Do small businesses realistically stand a chance against large businesses in search engine optimization? Initially, it sounds daunting to consider a small coffee shop fighting for a spot with Dunkin’ or Starbucks, or a local hardware store going against Home Depot or Lowe’s. Not to mention, these large companies have expansive marketing budgets, strong brand recognition, and established websites and thousands of social media followers.
Luckily, SEO is not exclusive to large companies. SEO focuses on quality and relevance for search queries, so by focusing on the right components, it’s very possible for small businesses to rise above their larger competitors in search engine rankings.
Target Specific Keywords
For broad, high traffic keywords, it will be challenging for small businesses to rank. When keywords are competitive, it often happens that the big brands do come up on top. The way to bypass this is to instead target keywords that are highly specific and relevant to your businesses services and offerings.
Long-tail keywords, including questions and multiple words will make it easier for your business to rank. While these keywords may not get as much search volume, they are oftentimes more valuable because they target users with strong search intent, which leads to higher conversions.
One of the ways to target specific and long-tail keywords is to create website content that answers questions. While large companies create content based on broad topics, small businesses can focus in on exact needs.
Local SEO
Local search is a major opportunity for small businesses to compete in search engine rankings. Targeting searches that have location-based intent such as “near me” or “Boston MA”, gives your small business the space to create valuable content related to the locations that you serve.
Proximity and local relevance can leverage small businesses power in SEO. To use this to your advantage, ensure that your Google Business Profile is optimized for search with an accurate name, hours of operation, business information, and customer reviews. This way, when a user makes a search, your profile has the potential to be displayed accurately with or above larger competitors.
In addition, local SEO efforts can be improved by creating local website content, such as service area pages, so that users can understand who your business serves.
Fill Content Gaps
Small businesses have the advantage of tailoring their content to exactly what clients are looking for. Identify content gaps through keyword research and competitive analysis, and answer questions that users are actively looking for. Additionally, small businesses can use direct experiences that they’ve dealt with with clients in the past to provide valuable information to a larger audience digitally.
For example, a small business making a blog post explaining “how to fix low pressure in your shower” from a local plumber can provide users with helpful tips that they wouldn’t necessarily get from a large company.
Strengthen Your Small Business SEO Strategy With Boston Web Marketing
SEO is incredibly helpful to small businesses, it just requires a different approach. If you want to improve your small business’s SEO strategy, contact Boston Web Marketing today by visiting our website or giving us a call at (857) 526-0096. Our team of SEO specialists work with small businesses in any industry and can come up with an SEO strategy to help you reach your goals.