What Is Small Business SEO? A Deep Dive

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most cost-effective ways to generate more customers for a small business. When done right, it can drive consistent revenue for years to come.

Keep reading to learn how to get started with small business SEO.

Why small businesses should invest in SEO

SEO allows small businesses to:

• Drive high-converting traffic: Ranking for high-intent terms relevant to your business (e.g., “emergency plumber los angeles”) can get you in front of people who are ready to spend money on products or services.
• Build trust and credibility: Having your website at the top of the search results for popular search terms in your industry will help potential customers see you as an authority.
• Generate a better ROI: While paid ads can drive quicker results, SEO tends to return a better return on investment over time.

How to get started with small business SEO

You don’t need a big budget or a full-time marketing team to get started with SEO.

You just need to get the basics right. Let’s break these down step-by-step.

Perform keyword research

The key to a successful SEO strategy is understanding how your potential customers search the internet.

Keyword research allows you to learn the exact phrases people type into Google when they’re looking for products or services like yours. Then, you can optimize your website for these keywords to have a better chance of ranking at the top of the search results.

You can use tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to perform keyword research. These tools can generate thousands of keyword ideas based on a single keyword. And provide you with useful data on each keyword, such as:

• Search volume: How many searches per month the keyword gets locally or globally
• Keyword difficulty: An estimate of how difficult it’s going to be to rank for a specific keyword (usually on a scale of 1-100)
• Search intent: The reason why a search is being performed (e.g., to learn something, to compare different products, or to make a purchase)

Here are a few things to keep in mind when performing keyword research for your website:

• Prioritize long-tail keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific search phrases that usually consist of three or more words. They often reflect high-intent searches and are easier to rank for compared to broad terms (e.g., “personal injury lawyer kansas” vs. “lawyer”).
• Use one target keyword per page: While any page can rank for multiple keywords, you’ll want to optimize your page for a single target keyword. This will give you the best chances of ranking high for that specific keyword.
• Be mindful of search intent: It’s important that your page reflects the target keyword’s search intent (e.g., informational, navigational, commercial, or transactional). Most keyword research tools will show you a keyword’s search intent, but it’s usually also easy to figure it out based on the keyword itself or the top-ranking results.

Make sure your on-page SEO is on point

On-page SEO involves optimizing your site’s content to make it easier for search engines and users to understand what each page on your site is about.

Follow these steps to improve your site’s on-page SEO:

• Include your target keyword in the page title, heading, and URL: Adding your target keyword in these three spots will help search engines understand that a page is relevant to the searcher’s query.
• Write a compelling meta description: The meta description is the short paragraph of text that appears under a page’s title in search engine results. Use the meta description to clearly describe the content of the page and add a call-to-action to encourage users to visit the page.
• Use descriptive file names and alt text for images: Search engines can’t ‘see’ images. Make sure to use descriptive file names and alt text for all the images on your site.
• Write and structure your content with readability in mind: Google prioritizes pages that help solve the search intent as quickly as possible. So make sure your content is highly readable—add structure with H2 and H3 tags, use short paragraphs and bullet lists, and avoid complex language.

Fix technical SEO issues

Technical SEO is about making your site easy for search engines to crawl, index, and navigate.

Here are the main things you can do to ensure sound technical SEO for your site:

• Make sure your site is mobile-friendly: Google uses mobile-first indexing when ranking your site. Which means that if your site doesn’t load or look good on smartphones, it’s likely not going to rank well.
• Improve page load speed: Page speed has been a confirmed ranking factor for years now. Work on speeding up your site by upgrading your web hosting, using a content delivery network (CDN) like Cloudflare or  Akamai, compressing your website images, and removing unnecessary scripts.
• Create a sitemap: A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your website. It helps search engines crawl your site more efficiently. You can use a WordPress plugin like Yoast or a tool like XML Sitemap Generator to create a sitemap for your site.
• Fix broken links: Having links on your site that link to non-existent or removed pages causes a bad user experience and signals to Google that your site is poorly maintained. Use a tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Semrush to scan your site for broken links and then make sure to fix or remove them.
• Address crawl errors: Use Google Search Console to uncover pages on your site that Google has problems accessing or crawling. Address these crawl errors to ensure Google can index and rank all your pages.

Keep your NAP information consistent

Google uses your business’s NAP (Name, Address, and Phone number) information to validate whether your business is legitimate or not.

Having inconsistent NAP information across your business’s online listings can cause confusion for both search engines and potential customers. And make your business seem less trustworthy.

Make sure to use the same business name, address, and phone number across your website, Google Business Profile, and any other listings your business has online.

You can also use a tool like Semrush Local to track your online listings and get notified of NAP inconsistencies.

Stay on top of your online reputation

Your business’s online reputation plays a big part in how Google ranks you for relevant searches. If you have a poor reputation with a low star rating and plenty of negative reviews, you’re unlikely to end up at the top of local search results.

To maintain and improve your online reputation, you’ll want to monitor and reply to every review, generate reviews consistently, and showcase your top reviews online.

Reply to every review

Responding to reviews shows that you care about your customers’ feedback and their experience with your business.

It also gives potential customers a taste of what it would be like to buy from you.

You should reply to both positive and negative reviews. And do it as soon as possible—most consumers expect businesses to respond to reviews within 3 days.

