Lately I’ve come across a lot of small business websites and am quite surprised in their lack of SEO efforts.  I definitely think that small businesses have a little bit of an edge when it comes to optimizing their site for search engines.  For one thing, the structure of their site is usually pretty simple unlike large ecommerce sites who have a lot of dynamic content.  With the site being simple, it is a lot easier to implement some very basic SEO strategies.

There are a few easy things to implement which are good not only for SEO but for the customer or visitor experience as well.  Simple and worthwhile SEO tips:

Page Title - This is probably the most basic thing that every website should have to tell the visitor where they are located and what the page is about in a few words.  I see many sites not filling in the Page Title or having something very vague like “Home Page”.  For example, the home page can list the company or site name and have a few keywords in relation to what the page is about or what they sell.

Meta Description - This is not seen by your site visitors but is instead important for search engines to know what your site is about.  This is an area where you can elaborate on the page and go after any keywords you want to target. Try not to make it too long, I like to stay around 2-3 sentences.

Site Map - Create a text site map which links to every section or at least the main sections of your site.  This way the search engine spiders will have a sure-fire way to reach all areas of the site.  Also, if your visitors can’t find something they’re looking for, a site map will point them directly there.

Content - Content is extremely important as it is what search engine spiders read to determine what your site is about.  Strategically placing keywords within your content is a good way to get ranked.  Keep the content on the page focused on few topics in order to not confuse your visitors as well as to show the importance of the topic for the page.

In terms of SEO, this is just the tip of the iceberg, but it is definitely a good place to start.  Implementing these few tactics can help make at least your company name or website name visible in the search engines if not more.  From what I’m noticing with small businesses, even just having their site get indexed is a big deal.

Keep reading for more SEO tips for your website.