1. —>Overview <—
2. Content Structure
3. Keyword Research
4. On-Site SEO
5. Voice Search
6. Off-Site SEO
7. Local SEO

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Overview of SEO for Small Business

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is at the heart of modern advertising and building your digital presence. Through SEO, a business can appear on local map searches, question searches, and searches for specific local business services. The key is creating content and an overall strategy that promotes search engine visibility and increases your page rank in search engine results.

For a small business, this means a holistic, comprehensive strategy that can thrive in spite of a smaller marketing team and budget. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be an SEO pro (at first) in order to build a strong SEO strategy for your small business website and overall brand visibility. This is the ultimate guide to SEO for small businesses, broken down into six essential chapters in addition to this introductory overview.

What is SEO strategy for small business? How can you boost your SEO and increase your visibility online? We have the answers and strategies to help you get started.

The 6 Elements of Small Business SEO

1. Content Structure
2. Keyword Research
3. On-Site SEO
4. Voice Search
5. Off-Site SEO
6. Local SEO

Small business SEO is made of up six essential elements. Content, keywords, on-site strategy, off-site strategy, voice search, and the all-important local SEO. Once you understand these essentials, you will be able to build your own powerful SEO-driven content plan and marketing campaigns. Let’s take a quick look at each section of small business SEO strategy.

1. Content Structure

• Inbound Marketing
• SEO Copywriting
• Blog Content Strategy
• Videos and Podcast Content
• Multi-Channel Content Strategy

SEO and content are fundamentally linked because SEO primarily assesses whether your content is relevant to a user’s search. This means that every web page, from the home page to product pages and each landing page can be SEO copywritten to contain better keyword enrichment and increase the relevant quality of the content itself. Content creation is the heart and soul of SEO, but not the end of your total SEO strategy.

In this section, we will dive into the art of SEO copywriting – writing organically with SEO principles – and how to build your content strategy for a blog, web page building, and multi-channel marketing campaigns.

2. Keyword Research

• Keywords and SEO
• Discovering Your Keywords
• Long-Tail Keywords
• Keyword Density Tools
• Organic SEO vs Keyword Stuffing

Every content strategy requires keyword research. This tells you which keywords search engines (and more importantly, search engine users) are looking for when preparing to buy your product or service. Keywords can be intuited, but there are also powerful research tools that can help any brand identify both the most in-demand keywords – and the long-tail keywords that strategically dodge the competition for more accurate targeting of your best audiences.

In this section, we will explore keyword strategy, how to conduct keyword research, and how to test your content for SEO strength based on keyword enrichment.

3. On-Site SEO

• Essentials of On-Page SEO
• Internal Linking
• Speed, Performance, and Mobile Response
• Metadata for Search Engine Crawlers
• Fine-Tuning On-Site SEO

On-site SEO, sometimes called on-page SEO, is your total strategy for improving SEO through pages and features of your website. On-site SEO strategy goes beyond content creation because it also includes technical SEO regarding page speed, stable loading, mobile performance, and metadata. Even once you have perfected the copy on each of your product, service, and blog pages, you can still improve the on-site SEO by fine-tuning your internal site map, linking strategy, and the elements of technical SEO. Small businesses have a great deal to benefit from tuning up their total on-site SEO strategy.

In this section, we will cover how on-page SEO works regarding internal links, authority links SEO strategy, and technical SEO.

4. Voice Search

• What Does Voice Search Mean to Small Businesses?
• How to Optimize Pages for Voice Search Results
• Creating a Smart Home Skill
• Winning Orders and Reorders with Voice Search

Voice search is the hot new thing in SEO, regarding how easily smart home users can access your website through AI assistants. There are two ways to improve your voice search accessibility. The first is by optimizing your pages for quick voice search answers. When a smart home AI is asked a question, it often does a quick web search to find the best quick-blurb answer – and your page could provide that answer. You can also win orders through smart homes with the use of a custom smart home skill.

In this section, we will cover how a small business can win both search results and customer orders through voice search optimization.

5. Off-Site SEO

• Web Presence and Backlink Strategy
• Manage Your Business Listings
  •  Google Business Profile
  • Yelp
  • Angie
• Social Media and Extended Web Presence
• Content Worth Back-Linking
• Influencers and Advertising Partners
• Professional Directories
• Linked Videos and Podcasts
• Guest Posts and Interview Hosts
• Claim Unlinked References

Off-site SEO builds out your total visibility, network, and strategy for sending a wider audience back to your website for shopping and conversions. Your off-site SEO strategy includes your public business listings, media platform releases, guest posts, partnership advertising, and any place your brand shares or posts content outside of your home website.

In this section, we will explore the wide possible range of your off-site SEO strategy, from your Google and Yelp listings to podcast releases and everything in between.

6. Local SEO

• Local SEO Essentials
• Learn Your Local Keywords
• Integrate Your Service Areas
• Get Involved with the Community
• Blog and Share Local News and Regional Tips

Local SEO is how a small brick-and-mortar (or ghost delivery) business can best reach local customers and prioritize your marketing efforts to your local service area. By naturally working your local neighborhoods into your website content, you can more directly draw local customers who will be able to take advantage of your local goods and services. 

In this section, we will cover how local SEO works and how to discover your best local SEO keywords. We will explore how to smoothly integrate your region into every page of content in a way that will feel natural and welcoming while effectively targeting your content for local customers.

Join us in the next chapter for content structure and inbound marketing strategies for small business.

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Overview page subject to minor updates as chapters are completed]