a clearer picture of its structure. This helps distribute your “authority” across different pages, and helps crawlers index your web pages better. Users, on the other hand, prefer websites with intuitive navigation across different pages. Make this one of your priorities.
4. Mobile friendliness. Mobile devices have vastly different resolutions compared to desktops and laptops. That’s why some images appear distorted on mobile screens, if they even appear at all. Take the time to make sure your audience sees the same text, images, or videos regardless of what device they are using.
5. Duplicate content (canonicalization). There are many ways a crawler can access a web page, be it through the original link or through shortened ones. Crawlers treat each of these as separate entities, rather than duplicates of the original. You can identify which page is the “canon” or the original one by adding an HTML code before publishing, making it the only version that is ranked.
6. XML sitemaps. You can store your sitemap in an XML file to keep track of all of your website’s content, their titles, when they were originally published, and when they were last updated. Crawlers can use your XML sitemap as a reference to determine your SEO ranking. Make sure your sitemap gets updated as soon as you publish or modify your content.
7. URL structure. You can also help a crawler build its idea of your website’s internal structure via a URL. Among the best practices for URLs include subdividing your web pages logically, so that users and crawlers alike can intuitively navigate your website.
8. HTTPS security (TLS/SSL certificate). This is an added layer of security for most websites. The more secure your website is, the better it ranks on SERPs. If you haven’t already, convert your content into HTTPS and make sure your internal content and backlinks all point to the HTTPS web page.
9. Core Web Vitals. Core Web Vitals are Google’s way of gauging your user experience (UX) design. Optimizing these greatly improves Google’s perception of your website. These vitals are the following:
   • Largest Contentful Pain (LCP), or how fast your website loads your main piece of content.
   • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), or how stable your page layout is. It takes into account how large your content is and how much it moves depending on certain interactions.
   • First Input Delay (FID), or how quickly your web page responds to a user’s input.
10. Structured data. Crawlers operate in a language that is different from humans. The most often-used tool to help search engines read and understand your web page is Schema. Using appropriate Schema language makes it easier for crawlers to browse through your content and give it an appropriate rating.

Local SEO

For many businesses, their local community is the first and primary source of revenue. That’s what local SEO is all about: making your business popular in your immediate area Following this local SEO checklist is essential to helping these businesses connect with people close to their geographical area.

1. Google Business Profile (GBP). Simply putting your store on Google is not enough to establish an online presence. You have to manage your online presence on Google via GBP. Having a GBP profile lets you claim ownership of your business across Google’s many services, and lets you link your business’ social media accounts and websites to the Google business page.
2. Citations (NAP consistency). NAP stands for business name, address, and phone number. You should use the same details across all online platforms to help locals reach you quicker.
3. Reviews. Reviews are among the primary things any user looks for in a product or service. Ask clients to leave reviews on your website or Google business page to let others know about their experience with you. List your business on a review site like FourSquare or TripAdvisor if you’re also in need of vertical reviews.

If you’re a small business, then it’s all the more important to understand SEO and how it can help you grow. It is a long-term strategy with plenty of dividends. It is estimated that it could take at least two months before your SEO work shows results, even with best practices. On the flip side, top-ranked pages on Google are about five years old and are constantly being updated.

So while it takes a lot of time to finally get SEO results, it also gives you a considerable amount of time to let customers know that you are a trusted brand. If done properly and ethically, you’ll see a marked improvement in both brand awareness and conversion numbers. Notably, this growth is also organic and can sustain your business for a long while yet.

Businesses of all sizes can benefit from good SEO. Why not try promoting your brand with the tools and services from the next section?

How to boost your business with SEO services

SEO services have been around for a long time, so they know exactly how to improve your website’s rating. It wouldn’t hurt to work closely with them and understand their best practices to help you in the long run, either. Nevertheless, it isn’t a bad idea to partner with the experts and have them kickstart your SEO journey.

