5 Ways Small Businesses Can Compete With Giants in SEO

Featured article by Jennifer Livingston, Independent Technology Author

Search engine optimization (SEO) allows you to rank your site high on the search engine results page (SERPs) and is one of the best ways to receive free traffic to your business. The problem is that the giant SEO companies seem to have all the power in getting their sites ranked on the type of major search engines like Google.

So How Can You Compete?

Fortunately, there are ways where small businesses can actually outperform authority SEO sites by knowing a few key techniques.

Here are 5 key ways a small business can compete with the giant SEO companies:

Smart Keyword Selection

Keywords are the lifeblood of the SEO game. While big companies have the financial backing to go after major 1-2 word root-keywords like weight loss, make money or diet, you don’t have that luxury.

As the internet evolves so do people’s search habits and search engine algorithms, which gives you a better advantage. Instead of going after the big 1-2 word keywords, you will have a much easier chance of ranking for long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords actually account for nearly 70% of pageviews from search engines. The key strategy with long-tail keywords is to have web page content focused around a keyword cluster, or an overall topic.

For instance, if you’re in the business of repairing AC units, then instead of trying to rank for AC repair, you should rank for keywords around the topic of AC repair. In this example, your keyword cluster would then be, repairing AC units, AC unit repair in Bristol CT, when to check AC freon levels, AC blowing hot air, AC not circulating cool air, etc.

Having a plethora of keyword clusters around a certain topic makes your web page more relevant for a particular topic and therefore able to rank higher.

Become a Local Hero

You can compete, and beat, giant SEO companies by optimizing your site for its location and service. Using smart review site strategies within your locality will turn your business into a big fish in a small pond.

Using sites like Yelp.com and Angieslist.com will help your business stand out in two ways.

First, with good reviews you can leverage the power of these site’s audience and gain social proof that your business and service is one that should be visited and used. Second, you are able to generate high quality backlinks back to your site that will help you in the search engine rankings.

Be Social

Using social media profiles like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are also vitally important for small business owners. About 74% of customer use social media for their buying decisions.

These sites will provide you with your own personal following that you can market to on new sales, products, events and news. They also provide you with the ability to collect email addresses so that you can continue to market to your own customer base.

Get Personal

Far too small businesses use email marketing as part of their strategy to beat the big guys. Email can be the most powerful weapon used for small businesses because it gives the ability to become more friendly and known to a customer base.

This email strategy is used by major companies, but the trust that can develop on a local level between customers and businesses can actually be stronger.

For instance, cabinet refacing companies can email their social media fans and previous customers about general cabinet maintenance. These emails keep your service on the top of the customer’s mind when it comes time for upgrading cabinetry.

Provide Useful and Consistent Content

Providing useful and consistent content online is important for search engine rankings, customer engagement and conversions.

The amount of time a visitor spends on your web page is factored in the ranking algorithm. It is important to have a section on your site that is continuously updated with fresh content.

For example, couch cleaning companies can have a blog section on their site that has articles relating to carpet care if you have children or pets, how to remove stains naturally or the best types of cleaners to use on a weekly basis to maintain your upholstery.While years ago companies could just create tens of thousands of backlinks to their site and see it rank in search engine, the game has changed.

Having a more well-rounded, customer-engaged and local-focused approach will ensure that your small business can beat the big guys out there.