Getting SEO right has never been so important for small businesses. If you want to attract new customers: increase your digital footprint, increase your organic site traffic for the keywords that matter to your business, and outrank your competitors in the search engine results pages (SERPs). You have to put time and effort into your SEO strategy. We’ve compiled a list of 10 quick wins to kick-start your SEO efforts, but we recommend working with an experienced SEO agency to put some weight and expertise behind your plan.

1. Target the right keywords 

   Your time is finite, so you should focus on optimising your website and content for the keywords that mean most to your business. They could be product keywords, niche specific phrases, or keywords you know lead to the most leads or sales.

2. Craft unique and engaging content

   72% of marketers say that content creation is their most effective SEO tactic. Take inspiration from lifestyle brand Sheer Luxe and guitar brand D’Angelico, which produce engaging visual and written content to connect with their audiences.

3. Refine your on-page SEO

   Title tags, meta tags, meta descriptions, image alt tags, image and video weight optimisation, quick-to-load page speed, responsive design – Google wants you to give your audience the best experience possible, and making sure these areas are in order is a great starting point for better SEO and ranking.

4. Optimise and refresh existing content

   It’s all well and good creating new content, but don’t forget to audit and freshen up any existing content you already have. Google looks for content that is current, unique and relevant to your audience. If you’ve got old content on your site, leverage its existence and get it Google-ready by reworking the copy and making sure all of the on-page SEO areas are in order.

5. Think mobile first

   Google indexes mobile first, which means it looks at the mobile version of your website first and uses that experience to help determine where your pages should rank when people search. Etsy is a fantastic example of a mobile web experience done well.

6. Earn backlinks

   Every time a site links to yours, this is like a ‘yes’ vote to Google, telling it to trust you and marking your website as having content that is useful and worth sharing.  Try creating standout content that excites your audience and makes people want to link to it. Surfing website Rip Curl is a example of linkworthy content – it’s unique, engaging and speaks directly to its audience: the surfing community.

7. Take a close look at your competitors

   If you’ve noticed your competitors rising above you in the search-engine ranks, do some digging around their website. What are they publishing? Which keywords are they targeting? Are they doing anything different to you? Take note of their activity and bring something better to the table.

8. Make your listing as clickable as possible

   Your website meta description and title can be the first interaction your audience has with your website. It has to be clickable, to entice people to take the next step into visiting your website.

9. Test different types of content

   Written, video, imagery, infographic, interactive – which type of content best engages with your audience and earns you those valuable backlinks? You won’t know until you test different formats. TED conferences shot to global fame because of fantastic content marketing, with video and podcasts working extremely well for them.

10. Add your business to Google My Business

    This last point is really simple and really easy to execute. If you’re a business with a website, you mustlist yourself on Google My Business to give you as much visibility as possible within search-engine results pages.

SEO isn’t new. Many brands and businesses have spent years investing time and resource into their SEO strategy, so now is the time to get on board with your own search engine optimisation. These 10 quick wins will get your started on your SEO journey, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. Partner with an SEO agency to really understand the best way to approach your SEO strategy and how to build a plan that will set you up for future search-engine excellence and growth.