SEO for Small Businesses in Vancouver: Why is it Important?

It is very common for SEO to be confused with a strategy that works best for large companies only. Many professionals support this concept, as they believe that organic optimization is similar to the working logic of sponsored links.

Well, we know that small companies have a smaller and more controlled budget than large corporations. Therefore, they are not able to invest so much in paid media and in advertisement; which generates loss of some spaces. On the other hand, this only reinforces the power and importance of SEO.

Search engine optimization practices help smaller businesses establish their domains as relevant on the web without having to spend a lot of money on ads. By mapping keywords and using the right strategies, sites are found by the right customers, which puts them in the sales funnel.

How important is SEO?

That is, using these approaches increases organic traffic, boosts brand awareness, educates the public, and prepares people for conversions. A company that invests in this from of internet marketing an early stage manages to develop the credibility and authority it needs to win in the high competition in the digital world. The right techniques allow smaller companies to get a chance to compete head-to-head.

In practice, this could mean changing direction, for example. Instead of competing for competitive keywords with large corporations, a small business can work with specific terms that refer to exactly what their customer is searching for.

Effective Small Business SEO Tips

Now, let’s get deeper into the topic with effective SEO tips for small businesses.

1. Relevant content

SEO techniques and search engine rules may change from time to time, but good content remains. For search engines, content is very important, as systems try to show users precisely what is most relevant, clear and deep for them. Thus, develop valuable, unique, complete materials that meet demands, clarify doubts and present practical solutions for your persona. Always remembering, of course, good SEO writing practices.

2. Keywords

With specific tools for this purpose, it is possible to define important expressions: how much they are being disputed and how much they can generate in terms of access. Of course, specific terms are less popular and can connect your brand directly with your audience. That’s why it’s interesting to focus on them.

3. Optimization of pages

Another tip is the On Page setting, which prepares your website to comply with search engine guidelines. In this sense, it is worth highlighting the work with the strategies we have already mentioned:

set up good titles, which summarize the page well. They should contain the keyword and capture attention;
use heading tags such as H1, H2, and H3 tags as a way to structure content and answer people’s questions;
use images;
configure URLs well;

4. Link Building

We can also mention the Link Building, that is, the connections between pages. It is essential to establish a coordinated effort to link pages that are related to each other, based on relevant terms.

Thus, you generate value for the persona, allowing him/her to browse your website and find more answers, and signal to the search engine an internal organization that deserves a good ranking. In addition, publications must comply with some rules in terms of links. It is good practice, for example, to insert 3 links for every 500 words of text.

In cases of external links, the recommendation is to always try to connect your site to other websites with the highest authority and credibility in the market.

5. Local SEO

One of the changes in the SEO world brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic was precisely the greater emphasis on local SEO. This is because local consumption has become more important, as people tend to stay at home longer and avoid moving. Additionally, local SEO is associated with face-to-face visits: according to Google 76% of local searchers visit the business within 24 hours.

So, work with optimized keywords to enhance the geographic aspect (instead of highlighting “dermatological procedures”, focus on “dermatological procedures in Vancouver”, for example) and develop content geared to the needs of your community.

Another good approach is the configuration of the company page on Google My Business, with features related to location, opening hours, direct link to the website and other information.

6. User experience (UX)

We are in the age of experience, and that, of course, is not left out of search engine optimization. Thinking about the UX is essential in order to optimize sites, as Google highly values those who think about the customer and improves its pages to better serve them.

In this way, try to adjust your site’s speed, navigability, responsiveness and usability in general. The ideal is to offer a website that is practical to use, with important information visible and easy to navigate.

7. Security

A specific tip related to this is setting SSL certificates for your website — something that will make the domain more secure, with encryption for receiving information, and will put a security icon next to the URL. Google currently values and helps sites with SSL.

8. Content update

Finally, we need to talk about the longevity of your content. Google takes a hard look at whether your posts are up to date before deciding where they rank in search results. Thus, a good practice is to always update posts and add recent information relevant to the current moment, so that posts always remain valuable to the customer.