6 Big Questions Small Business Owners Ask About Search Engine Optimization

 

Thinking about how to manage a small business SEO campaign but not sure where to start? 

Wondering if your business even needs an SEO strategy?

Interested in SEO but don’t understand how it fits into your marketing strategy? 

 

Small business SEO concepts can sound overwhelming to a busy business owner. It takes time to become an SEO expert and core updates from search engines can happen infrequently as with Google’s search algorithm in 2022, or regularly as has been the case in 2023. Once updates are released, your SEO strategy may need to shift and should always remain adaptable. 

With the pace of the industry’s evolution and the quantity of technical and strategic concepts in SEO, it’s no wonder why small business owners might feel buried by the thought of putting their effort into an SEO plan, especially when the other needs of their business demand their full attention. According to a recently published report from Visual Objects, nearly half of small businesses aren’t using an SEO strategy to grow their businesses. 

For the small business owners who are investing in SEO, they are benefiting from the steady, long-term business growth opportunities that come from a well-managed strategy:

• SEO is one of the best ways for small business owners to improve lead quality and generate more leads
• Increasing organic search traffic is a proven way to scale sales growth and market share
• The average ROI for SEO can range from 275% up to an ROI of 1,220% depending on the industry

 

What do smart small business owners need to know about SEO to make more informed decisions? As we dive into the top questions about small business SEO, let’s cover the ones we hear most often from small business owners.

 

Big Question #1: Why is SEO important for a small business?

To simplify the idea of how SEO impacts a small business website, think of the value in terms of the flow of potential customers and visibility for your business. Your website is your digital storefront even if you don’t sell products online. It is the foundation of your online presence, your digital marketing strategy, and the virtual front door to your business. 

A high-performing SEO plan increases your website’s online visibility and drives more high-quality traffic to your website. If your website is not ranking well for keywords essential to what your business offers, other websites, especially competitor websites, are taking your place and taking those clicks that could have become your new customers. 

 

Big Question #2: Why is Google Search so important for my website compared to other search engines?

Yes, there are certainly other search engines out there that your potential customers might use, such as Bing or DuckDuckGo. But almost 90% of searches happen on Google.com, just check out this chart on search engine market share in the US. So while Google isn’t the only search engine that brings traffic to your website, it is the main one. 

If your SEO plan doesn’t take this into account, you may find your organic traffic dropped sharply one day and never recovered or that your website is being penalized or left behind. Having an experienced, trusted SEO team behind your business is your best strategy to maintain a high-performing SEO plan for your business. 

 

Big Question #3: How much should a small business pay for SEO?

The answer is variable for good reasons: the cost will depend on what you want to achieve from your SEO campaign, your timeline, competitiveness in your business industry, how well your website ranks for key terms today, and other factors. As a reference point, consider this report from Backlinko that found that business owners who spent over $500 per month on SEO were more likely to see positive results. 

When you work with Solutions for Growth to improve your SEO strategy, our experienced team of SEO professionals will develop customized options to fit your goals and budget and provide you with recommendations on monthly investment levels. 

 

Big Question #4: SEO for my small business sounds too complex. What’s the easiest way to get fast results?

First, it’s no question that SEO is a complex and ever-evolving field, and many small business owners struggle to grasp the intricacies of how to execute a good SEO strategy. Experienced business owners know that they don’t know everything and understand when it’s better to seek guidance from professionals who can provide advice tailored to their specific business objectives. You didn’t start your business to become an SEO expert, but you can strengthen your business by partnering with an expert team of SEO marketers. 

Second, trust expert SEO professionals who tell you that SEO doesn’t provide instant gratification. (We can present you with PPC advertising options that scale up quickly as part of an integrated marketing plan.) The real value of SEO and the ROI boost comes from a well-executed strategy maintained consistently over time. Opting for quick-fix SEO solutions can actually negatively affect your website. 

 

Big Question #5: Is social media better than SEO? 

Organic and paid social media campaigns have undeniable value for small businesses, but relying too heavily on social media can mean lost sales opportunities and even a higher average cost to acquire new customers. Instead, focus on the power of an integrated marketing strategy, which combines the best tools into a plan so that they work together to maximize the results of each marketing program.

Social media can complement SEO efforts, but it won’t deliver the same high-quality, low cost traffic from a successful SEO campaign. A comprehensive digital marketing strategy should incorporate both to ensure a well-rounded online presence, and for more on this, check out our integrated marketing webinar.

 

Big Question #6: How can local SEO help my small business?

Local SEO is essential for small businesses to increase their local customer base, combat competitors, and grow revenue. A comprehensive SEO campaign will incorporate local SEO because it is so effective at enhancing online visibility within specific geographic areas, which in turn means more clicks from potential customers in the target area who are actively looking to convert.

By optimizing local search results, your business can maintain a strong digital presence in your community, increase traffic and phone calls, and ultimately boost sales. As a leading Westchester SEO agency, our team is adept at combining the elements of local SEO into a high-performing strategy.

Now that you’ve tackled some of the biggest questions small business owners ask about SEO, you don’t have to be intimidated by the idea of putting a winning strategy in place for your business. We can guide you through how to unlock the advantages of SEO to drive growth.  

 

Schedule a call to discuss how better SEO will benefit your business. We’ll talk about the few things we’ll need to get started and how we will save you time and effort every month with our SEO management services while you get back to work delighting your customers.