On-page SEO elements

The most visible way to see your content improve in the rankings is through On-Page SEO. You can very clearly define changes in how your content looks, especially in how keywords play a major role in landing you a high ranking on search. There are three ways SEO services can improve your content:

1. Foundational SEO services. Essentially, these are changes to your content ideation and creation to reflect your transition to SEO. These checks are done prior to making new content or updating your existing ones to help improve your ranking. Consider performing the following checks before you make new content:
2. Keyword research. Before diving into making content, marketers do keyword research in your business’ niche and see which keywords are effective in driving traffic. This helps you draft your content outline in a way that boosts its relevance to a search query. The following tools could help you in your research:
3. Technical SEO audit. You’ll also need to have your website’s infrastructure checked if it’s optimized for SEO. That includes security measures, sitemaps, and overall structure and hierarchy.
4. On-page setup. Next, marketers will make an inventory of your existing content. You can either update relevant content or make entirely new ones to fit your new SEO model. In any case, you’ll want to transition to more secure domains which help you manage your URLs and HTML setup to improve your rank.
5. Competitor analysis. As with any other business model, your competitors’ SEO model will also be analyzed. See what the big brands in your industry are doing, and why their content is well-optimized. In the same vein, you’ll also have to study your direct competitors to see how well they’re doing and how they’re promoting themselves online.
6. Website blog content. Believe it or not, website blogs actually help drive organic traffic to your business. Take advantage of this opportunity and build a blog that your customers will appreciate. Write articles to inform them of how your product or service works, and how they can benefit from your business.

Off-page SEO services

While not directly on your website, you can improve your SEO ranking by having your content pop up elsewhere. Brands that are visible across different websites and social networks build lots of trust. You should expect your SEO service to perform the following tasks related to off-page SEO:

1. Link audit

   By taking inventory of which sites link to your content, you’ll have an idea of where you stand. If trusted brands believe in your content, you can rest assured that search engines will, too. Taking note of your external links helps with building an expanded network and domain authority. Make sure you’re also exercising the best link-building practices.

2. Link building

   Having these link-building tools in your arsenal helps you gauge whether your website tops SERPs for projected search queries. For example, Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker helps you identify which websites connect to yours, while helping you steer clear of negative SEO practices.

3. Linkable asset creation

   Of course, your content also has to be good enough so that other domains can link to them. Take inventory of what pages are popular across your industry, and why. Learn from successful websites and identify why their content is engaging to their specific audience, as well as similar groups of users.

4. Guest blogging

   Offering to write for other blogs is also a good way to build your website’s reputation within the industry. While link building is good, you also get to showcase your brand of content to a different audience to get them to follow what you have to say.

5. Content marketing

   Pick a central web page to build your content marketing strategy around. Then, make sure most, if not all, of your content links directly back to this central page. This helps search engines determine a web page’s authority, and lets trusted brands discover your content and establish links with you.

Local SEO Services

Local SEO is also a good way to generate growth within your immediate area. This is especially helpful for businesses that rely on a physical store for most of their revenue. Consider using the following services to increase your online presence.

1. Citation building. Make your website known across different directories within the same industry. These directories should also be able to list the same NAPs associated with your business. If you change business addresses, for example, make sure that your website and these directories all point to the new address so customers can visit your store.
2. Review acquisitions and management. Having good customer reviews of your business also contributes to having a good SEO rank. Make sure you feature the flattering ones through tools such as Moz Local. These tools can help you keep track of your company’s details in online directories and helps keep things consistent.
3. Google My Business optimization. In the same vein, you can use the Google My Business feature to claim your business on and showcase it through Google. Enroll your business through the Google Business page, then show customers what your physical store looks like. You can add photos of your store, the products you sell, and you can even use keywords to describe your business. Customers can even leave reviews of your business via Google.

Propelrr’s SEO Services

It goes without saying, but Propelrr is also a trusted brand when it comes to SEO. Big brands have partnered with us, and the results speak for themselves. Here’s a brief rundown of SEO services that Propelrr has to offer:

1. Managed SEO

   Propelrr employs experts who will deal with the ups and downs of the SEO journey while you focus on building your brand elsewhere. We’ll provide you with a team who will get the job done and put you on top of the SERPs.

2. SEO Consultancy

   Our experts also handle consultancy services to help guide your SEO journey, if that’s something you’d want to explore. Instead of blindly performing SEO yourself, you have well-experienced people willing to help you grow your business.

3. Technical SEO

   You also need a good infrastructure to help crawlers index your content. Propelrr can also assign a team to help you manage your website, from building a website hierarchy to improving load speeds.

4. International SEO

   If you’re going to go international, there’s a whole new world of SEO in store for you. We’ll perform the market research for you, and see how you can break into the global market. For example, we, a digital marketing company, can use country- and location- specific keywords to inform the market of your presence and that you are ready to serve a different locale.

5. Local SEO

   Of course, local SEO is also an option for you. We’ll help optimize your online presence to drive customers to your physical store. That covers local keyword search and building links to local businesses.

