Three Common Small Business SEO Questions Answered … by a Small Business

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is essential for the long-term success of your website. That being said, SEO might not be the right solution for you depending on what your goals are.

Keep reading for some small business SEO FAQs answered by our team of SEO experts.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the perfect way to keep your brand top of mind.

What’s the Difference Between Local and National SEO Strategies?

As a business with multiple locations, there are two types of SEO to master: local and national. Your local SEO strategy helps your business rank for searches within your local service area, helping your customers find you.

Optimizing your digital presence for small business SEO includes things like adding the name of your city throughout your website, creating separate pages for separate locations, updating your contact information across all your profiles, and more.

National SEO strategy, on the other hand, is more focused on your brand. Since national SEO operates on a much larger scale than local SEO strategy, advanced keyword research is required to find the best keywords for your business to rank for. These keywords will often be more difficult to rank for than location-specific keywords. Strategically incorporating these keywords into your website is just as important to a national SEO strategy as creating quality content.

I Just Want to Rank in the Map Pack. Is SEO Right for Me?

The short answer to this question is no. Ranking in the top positions of the map pack requires a lot more than a good SEO strategy (although good SEO helps a lot!). Every aspect of your Google My Business profile needs to be updated and accurate. Photos, reviews and listings information are also important to ranking higher in the map pack. Your website also needs to be optimized correctly; this includes having a responsive website, embedding maps on your website and using local keywords, among other things.

Long story short: SEO can help your business rank higher in the map pack, but there are a lot of other aspects that go into ranking highly.

How to Rank for Multiple Service Areas With One Location

If you have one business location that serves multiple service areas, there are steps you can take to rank in those neighboring markets. Practice local SEO strategies like creating separate pages for different service locations and incorporating location-specific keywords on those pages to help that content rank in organic search results.

Additionally, display your ratings and reviews so users can hear from other people in their area. Use images to their fullest potential by adding location-specific keywords in alt text and titles. For more on ranking in multiple service locations, visit this blog.

Our Small Business SEO Services Can Help You Reach Your Goals

Optimizing your website and content is a difficult task, so why not leave it to the pros? A good SEO strategy will ensure your business stays top of mind. PointA’s small business SEO services are specifically designed to enable the success of small businesses. Give us a call at 231.882.1100 today!