Pro tip: You can use ReviewsOnMyWebsite to monitor the web for reviews of your business. And get notified as soon as your business receives a new review.

You also have the option to read through and reply to all the reviews you get across different platforms from one place—ReviewsOnMyWebsite’s review feed.

Replying to positive reviews is fairly straightforward (but still important). Thank the customer for the review and their business. And invite them to buy from you again.

When it comes to negative reviews, it’s important to be tactful and avoid angering the customer further. Make sure to acknowledge their frustration and apologize.

Invite them to discuss the matter in private and offer to make things right (e.g., with a do-over or a refund).

Generate reviews consistently

Most consumers read 4-10 reviews before making a purchase. And they expect to see recent reviews.

Having a handful of outdated reviews won’t do you much good.

You need to work on generating positive reviews for your business consistently. Here are a few strategies you can try:

• Don’t be shy to ask: Most satisfied customers are more than happy to leave a review, but they probably won’t do it if you don’t ask. Always ask customers to leave a review after a positive interaction.
• Make it easy: Try to simplify the process of leaving a review as much as possible. For example, by creating a Google review link or a QR code customers can use to leave a review.
• Automate review requests: You can use ReviewsOnMyWebsite to set up automated email and SMS sequences asking customers for reviews. This will help streamline the process and ensure every customer gets asked to leave a review.

Showcase your reviews

Having a lot of positive reviews on your Google Business Profile is great. But you can get so much more value from your reviews if you put in active effort to showcase them.

Here are a few ideas:

• Share them on social media: Post your top customer reviews on social media for everyone to see. You can use ReviewsOnMyWebsite’s social sharing feature to turn reviews into engaging social media images.
• Use them in ad campaigns: Consider showcasing one or more glowing reviews from your customers in your ad campaigns. This can help grab attention and build trust.
• Display them on your site: Add social proof to your website by displaying your best customer reviews. ReviewsOnMyWebsite’s review widget can help you add reviews to your site in seconds.

Build backlinks

Link building is a crucial part of SEO. It’s the process of building backlinks (links pointing from other sites to your site) in order to signal your site’s authority and relevance to search engines.

Here are a few ways you can build backlinks to your small business website:

• Write guest posts: Contact industry blogs or websites and offer to write guest posts for them. Include a link to your site in every guest post you write.
• Reach out to local news sites: Pitch a story about your business or an event you’re organizing to local news sites. If your story gets picked up, you’ll likely get a link back to your site in the news article.
• Sponsor local events: Look for opportunities to sponsor local events such as charity runs or school fundraisers. This will often get you a mention and a link on the organizer’s website.
• Ask for links from partners and vendors: Reach out to business partners and vendors and ask for a link from their website. You can offer a review or testimonial in return.

Common SEO mistakes to avoid

Avoid these mistakes when doing SEO for your small business website:

• Not claiming your Google Business Profile: Not having an optimized Google Business Profile (GBP) will make you less likely to rank for local searches in your area. Make sure to claim your GBP and fill out all the information about your business.
• Keyword stuffing: Trying to force keywords into your content multiple times to try to appear more relevant to search engines is an outdated tactic and will more than likely hurt your rankings.
• Ignoring the mobile experience: With Google’s mobile-first indexing and the widespread use of smartphones for local searches, not making your small business website work exceptionally well on mobile devices is a big mistake that can hurt your rankings and sales.
• Not tracking results or adjusting: Your SEO strategy shouldn’t be set in stone. Make sure to track your results and reevaluate your strategy every quarter.

Frequently asked questions about small business SEO

What is SEO and why is it important for small businesses?

SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of improving your site’s visibility in Google and other search engines. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways for small businesses to drive new customers.

How long does SEO take to work for small businesses?

You’re likely to start seeing small wins (such as improved rankings and increased traffic) within three months (especially if you address major issues). But most small businesses will need to invest 6+ months of consistent effort to see significant results.

How do I choose the right keywords for my website?

Use tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to identify terms people search for when looking for businesses like yours. Prioritize keywords that show high intent (e.g., “dog groomer new york”).

What is search intent and why does it matter?

Search intent is the reason behind a user’s search. The four types of search intent include informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional.

How do I get more customer reviews on Google?

You can get more customer reviews on Google by asking for a review after every positive customer interaction, simplifying the review process using Google review links or QR codes, and automating review requests using tools like ReviewsOnMyWebsite.

Next steps

You’ve reached the end of this guide. Now, it’s time to take action.

Here’s a 90-day small business SEO plan you can follow:

Month 1: Foundation & visibility

• Perform keyword research and create a keyword map for your pages
• Set up Google Search Console and Google Analytics
• Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile
• Perform a technical site audit and fix urgent issues (mobile, speed, crawlability)
• Claim and optimize local directory listings and ensure NAP consistency

Month 2: On-Page optimization & content

• Optimize your home page and top 2–3 service pages (titles, meta descriptions, headers)
• Start publishing blog content targeting informational keywords
• Add internal links to help Google crawl your site
  Improve page speed by upgrading your hosting, using a CDN, and compressing website images.
• Add structured FAQs to key service pages

Month 3 – Authority & Local Engagement

• Launch an outreach campaign to land backlinks from local partners or blogs
• Set up a review request sequence
• Respond to all reviews (positive and negative)
• Post regular updates or offers on your Google Business Profile