6. Ecommerce SEO

   We optimize your content for ecommerce platforms, as well. With ecommerce platforms having their own internal search algorithms, it’s important to use this recent technology to your business’ advantage. We generate content at every stage of the marketing funnel to push customers to purchase a product or service with your business.

7. Link Building

   We’ll perform a link audit to see where your website stands in terms of content creation. Then, we’ll start building your website’s profile with other businesses and build linkages with them in an ethical manner. Rest assured that there are no black hat SEO practices to be had here.

8. White Label SEO

   Propelrr frowns upon unethical SEO strategies. We believe that good practices reap better results down the line, an ethos which reflects upon the quality of our work. We want what’s best for your business, and that’s sustainable growth for the long haul. Black hat SEO is a big no-no for our teams.

9. SEO Training

   Our training courses consist of a two-day series filled with the best SEO practices currently available. These courses are tailor-made to serve different levels of your organizational chart: from senior executives and business owners, down to your most recent marketing staff. We also give out digital copies of our training materials!

10. Link Analysis & Penalty Recovery

    We can study the quality of the websites you’re linking to, as well as the quality of the websites linking to you. If too many dubious websites are using your content, you could get penalized by Google. We can help you address that problem, and maybe even have the penalties removed altogether.

11. App Store Optimization (ASO)

    Our App Store Optimization strategies are slightly similar to the traditional SEO strategies, except ASO attempts to make you more discoverable on the Google Play Store and the Apple App store rather than on a search engine. Your end goal here is to have more users discover your app and download it onto their device.

There may be a plethora of options for you to choose from, but you can just about find SEO services that can help your business thrive. While you’re here, do take the time to familiarize yourself with our brand and see if anything interests you. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up at the top of the SERPs and then this partnership may well have been worth it.

How much does SEO cost for small businesses?

SEO naturally comes at a price. Make sure you’re ready to commit to a full-on service if your budget allows for it. Again, it can take some time before you start seeing results from even the best SEO practices available.

Ahrefs estimates that a monthly partnership with SEO experts can range from anywhere between $500 to $1,500 per month. Hourly consulting costs $75 to $100 per hour. On the other hand, you might even have to pay up to $5,000 if you’re searching for SEO consultancy on a per-project basis.

While this seems overwhelming to your budget, remember that the effect of good SEO practices can leave long-term benefits for your business. It helps keep good traffic coming consistently, and can even drive better quality transactions to your business.

For a more personalized quotation regarding Propelrr’s brand of SEO services, reach out to us and we’ll see what we can do for you.

Better on-page SEO helps bring better rating from everyone

Because on-page SEO is the most visible way of defining your web page’s content, it’s also important to put a lot of effort into it. After all, your content is a crawler’s best way to determine how relevant your website is to possible search queries.

Not only that, your content also has to be understood by your audience. They are the primary drivers of your business, and should be treated to the experience that your business has to offer. Check out this comprehensive guide to On-Page SEO and make compelling content to entice your customers and readers.

Among the few important points you should get from this guide, you should:

• Be cautious of keyword placements. Put them in key areas of your content post, such as the title, the meta description, and in the first few paragraphs of your text. Do also take care not to overload your content with keywords, as this could turn off both your users and web crawlers.
• Give your readers a good user experience (UX). While there are technical aspects to SEO, you must never forget to deliver a good experience for readers. Your content should be readable and easy on the eyes, and your web pages should be intuitively connected to one another. If you have images or videos, optimize them so they load faster. Make your customers enjoy your content, too!
• Satisfy your users’ search intent. Your users have different reasons why they search for something on the Internet. This is called their “search intent”. If your users want more information regarding a product, make sure you deliver them the key features and why it benefits them. Remember: all your efforts are nudging your users to convert. Trust the process!

Key takeaways

Promoting your business online should be a breeze with these SEO services. Still, be aware that the process to improve your trust with search engines can be a long one. Keep these takeaways in mind as you begin your small business’ SEO journey:

• Run an inventory on your current SEO practices, if you have any. If you don’t consider partnering with experts to kickstart your online presence.
• Avoid black hat SEO practices. While these could give you short-term benefits, don’t look to do them if you’re gunning for sustainable growth.
• Maintain consistency in your business pages. From your NAP to how you present your business, maintaining a consistent branding encourages customer loyalty for your business.

If you have any other questions, send us a message via our Facebook, X, or LinkedIn accounts.

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