Small brands are able to compete on the search engines, depending on the keyword, but it takes the right techniques to climb the search engine rankings. Organic search results are important, as 70% to 80% of users ignore paid advertisements.
But how does a small business start to compete in the rankings, drive traffic and hopefully convert leads? Mimick what the professional companies are doing. What better stage to emulate than New York City?
We’re going to look at what the best in the business are doing to help small businesses get noticed on Google.
Cover the Basics Like a Pro
Almost all companies will start with a basic plan. The company will analyze your current website, and if they’re a company worth their salt, they’ll customize a plan for your business. This means that they’ll ditch the generic SEO and start to devise a plan based on your:
- Industry
- Competition
And the company will often start with the basics of on-page optimization and technical SEO. This is something most companies can do on their own, and it includes:
Technical SEO
The basics of technical SEO revolves around: site speed, navigation and fine-tuning your site. Start with PageSpeed Insights. Offered by Google, you’ll want to:
- Run a check on your website
- Follow recommendations
- Optimize accordingly
You’ll even be prompted to download optimized images, CSS resources and JavaScript. There’s a wealth of information provided, and if you follow it, you’ll be able to tackle the issue of site speed.
Faster loading sites are essential for all businesses.
On-Page Optimization
There are plenty of tutorials on on-site SEO, and I suggest reading a few, including:
These two resources will cover what your local New York City SEO company will do to get your on-page optimization up-to-par.
But once the on-page and technical elements are complete, you’ll have a lot more to do to make sure rankings are achieved.
Start Link Building the Right Way
Top companies will have a network that they use to help build links for their clients. I’m not talking about a private blog network. I am talking about a network of publications, journalists and others that they work with to build links.
A lot can be said about link outreach, too.
The key for a small business is to target the right keywords. If you target “mortgage,” you’re going to have a very difficult time ranking. Companies have spent millions of dollars to rank for these high-end keywords, and a lot of them have budgets in the tens of millions of dollars.
Small businesses are better able to rank for local keywords and keywords that aren’t near-impossible to rank.
There are a lot of techniques to get links, and I’m going to list a few methods that may be used for a small business:
- Niche influencers. Partnering with niche influencers is essential. Businesses can do a few things when reaching out to these influencers: ask to contribute to their blog, or purchase sponsored posts on social media. Contributing valuable information provides business owners with the option of building their credibility and audience.
- Local partnerships. Small businesses should look locally for link opportunities. Contribute to blogs, sponsor a local sports team that links to sponsors, get featured on local news blogs and even write on community blogs. Ask for the option to contribute, and you’ll be surprised by how many people are willing to help local small businesses grow.
- BrandMentions. BrandMentions is a paid service, so anyone on a very tight budget can skip this option. The service lists mentions of businesses or relevant keywords. Follow mentions of your business or a competitor, and if a link isn’t present, reach out to the author and ask for a link or provide your own unique insight.
Brian Dean also teaches the skyscraper technique, which involves finding high-performing content, making it better and reach out to people already linking to similar content. Brian explains his entire technique much better than I can, and it has become the backbone of many companies’ link building strategies.
Putting everything together is tedious and time consuming, but the effort will pay off in the end when your small business starts ranking for keywords naturally in the search results.
