Search engine optimization is one of the most overlooked yet powerful ways for startups and small businesses to reach customers online. With good positioning on major search engines, such as Google, your current and potential customers will find it easier to discover and connect with your business. This quick and easy guide explores some of the most effective SEO strategies for startups and small business owners.

A Quick Introduction To SEO

Search Engine optimization in 2021 refers to the things one must do on their website or online assets to rank well on search. The SEO landscape is quite dynamic as search algorithms and the worldwide web in general keeps on evolving.

4 Effective SEO Strategies for Startups and Small Businesses

The most effective SEO strategies for startups and small businesses in 2021 are:

1.     Become More Competitive with Local SEO

Google says that 56% of recent searches have local intent. People are searching for things that are near them more than anything else. For example, your customers could be searching for “car repair shops near *insert your location*. Local SEO is therefore very important for any business as it helps capture customers within your locality.

2.     Technical SEO

Technical SEO involves working on the overall structure of your website and web assets to be more searchable and indexable. To rank, your websites, blogs, and social media pages must have good internal linking, healthy external links, optimized images, a site map, good headline structure, categories, and good metadata.

3.     Multiple Channels- Be Everywhere

The web has evolved so it’s no longer about posting content in one place. To rank, your content should be seen everywhere including on social media, blogs, industry portals, news websites, review websites, Google My Business pages, etc. Additionally, you can tap into the influencer economy to build brand awareness and generate more clicks.

4.     Work on Your Content- Content Marketing

Even as new SEO techniques and strategies come into play, the fact is, content is King when it comes to helping you rank online. Building your web content to be more visible online involves crafting quality, relevant, and competitive content.

Web content cheat sheet for startups and small businesses

Quality over quantity- While it is important for your online content to compete with other publishers (blogs, FAQs, press releases, etc.), let your efforts lean toward refining the content to be better. This means coming up with great articles, for example, optimized titles, informative images, infographics, etc.

Relevance- It does not matter how much content you post if at the end of the day it is not relevant to your target audience. You may rank well on search engines but for the wrong keywords. This will lead to low conversion rates. As a business owner make sure your content is well targeted using long-tail keywords and other proven techniques.

Structure- How well is your content organized for search crawlers? Make sure you finetune internal and external linking for better indexing. This often-ignored technique can be the difference between being on page 1 on Google or not being there at all.

Conclusion

In truth, SEO is a never-ending race against changing search trends and a dynamic web. Getting the basics right and having a solid strategy will guarantee you long-term success.  Remember, SEO is not about tricking the search engines to rank. Get quality SEO content for your business and engage the right strategies and you will be on your way to online success.