SEO is as important for small businesses in 2019 as it has ever been. Therefore, you should take whatever steps you can to ensure you are getting as much traffic from Google as possible. You don’t even need to have a big budget for SEO services. In fact, all the ideas below can be implemented for very little cost. You can even implement some of them yourself.
Before getting into the ideas, it’s important to point out the list below does not represent a comprehensive strategy. Instead, they are ideas that you can easily and relatively quickly implement in 2019 to start improving your position in Google search.
Setup and/or Optimise Your Google My Business Listing
Google My Business is a tool that you can use to tell Google about your business – what you do, your opening hours, the areas you cover, etc. Google shows this information in a number of places, including on search results pages. It is worthwhile, therefore, to have a fully complete listing on Google My Business.
Ensure Your Website Is Mobile Friendly
If your website was designed in recent years, it is probably responsive already. This means it displays properly on mobile devices.
In 2019, however, you need to take this a stage further by fully auditing your website to check that everything works properly on mobile. For example, are buttons or links easy to tap? Does your checkout process work properly? Is there anything missing from the mobile version of your website?
Remember, Google has moved to mobile-first indexing. This makes it a good idea to prioritise optimising how your website looks and works on mobile.
Add SSL Encryption
SSL encryption is becoming increasingly important in SEO. To see the value that Google places on it, just browse to a website that doesn’t have SSL encryption using Google’s Chrome browser. Next to the address bar, you will see a message saying: “Not secure”.
SSL encryption is straightforward to add to your website, and it doesn’t cost much. It’s worth doing sooner rather than later.
Optimise Page Load Speed
This is one you may need a website developer to help you with, or a specialist provider of SEO services. Some speed optimisation techniques are easier to implement than others, though, so they are worth looking into. Plus, if your website takes more than a second or two to load, consider making this point a higher priority.
Monitor Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that lets you manage aspects of your website in Google search. This includes things like uploading a sitemap and checking how many pages from your website are in the Google index.
One of the most helpful features, though, is the section that tells you about the errors that Google has found on your website. This lets you quickly correct any problems that could be having a negative impact on your rankings in Google search.
Start a Blog
If you don’t have a blog on your website, you should consider starting one in 2019. This is because blogs are one of the most effective onpage SEO strategies you can use. There are several reasons for this including:
- Creating and publishing blogs adds new content to your website on a regular basis. As Google likes websites that are updated regularly, a blog will help your rankings.
- Blogs also let you target a greater number of keywords than you can with standard pages on your website.
- You will also bring traffic to your website via longtail keywords.
Add Internal Links
Internal links are another important element of onpage SEO. Internal links help Google find pages and content on your website, plus they show Google how the content on your website connects together.
Like several of the other ideas above, adding internal links to the pages on your website is something you might be able to do on your own, without the need of a website developer.
Review Your Website’s Usability
Usability, or UX, is another important SEO factor, so is one you should look at in 2019. You might need a specialist SEO services provider to help. That said, sorting out the usability of your website will not only help your rankings in Google, but it can also help improve your conversion rates.
Specifically, you need to identify reasons why people might be leaving your website too soon or before they have taken an action you want them to – such as purchasing a product or filling out a lead capture form. If you look at your website objectively and find there are elements that are not user-friendly, you should fix them.
Take Steps Forward in SEO During 2019
Usually, there are no quick fixes when it comes to SEO. Instead, you need to continually optimise and improve. If you follow the ideas in this article, you will be in a better position at the end of the year than you were at the start.