5 SEO Trends Small Businesses Must Embrace Now

Small Business Search Engine Optimization | Search Engine Marketing

2013 is six months old now. And many things have happened in those six months that have changed the SEO landscape—especially for small businesses. If you’re serious about being around to ring in a profitable 2014, there are some opportunities you absolutely must take advantage of sooner rather than later.

As an industry professional, it’s my job to provide the very best advice based on the most recent research. So my team and I religiously follow trends and updates to be sure we’re not missing anything on behalf of our clients. Some of the trends being touted on the Web really don’t apply to small businesses. But there are five I’ve examined that absolutely do:

1. Provide your customers with a mobile site.

People are doing business on the move. They’re in restaurants, in line, in waiting rooms and, for better or worse, in their cars conducting business. If while surfing they realize they need your product or service to enhance their business, they want instant access to your site. They don’t want to have to wait to get back to their desk- or laptop to look at your brand. If your site doesn’t load quickly and easily they will go to your competitor’s site.

Building a mobile site isn’t as complicated as it used to be, thanks to Responsive Web Design, which takes your existing content and reformats it for mobile consumption. Believe me, it’s an expense worth investing time and resources. The ROI is invaluable in terms of grasping the opportunities you’re currently missing.

2. Get involved with social media marketing services.

If you haven't already, it's way beyond time that you do. If you think that Facebook and Twitter are for kids or for keeping up with family news, you are dead wrong. Business owners have gained lucrative new business by simply participating in an online conversation. Recent algorithm updates have made who is reading and connecting with you is as important as what you write. The more people who know you online, the better your site will rank on the Web. It’s that simple.

You can start by creating a Google+ page. Everyone in the industry predicts that Google’s recent updates are going to make this social platform invaluable for businesses in the near future. Connect your Google+ page to a couple others like Facebook and Twitter and it will automatically send what you post on Google+ to Facebook, Twitter and all other platforms you choose in the time it takes you to write that one post.

3. Put a name and face on your content.

A trend called Google Authorship makes who is writing just as important as what is written on the Web. And again, it’s related to how Google updated the way it ranks websites.

When you write a blog or article with your picture and byline attached, it helps your site, your brand and your name rise to the top of the search engine page OR Google First Page. Authoring content such as blogs and articles also build relationships between you and your customers; establishing you as a trusted authority within your industry.

4. Add images and video to your site.

The Web is a visual marketplace. Images and video help not only to enhance visitor experience, they evoke emotions in the visitor that bonds them to your product or service on a visceral level.

In addition, Google crawls properly tagged images and video as easily as it does words, which gives an added boost to your SEO. Think about ways you can use video and/or images to demonstrate how your product or service works and how it will help make life easier for the customer.

5. Localize your business on the Web.

Local SEO and “regular” SEO operate in basically the same ways, with just a couple differences. Local SEOprovides a map so potential customers can find your place of business. It also provides a place for your customers to share reviews of their experience with your business.

To take advantage of local SEO, create a local profile on Google as well as citations that state your business name, address and telephone number every place your business is listed on the Web.

James Ussery is CEO of Machus Corp., a white label online marketing provider, with expertise in Web design, SEO and Web applications.

Author Bio:

Machus Corp., A technology solutions company based in Coppell, Texas, provides SEO services , Search Engine Optimization , Internet Marketing Services, Pay Per Click, Web Design and Development Services.